The Piano

• Cat.no: EDV 9027
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 115 minutes
• Year: 1993
• Pressing: 1999
• Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
• Chapters: 12 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: No
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £15.99
• Extras : Scene index, that’s it.

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Director:

Jane Campion

(An Angel At My Table, Portrait of a Lady, Sweetie)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Ada: Holly Hunter (Always, Broadcast News, Copycat, Crash, The Firm, Home For The Holidays, A Life Less Ordinary, Once Around, Raising Arizona)
Baines: Harvey Keitel (The Assassin, Blue in the Face, Bugsy, City of Industry, Clockers, Cop Land, Dangerous Game, From Dusk Till Dawn, Head Above Water, Last Temptation of Christ, Mean Streets, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs,Rising Sun, Sister Act, Smoke, Taxi Driver, Thelma and Louise, The Two Jakes)
Stuart: Sam Neill (Dead Calm, Death In Brunswick, Enigma, Event Horizon, The Hunt For Red October, In The Mouth Of Madness, The Jungle Book (live action), Jurassic Park, Memoirs Of An Invisible Man, Omen III, Sirens,Until The End Of The World)
Flora: Anna Paquin (Fly Away Home, Jane Eyre)

The Pianois the item treasured by Ada (Holly Hunter) as she is shipped off toNew Zealand with her nine-year-old daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) to bewith her new husband Stuart (Sam Neill), thanks to an arranged marriage.

Since Ada is mute by choice – she just hasn’t spoken since the age of six anddoesn’t know why – her only form of expression is through her beloved piano.Alas, when they arrive on the beach, Stuart refuses to have it transported totheir home. Ada can’t bear to watch it literally go to pieces, so strikes upan arrangement of her own. In return for one black key per piano lesson, sheallows an illiterate, tattooed man named Baines (Harvey Keitel) totake advantage in ways she’d rather he didn’t.

This film won three Oscars (Best Actress – Holly Hunter, BestSupporting Actress – Anna Paquin and Best Original Screenplay) andthree BAFTAs (Best Actress again, Best Production Design and Best CostumeDesign).

One surprise here is that for once we have an anamorphic transfer, increasingthe resolution for widescreen televisions by 33%, on a dual-layer disc. Thisis something that EiV have never done for a £15.99 DVD and didn’t appearon the Region 1 disc. The average bitrate is an excellent 9.10Mb/s, althoughthe print can be very grainy at times giving way to artifacts onscreen. Whenit is clear though, it gives a faithful reproduction of the dark, dank placethat the film is set in. The film is presented in its original widescreenratio of 1.85:1.

The sound is stated on the back of the box as Dolby Digital 5.1, but I haveit from a reliable source that it’s plain old Dolby Surround, which ismisleading to any potential customers and breaks the Trades Descriptions Act.That said, while the film isn’t quite my cup of tea, the musical score byMichael Nyman is excellent, particularly the main theme, “The HeartAsks For Pleasure First”, which gets a regular airing on Classic FM.