The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993)

"There is a silence where hath been no sound / There is a silence where no sound may be / In the cold grave, under the deep deep sea. -Thomas Hood"

Introduction

I have to make my reviews shorter. That's a given. For one they are not reviews, they are more breakdowns of specific aspects and exploration of the links that these details show. Jane Campion's The Piano has so much depth - visually rooted in Gothic and Victorian imagery, a subject and context that feeds directly into the story and subtext of feminism and masculinity. So, with this in mind, it may be difficult to keep this short but - believe me - I shall try.

Interestingly, this is apparently the last film Kurt Cobain watched before dying. It is quite depressing and morbid ... but I do not see this as a bad thing. Kurt probably did.

Artistic Influences

As stated, this film is steeped in Victorian and Gothic imagery - a dark, grey and dull landscape akin to a Thomas Gainsborough British landscapes - except this film is based in New Zealand. Personally, I felt that the muddy, marshy landscape -and Harvey Keitel's almost-Scottish accent - almost made you feel like it was set in England. The constant rain too. The Maori tribe did establish the location a little better - and maybe the cliffs on the coast looked more New-Zealand-ish rather than the White Cliffs of Dover.

So, I read, Bronte's Wuthering Heights is a huge influence on this film - alongside The African Queen by C.S. Forester (though there is scope to assume Jane Marder's The Story of a New Zealand River is also a huge influence, says Alistair Fox). But this does not take away from the subtext and feminist messages Campion inserts through the film.

A Female Perspective

The nature of an arranged marriage is always sexist - the man chooses the woman, the woman chooses nothing. This story shows how a strong woman - Ada (Holly Hunter) and her daughter Flora (Anna Paquin ... Rogue) - are arranged to join Alistair Stewart (Sam Niell) in New Zealand through an arranged marriage. The biggest factor is how Ada is mute - representing women in the society at the time. She is a gifted piano player and see's her music as the only audible sene of expression. Alistair Stewart is not a bad guy but he is weak - the first time we see him, he is adjusting his hair - vanity is a preoccupation - and stalling the movement of the Maori's, directed by Baines (Harvey Keitel), who he has hired to collect Ada's possessions. The film hinges on the love Baines - a real man - towards Ada and how this progresses. [Spoilers now...}

Baines is a 'stocky', well-built man - almost animalistic with his understanding to the tribal Maori's and patterns on his face. Almost Neanderthal in his attitude - he cannot read - he falls for Ada and, through dominance, forces her to fall for him. Ada, though not a virgin (she has a child) is chaste - buttoned-up in black. Clearly Stewart has not consummated the marriage - but Ada has not made it easy. She gives him no signal as to what he should or shouldn't do - and he begins confused and then becomes frustrated. Slowly but surely, through what Alistair believes is piano lessons, Baines takes advantage of Ada. He tells her that she can own the piano herself if she plays for him - bit by bit he tells her to take off her garments for his pleasure eventually sleeping together. Ada was locked away and he opens her up - and she seems uncomfortable but content with the progression of their relationship.

Her love for him builds and they begin an affair, which inevitably Stewart finds out about. He attempts to rape her - possibly attempting to be more masculine, akin to Baines. This is an uncomfortable sequence but, as we know, Baines was not sincere in his intentions so it does not make one man better than another. Nevertheless, he fails and he takes her home and boards up the house. He closes-her up - physically stopping her lust for Baines. Slowly, she begins to touch him and appear to be attracted to him. One scene shows her caress his buttocks - he is uncomfortable and moves to ask if he can touch her. This seems to be her dominance over him - she is the 'man' in the relationship, while he is the 'woman'. Their relationship progresses and he takes the boards down - trusting her as he leaves. She knows Baines is leaving and sends Flora to him to send a last-message of love - but Flora runs to Stewart and shows him the message, clarifying that her Mother intended it for Baines. Stewart heads back, in the rain - an incredible sequence - dragging Ada out into the rain and placing her piano-playing hands on the block and chops off her forefinger. Her phallus as the dominant character in their relationship is now emasculated - and she is alone to be cared for. But Stewart turns to Baines, shotgun in hand, and tells him that he knows she wants to be with him - and Baines and Ada set sail fo a life together.

In the boat, Ada lets the piano go - she gets rid of it and consciously attaches herself to it, drowning herself. But, she decides to live and struggles free. Is this weight of thepiano symbolic of her previous love - the Father of Flora? She cannot move onto another man - Baines or Stewart - until she lets go of the past. Following this, we see Ada and Baines happy in a house - Ada even learning to speak.

Conclusion

Each of the details above could be explored in further detail - the roles in a marriage, previous relationships, masculinity and feminity, etc. So much to explore and this is what makes this film so incredible. This film is not based on a book - inspired by many, but not adapted from - and it has managed to create a context that completely expresses the chaste position of many women in a marraige, in a relationship even. Campion has set the scene within a small group of people - and there is inevitably further subtext through the position of the Maori tribe in the group - but the three characters, the three-way between Ada, Baines and Stewart provide a fascinating foundation for an exploration of so many themes of sexuality and sexism. Stewart even observes Baines and Ada make love - Stewart wishes he was Baines ... does Stewart wish he was Ada? Stewart is not a dominant man and may desire that man. I am sure there is more depth within that, but this is what makes the film incredible. After that first watch, I would like to watch it again and maybe a second watch will develop my understanding of the dense subjects it explores.

And I haven't even started on the soundtrack - a soundtrack I had before I watched the film. Michael Nyman is an incredible composer and this film shows how incredible his music is.

Man On Wire (James Marsh, 2008)

"To me, it's really so simple, that life should be lived on the edge. You have to exercise rebellion. To refuse to tape yourself to the rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge."

Introduction

To be honest I only knew about this from the coverage in the film magazines and, ultimately, the winner of Best Documentary at the 81st Academy Awards. Strangely enough, my Uncle only recently bought it and was singing its praises and - regular commenter Jo - watched it at the cinema (possibly twice... but don't quote me on that). I'm always wary about documentaries. I keep track of the 'important' ones on the cards - but I am hardly going to make records of the snippet 'making of's on DVD's. Or the Rihanna music video I happened to watch on MTV. Or the rubbish programme I happened to catch on BBC1. But, this one has some credibility so I thought, well, why not - and believe me, I have a few things to say about documentaries by Michael Moore or the visual feast that is Waltz with Bashir and hopefully, their time will come.

What I reckon ...

To summarise, we are tracking Phillippe Petit - a wire-walker - who managed to set-up and walk in between the twin towers in the seventies. The film jumps between the documentary talking-heads talking about the day itself and then flashes back to archive footage showing the young Petit wire-walking in between the Notre Dame and a big bridge in Sydney, Australia. Its based on a book Petit wrote called To Reach the Clouds, and so he is credited as writing the documentary also. He truly is a fascinating character - and his passion and desire forces itself through the TV and onto you, so that you personally feel incredibly excited about this prospect of walking between these two giants.

The coverage of his childhood - following the opening - is truly inspiring. We see a blurry, black and white reconstruction of when Petit first knew about the twin towers being built. It was his destiny to walk in between them - and this in itself, he felt, was fascinating, because they were not even built! The documentary cuts between Petit himself narrating this destiny-dentist visit, while also showing the twin towers themselves being built. His concentration and passion for circus-skills (unicycling and juggling, etc) leads, inevitably, to tightrope walking and wire-walking. This seamless editing is down to Jinx Godfrey whose work, because it is so seamless, can easily be unacknowledged - but it is a credit to him that the documentary flows so fluidly. We even see actual footage of Petit walking across the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris - opposed to the lack of film-footage of him crossing the twin towers (whereby their are many pictures, all shown in this documentary!)

It also tracks his relationship with Annie Allix - a relationship that ended soon after he crossed the twin towers. She held him and supported him through his life - and we see beautiful footage of her holding Petit across a tightrope. He mentions how, post-twin towers, he slept with a different woman - "pleasure of the flesh". I have a funny feeling that this was the nail in the coffin of their relationship.

The documentary is so well made that all the technological factors all assist in telling a smooth story - they use reconstructions, talking-heads, archive footage, etc - and yet you know the footage which is real (colour, dated) from the conscious choice of blurry, can't-see-their-faces footage that is used for the reconstructions. The one aspect, which I was aware of prior to watching this was that the finale solely relied on photographs - not film footage. I have to admit that I felt that it would be difficult to get me tense about something that is still - while the beauty, I felt, was in his movement. By the time we reach this point in the film, you are thoroughly aware of his movement and his characteristics - so the subtle layering of the sound of commotion of NYC far below the twin towers while we see the footage makes you feel as if you are watching something truly beautiful. They set everything up so perfectly.

Petit claims that the beauty is how what he is doing is 'framed by death' - you are in awe because you know the slightest lack of concentration and he's gone. This is what makes the documentary so fascinating - every time you see him balancing you see that concentration and beautiful balance.

Quick note - Michael Nyman composed the majority of the music, but it did just sound like a bulk of music taken from a 'Classical Chillout' CD - indeed Nyman's 'The Piano' score often features on these albums - so the addition of Erik Satie tracks did nothing but confirm my feelings.