Backbencher

The Piano (1993) was directed by Jane Campion. In the mid-1880s, Ada (Holly Hunter) arrives on the stormy shores of New Zealand. She is a mute bride, who was sold by her father to a British immigrant named Stewart. Along with her baggage, Ada brings her eight-year-old daughter Flora, her illegitimate daughter, and a piano. In the beginning, Stewart declares that the piano is too bulky to move from the beach, and resists bringing it to his house despite Ada’s wordless pleading. He then sells it to a fellow Englishman named Baines, a man who has embraced the local Maori ways. Baines also wants Ada as his piano teacher. When he offers her a deal to get the piano back, she is unprepared for the price she must pay. Ada resists at first, but it turns into a tangled love affair. Flora is the first to discover the affair. Stewart find out about this affair, and locks Ada up. Ada inscribes a message on a piano key and asks Flora to bring it to Baines, but Flora takes it to Stewart. In rage, Stewart chops off one of Ada’s finger and then has Flora bring this to Baines.
The Piano has powerful emotional themes resonating through the entire film, all dealing with the release of repressed passion. Baines, who has embraced the native Maori methods of living, no longer clings to the values of the British society, and is therefore capable of expressing himself freely. Stewart views the Maori with suspicion and hostility. Ada, is hampered by her lack of a voice, and is yearning to break free, and only through Baines does she find the courage to do so. Ada’s piano is more than a source of music-it is her voice, her only means of expressing herself. This story is stirring and occasionally gut-wrenching. This is a great film and I would recommend it.