A mute Scottish woman arrives in colonial New Zealand with her young daughter and her beloved piano. Her new husband leaves the instrument on the beach and trades it to a neighboring man. The neighbor offers to give it back key by key in exchange for intimate contact. It is a bold film about female desire and how objects can speak for people.
The Piano is a 1993 drama and romance film directed by Jane Campion. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative and 2 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Pianist uses several of the same techniques.
Putting women at the center as leads, leaders and villains, and letting their choices drive every major plot turn. The story treats this as normal and never makes their gender the subject.
How this film uses it
Campion makes Ada's will the real subject of the film, ahead of the men competing for her. Her voiceover opens the film, her silence is a language she chose and her desire drives every turn of the plot.
Where to see it
Ada and the sinking piano. She chooses to put her foot in the piano's rope as it sinks. It is a moment of pure free will, even though she is close to choosing death.
Making a character's music or other art the thing that keeps them going. When everything else is taken from them, playing is how they hold on to who they are.
How this film uses it
Because Ada is mute, the piano is the only way she can fully speak. Michael Nyman's score becomes her inner voice and the instrument is an extension of her body. So being separated from it is a kind of mutilation.
Where to see it
Ada playing the piano on the beach right after landing. She is desperately asserting who she is in a place that doesn't know her yet.
Removing music, background sound or dialogue from a moment where most films would fill it. The quiet forces you to sit with what is on screen.
How this film uses it
Ada chooses not to speak, and that changes how the whole film sounds. You feel her silence as a presence. It forces the other characters and you to find meaning in gesture, expression and piano.
Where to see it
Ada and Flora signing to each other. They communicate through sign language while the men around them talk past each other.
Watching events from a measured distance with no swelling music, tear-jerking close-ups or showy camera moves. The film trusts what happens to carry the weight on its own.
How this film uses it
Campion never explains Ada's silence or her past. The film trusts her actions and the Nyman score to show you enough of her inner life. A backstory would only make her smaller.
Where to see it
The key-bargaining scenes with Baines. The erotic negotiation plays out through glances, piano keys and the positions of their hands.
Questions
The Piano: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does The Piano use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Piano (1993): Female Agency as Structural Default, Music as Survival Identity, Strategic Silence and Observational Restraint.
Who directed The Piano?
Jane Campion directed The Piano, released in 1993. CineCode also covers In the Cut (2003), Bright Star (2009), The Power of the Dog (2021).
What films are similar to The Piano?
Films that share techniques with The Piano include The Pianist (2002), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Tokyo Story (1953).
