It’s not that at all! I found it fascinating as it explored a few exceedingly problematic relationships centered around a woman (Ada, played by Holly Hunter) who, for reasons she doesn’t explain, perhaps because she herself doesn’t even understand, is electively mute - has been since she was six - in the mid-1800s. Wow! I’m sure there are others like me who were persuaded it was simply historical erotica and moved on to other things, and that’s a shame. Still, I didn’t watch The Piano until this past week when it was released by The Criterion Collection on Blu-ray and 4K UHD. It was even later in life that I learned she was the first woman to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes (the second woman to win didn’t happen until this year!) for The Piano.

It was years before I learned more about Jane Campion and came to love her work through her 1990 Janet Frame biopic An Angel at My Table. I looked into the movie, and most of the stuff I read made me think the movie was essentially dressed up soft porn.

As the show went on, though, I remember being captivated by short scenes of Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin, both of whom won Oscars for their performances in The Piano. I was too young to watch The Piano back in 1993, but I still remember watching the Academy Awards, hearing the Michael Nyman score lead into or out of commercial breaks, and, while waiting for Steven Spielberg and Schindler’s List to win the big prizes at the end.

The piano movie jane campion