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+ Best $ Return of the Year: 20 times the cost + Best Erotic Movie of the Year + Best New Zealand Movie of the Year + Best On-screen Couple of the Year: Holly Hunter & Harvey Keitel + Best Romance of the Year
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| A striking, almost ethereal still from the film makes up this poster for Jane Campion's The Piano |
A mute woman from Scotland arrives to New Zealand with her daughter and her piano, as she has been married off to a frontier man there, who is a stranger to her. Gradually, however, she falls in love with another man of the new land, who lives in the forest with the native Maori people.
The Piano is written and directed by New Zealander master filmmaker Jane Campion (Sweetie (1989)), whose 3rd feature it is.
It is a highly esteemed film about love with beautiful long takes - that are never too long still, (cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh (Gifted (2017))), fabulous nature and music (score by Michael Nyman (Everyday (2012))).
The actors are also eminent: Anna Paquin (The Irishman (2019)) as the young daughter is brilliant; Holly Hunter (Succession (2019, TV-series)) and Harvey Keitel (Saturn 3 (1980)) as the odd couple are the same. SPOILER A devastatingly tragic ending is averted, (Campion has later divulged that this ending was her original choice), and instead The Piano ends on a life-affirming note.
Related post:
Jane Campion: 1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 140 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 20 times its cost)
[The Piano premiered 15 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 117 minutes. Shooting took place from May - July 1992 in New Zealand. The film opened #18 to a 151k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 671 theaters (different weeks), grossing 40.1 mil. $ (28.6 % of the total gross). The film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes (shared with Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine), making Campion the first female recipient in history. It was also nominated for 8 Oscars, winning for Best Actress (Hunter), Supporting Actress (Paquin) and Script. It lost Best Cinematography to Janusz Kaminski for Schindler's List, Costumes to The Age of Innocence, Director to Steven Spielberg for Schindler's List, Picture to Schindler's List and Editing also to Schindler's List. It also won 3/10 BAFTA nominations, 1/6 Golden Globe nominations, a César award, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won 2 National Board of Review awards and the Best Actress award at Cannes (Hunter), among scores of other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Campion returned with The Portrait of a Lady (1996). Hunter returned in The Firm (1993); Keitel in Rising Sun (1993); and Sam Neill (Rams (2020)) in The Rainbow Warrior (1993, TV movie) and theatrically in Jurassic Park (1993). The Piano is certified fresh at 90 % with an 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Piano?
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