The Piano 4K 1993

"The Piano is an undying and grounbreaking masterpiece that placed Jane Campion and Antipodean cinema on the global map. Sam Neill offered a memorably nuanced performance, providing empathy to an unusual 'villain' character. An essential contribution that perfectly translates the subtlety of his talent and his devotion to the art of acting.”
— Paolo Bertolin 

The re-release of Jane Campion’s mysterious film The Piano after 25 years is a chance to taste again its fetishism and voyeurism, its strange story of sexuality denied and displaced. It is also about the gravitational pull of death; Campion quotes Thomas Hood’s 1827 poem Silence at the very end of the credits: “There is a silence where hath been no sound, / There is a silence where no sound may be, / In the cold grave – under the deep deep sea.”  I once found something over-literary in this film... But a second viewing of The Piano allowed me to see how unique it is. And yes, there are literary qualities: it has echoes of Angela Carter and Peter Carey, but these only add to its intelligence and distinction. And there is a fierce performance from Holly Hunter, whose face radiates intensity and enigma. 

Maybe, above everything else, a re-evaluation of The Piano is about seeing how little of its backstory should be taken at face value. 

— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian