Love Knows No Bounds: The strange hearts of "The Piano"

As Ada trudges off to her new home in New Zealand, the piano which gives her voice is left behind on the beach.

It sits isolated, almost calling to her to return and run her fingers against its keys. Ada looks back longingly and the connection between instrument and musician is established.

So begins The Piano, Jane Campion’s strange and unexpected love story.

It’s a meandering, haunting tale of a mute woman and somewhat deranged man’s search for connection and passion in the face of a cold wilderness, both in their hearts and in their surroundings.
Holly Hunter plays Ada, a mute woman whose true love is the piano she brings with her to her new husband, Alistair (Sam Neill). Her daughter (Anna Paquin) accompanies her, Ada’s sole link to the rest of the humanity.

Until she meets Baines (Harvey Keitel), Alistair’s aide who lives with the native people.

The story flows with at an easy pace, allowing the characters to develop in quiet moments and understated dialogues rather than rushing from plot point to plot point. We shift perspectives constantly, watching different events unfold from each of the main characters’ point of view.

Although our allegiances are clearly supposed to lie with one or two of them, this approach allows us to connect and sympathize with each of the characters in their own way.

Because The Piano is a tragic love story, such writing provides the base for an emotional punch at the end of the film.

Campion takes the viewer across Alistair’s estate, often weaving between different characters, and a palpable tension builds as we put the pieces together and realize where things might be heading. In a film with little traditional action, Campion effectively keeps us engaged because the story is bold and the characters well-realized.

Ada’s piano serves as the catalyst for all that takes place in the hearts of these 19th century settlers. Ada must ask for Baines’s help to retrieve the piano from the beach after Alistair appears unconcerned with it. Baines then trades the piano with Alistair for land and demands he keep it at his own hut until Ada plays for him at least as many times as there are black keys on the piano.

Thirty-six times, to be precise.

So buds this unlikely relationship between a half-wild man and a mute loner. Baines is almost savage in his initial approaches, forcing Ada to reveal herself as she plays for him and kissing her neck sensually even as she asks him to stop.

But something in Baines’s primal nature ignites a passion within Ada. She gives herself to him, at first only as a practicality. He promised it counted for five whole keys. But soon, she finds herself running through the woods to his warm and passionate embrace – even as her daughter tries to stop her and Alistair’s eyes see more than they were intended to.

Maybe it was Alistair’s distant, uncaring version of marriage. Maybe Baines just spoke to her heart and her own desire to let go.

Whatever it was, these two strange hearts find each other over the course of The Piano. Even though tragedy finds Ada as the story winds down, Campion believes in this couple too much to let things end like that. Ada lets the piano go and almost lets herself go, but her newfound love for Baines – along with, I’m sure, a love of her daughter – allow her to find something worth living for.

As the piano sinks to the bottom of the sea, Ada’s heart is set free. She used to find love only in music. Now it’s in the people around her.