READ THIS FIRST: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Laserdisc Title: "THE PIANO"
Edition: Widescreen Edition (Double-Disc Set)
Directed By: Jane Campion
Starring: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin, Kerry Walker
Production / Year: 1993 Miramax Films
Running Time: 121 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Digital Sound, Dolby Surround, Stereo, CX Encoded
Video Format: LTBX, NTSC, CLV (Extended Play)
Miscellaneous Features: Rated R, Close Captioned
Distributed By: Live Home Video
Catalog / Spine Number: LD69974WS

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Excellent - Hardly noticeable to very minor hairline surface swirls, if any
Jacket: Very Good - Normal shelf wear, few creases, light scuffs, slightly worn-out corners or edges but no obvious signs of spines splitting

Synopsis:
Jane Campion's The Piano struck a deep chord (if you'll excuse the expression) with audiences in 1993, who were mesmerized by the film's rich, dreamlike imagery. It is the story of a Scottish woman named Ada (Holly Hunter), who has been mute since age 6 because she simply chose not to speak. Ada travels with her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her beloved piano to a remote spot on the coast of New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a farmer (Sam Neill). She gives piano lessons to a gruff neighbor (Harvey Keitel) who has Maori tattoos on his face, and, well, things develop from there. The picture takes on a powerful dream logic that simply defies synopsis. It's a breathtakingly beautiful and original achievement from Campion, a unique stylist. The Piano won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and Oscars for Hunt, Paquin, and Campion's screenplay. This film shows how music can become the strongest side of a personality when a woman who cannot talk expresses herself on the keys of a piano : she plays music to live inside herself and to be in harmony with the world and particularly her daughter. Married from a distance by her family to an unknown man, she finds he is absolutely negative about the piano, her piano, that will stay on the beach. But a neighbor will get the piano, let her play, though his attraction and interest is obviously sexual. She will yield to his desire because the piano, the music are bridges between them. This will lead to a drama, a mutilation, a separation, an elopement, the drowning of the piano, the near drowning of the woman, and a better future in spite of a prosthesis to compensate for the mutilation. She has met the man she loves and that love came from her music and her piano. As such the film is rather naive and simple. What makes it a great film is that it is situated in New Zealand, though the woman's family is English. Two other levels of characterization of the husband intervene in this situation. First his gross and unrespectful treatment of the local population, the Maoris. He more or less exploits them, he does not try to speak their language, he does not try to have any contact with them, except when he needs them to work for him. The second element is his conception of his farm : he does not take into account the local resistance at his opening some land for his farm because that land is an ancient and traditional burying area for the local population. He refuses to take that into account and he does what he wants, and only what he wants. In other words he is a born dominator and has not heard of the ecocultural dimension of life : it is true he lives at the beginning of the colonization of New Zealand and his attitude is that of a colonial settler. And moreover he is unable to cope with his wife, to understand her desire and need of her piano, and then to make himself be desired and loved, even in spite of her attempts. It is this slow and precise description of the main characters of the film and their relations to the local population that makes the film interesting, not to speak of the acting which is excellent, and has to be so in those constantly refrained and dominated feelings that are at stake.

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