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The Piano: Screenplay for a Film
This is the screenplay of the film starring Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel. Ada, together with her nine-year-old illegitimate daughter Flora, and her piano, leave Scotland to arrive in the remote bush of 19th-century New Zealand for a marriage arranged by her father.
153 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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138 people want to read
About the author
Jane Campion
22 books49 followersCampion was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the daughter of Edith, an actress, and Richard Campion, a theater and opera director.[1] She graduated in Anthropology from Victoria University in 1975, and with a painting major at the Sydney College of the Arts in 1979. She started making films in the early eighties at the Australian Film Television and Radio School.
Her first short film, Peel (1982) won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, and other awards followed for the shorts Passionless Moments (1983) and Girls Own Story (1984). Sweetie (1989) was her feature debut, and won international awards. Further recognition followed with An Angel at my Table (1990), an autobiographical and psychological portrayal of the poet Janet Frame. International recognition followed with another Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival for The Piano,[2] which won the best director award from the Australian Film Institute and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1994. At the 66th Academy Awards, she was the second woman ever to be nominated best director.
Campion's work since that time has tended to polarize opinion. The Portrait of a Lady (1996), based on the Henry James novel, featured Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey and Martin Donovan. Holy Smoke! (1999) teamed Campion again with Harvey Keitel, this time with Kate Winslet as the female lead. In the Cut (2003), an erotic thriller based on Susanna Moore's bestseller, provided Meg Ryan an opportunity to depart from her more familiar onscreen persona.
Campion was an executive producer for the 2006 documentary Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story.
She has a daughter named Alice (b. 1993).
Her first short film, Peel (1982) won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, and other awards followed for the shorts Passionless Moments (1983) and Girls Own Story (1984). Sweetie (1989) was her feature debut, and won international awards. Further recognition followed with An Angel at my Table (1990), an autobiographical and psychological portrayal of the poet Janet Frame. International recognition followed with another Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival for The Piano,[2] which won the best director award from the Australian Film Institute and an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1994. At the 66th Academy Awards, she was the second woman ever to be nominated best director.
Campion's work since that time has tended to polarize opinion. The Portrait of a Lady (1996), based on the Henry James novel, featured Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey and Martin Donovan. Holy Smoke! (1999) teamed Campion again with Harvey Keitel, this time with Kate Winslet as the female lead. In the Cut (2003), an erotic thriller based on Susanna Moore's bestseller, provided Meg Ryan an opportunity to depart from her more familiar onscreen persona.
Campion was an executive producer for the 2006 documentary Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story.
She has a daughter named Alice (b. 1993).
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 26, 2021
A stellar Gothic romance set in 19th century New Zealand.
This has to be one of my all-time favourite films so I was guaranteed to enjoy the memories of the film, but I missed the superb accompanying Michael Nyman soundtrack and accompanying visual imagery which make it such a fantastic film, notwithstanding some excellent acting.
The screenplay feels almost bland by comparison missing the dank, dark, tropical feel of the native bush setting; the noise of the native fauna so foreign to the Scottish immigrants, Ada accompanied by her daughter, Flora, who is essentially a mail order bride to Alasdair Stewart, a run-holder and early settler. He is accompanied by Baines, a trader, translator and general fixer who is able to converse in "te reo"▪︎ as well as members of a local Maori tribe largely only conversant in their own language and covered in a variety of "moko"•
Ada is mute but has perfect hearing and has come accompanied with a Broadbent baby grand piano, which she plays with exquisite ability. Flora, her 10 year old illegitimate daughter, is her mother's mouth-piece and interpreter.
The dialogue is notable for the extensive use of "te reo" which gives an air of authenticity to both its time-frame but also the cocky, insouciant indigenous language in comparison to the stilted, diffident English spoken by the immigrants.
Soon, a love triangle develops which immerses the adult participants with emotion, violence and tragedy interwoven through early settler experiences and indigenous conflicts.
Throughout this, the piano features heavily both as a prop, a tool and a weapon. Also it allows the use of music to express language and emotion. Necessarily lacking this expression diminished the screenplay somewhat but allowed the focus to remain on the spoken dialogue, which is somewhat reduced by having one mute actor!
https://images.app.goo.gl/pKcFMLn2q7Q...
▪︎te reo=Maori language
•moko=facial tattoos
3.75 hazy ⭐ screenplay; 5 👏 film
This has to be one of my all-time favourite films so I was guaranteed to enjoy the memories of the film, but I missed the superb accompanying Michael Nyman soundtrack and accompanying visual imagery which make it such a fantastic film, notwithstanding some excellent acting.
The screenplay feels almost bland by comparison missing the dank, dark, tropical feel of the native bush setting; the noise of the native fauna so foreign to the Scottish immigrants, Ada accompanied by her daughter, Flora, who is essentially a mail order bride to Alasdair Stewart, a run-holder and early settler. He is accompanied by Baines, a trader, translator and general fixer who is able to converse in "te reo"▪︎ as well as members of a local Maori tribe largely only conversant in their own language and covered in a variety of "moko"•
Ada is mute but has perfect hearing and has come accompanied with a Broadbent baby grand piano, which she plays with exquisite ability. Flora, her 10 year old illegitimate daughter, is her mother's mouth-piece and interpreter.
The dialogue is notable for the extensive use of "te reo" which gives an air of authenticity to both its time-frame but also the cocky, insouciant indigenous language in comparison to the stilted, diffident English spoken by the immigrants.
Soon, a love triangle develops which immerses the adult participants with emotion, violence and tragedy interwoven through early settler experiences and indigenous conflicts.
Throughout this, the piano features heavily both as a prop, a tool and a weapon. Also it allows the use of music to express language and emotion. Necessarily lacking this expression diminished the screenplay somewhat but allowed the focus to remain on the spoken dialogue, which is somewhat reduced by having one mute actor!
https://images.app.goo.gl/pKcFMLn2q7Q...
▪︎te reo=Maori language
•moko=facial tattoos
3.75 hazy ⭐ screenplay; 5 👏 film
January 12, 2020
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 (1799-1845): 'Sonnet: Silence.'
Beautiful!
February 15, 2022
Far from perfect, Jane Campion’s The Piano strikes a chord (you know what? Pun intended!) with me that so few modern films about women do. The idea of “women’s cinema” is so flimsy in a 21st century context and I detest most conversations about it, but it’s applicable to Ada and her story. The Piano captures the complex feelings I have about bodily autonomy, control, and sexuality that more recent films have only come close to touching.
The piano as a symbol is a weighty one. It represents not only Ada’s desires but her very self. There are lines of objectivity all over the place in this film. Stewart views Ada and the Mauri land as object. Baines views Ada and the piano as object. Ada cannot view the piano as an object, it is one in the same with her and shares the same kind of mirrored symbiosis as she does with Flora. She then turns to objectify Stewart himself, acting upon him as a sexual object in order to claim some autonomy over herself where she cannot stake claim to her piano.
Stewart is a colonist, not only seeking control of land that he has no right to but Ada as well. He speaks of the tapu land —
“They dont cultivate it, burn it back, anything. How do they even know it’s theirs?”
To him, a thing is useless unless it gives back to him. Thus his confusion over the piano. Why should he want such a thing? The answer is simple to anyone— because Ada loves it. But ever the seeker of control, Ada’s pleasure should only come from him, despite his inability to consummate the marriage.
Baines as a romantic partner vexes me and I disagree with his framing as a hero in any sense. He is a different kind of sexual colonist, one that mistreats and seeks to control Ada all the same. He learns from this as he learns to love Ada, but he is a sexual trespasser in essence. His bargain with Ada is predatory.
The representation of the Maori is too complicated and messy for me to tackle. However, their characterization as childish and simple rubs me the wrong way. Campion had several Maori consultants on the film, so I don’t know how much they had to compromise in order to fit in with the overall vision.
Ada is a woman who, at the end of the day, is so desperate to have ownership over her own body and desires that she is willing to put up with colonizer after colonizer. Metaphorically castrated, her voice removed from her time after time, the ending is unbefitting in my opinion. Why stay with Baines? Why learn to speak? (Which is ableist, btw). Why not sink with the piano?
Nevertheless, “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”
The piano as a symbol is a weighty one. It represents not only Ada’s desires but her very self. There are lines of objectivity all over the place in this film. Stewart views Ada and the Mauri land as object. Baines views Ada and the piano as object. Ada cannot view the piano as an object, it is one in the same with her and shares the same kind of mirrored symbiosis as she does with Flora. She then turns to objectify Stewart himself, acting upon him as a sexual object in order to claim some autonomy over herself where she cannot stake claim to her piano.
Stewart is a colonist, not only seeking control of land that he has no right to but Ada as well. He speaks of the tapu land —
“They dont cultivate it, burn it back, anything. How do they even know it’s theirs?”
To him, a thing is useless unless it gives back to him. Thus his confusion over the piano. Why should he want such a thing? The answer is simple to anyone— because Ada loves it. But ever the seeker of control, Ada’s pleasure should only come from him, despite his inability to consummate the marriage.
Baines as a romantic partner vexes me and I disagree with his framing as a hero in any sense. He is a different kind of sexual colonist, one that mistreats and seeks to control Ada all the same. He learns from this as he learns to love Ada, but he is a sexual trespasser in essence. His bargain with Ada is predatory.
The representation of the Maori is too complicated and messy for me to tackle. However, their characterization as childish and simple rubs me the wrong way. Campion had several Maori consultants on the film, so I don’t know how much they had to compromise in order to fit in with the overall vision.
Ada is a woman who, at the end of the day, is so desperate to have ownership over her own body and desires that she is willing to put up with colonizer after colonizer. Metaphorically castrated, her voice removed from her time after time, the ending is unbefitting in my opinion. Why stay with Baines? Why learn to speak? (Which is ableist, btw). Why not sink with the piano?
Nevertheless, “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”
June 8, 2024
oh I adored this. jane campion really delivered here with a Victorian gothic drama all about repressed sexual feelings and the inability to voice them. brilliant writing, very theatrical (the metaphor of the piano is truly amazing) and i could HEAR the music coming off the pages...i liked the film enough the first time i watched it (loved the performances mostly) but now i really want to watch it again. i can really see now why this film is so beloved and became THE jane campion movie.
February 16, 2024
OMG...I... Wow
April 6, 2016
Interesting to read the script of the movie; now I think I'd like to read the novelisation of the screenplay. And maybe see the movie again.
The script and the movie combined have convinced me that I would never ever want to live in New Zealand, at least not on the North Island. It did make me understand why New Zealanders love living in British Columbia's coastal rainforest.
Compare, if you wish, Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
The script and the movie combined have convinced me that I would never ever want to live in New Zealand, at least not on the North Island. It did make me understand why New Zealanders love living in British Columbia's coastal rainforest.
Compare, if you wish, Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller.
January 19, 2016
This book was pretty amazing. Found it at the goodwill for 50 cents and decided to give it a whirl and it was well worth it.
This is written in play script and has a well written story. I couldn't put it down and finished in just a few hours.
If you like romance books you'll like this one and this is coming from someone that stays away from romance books.
Give this book a try; it's well worth the read =^_^=
This is written in play script and has a well written story. I couldn't put it down and finished in just a few hours.
If you like romance books you'll like this one and this is coming from someone that stays away from romance books.
Give this book a try; it's well worth the read =^_^=
May 9, 2009
From the simple screenplay, I know the movie's going to be powerful. It relies on a lot of clean descriptions and emotions, there are little dialogue so they have to be good.
I don't learn a lot about specifics, but I do get a glimpse of how to describe, how to engage audience so powerfully with scenes, and how to direct the casts using sheets of scripts.
Great stuff.
I don't learn a lot about specifics, but I do get a glimpse of how to describe, how to engage audience so powerfully with scenes, and how to direct the casts using sheets of scripts.
Great stuff.
June 13, 2008
I liked the film very much, so it was interesting to read the screenplay, which includes quite a lot of explanation and thoughts about the story. I also have a novel version which Jane Campion wrote from the screenplay, but haven't got round to that version yet.
June 20, 2008
This was kind of an odd book, but because it was so odd it kept me reading. It focuses on love in a strange erotic kind of way. It was a quick read and more enjoying than most short stories.
Want to read
May 11, 2012clearly i was shelf-reading in the 793's
May 4, 2009
buku script film The Piano by Jane Champion. Winner of the Palme D'Or, Cannes 1993
December 30, 2010
One of the best screenplays ever written. Haunting, poetic, captivating, erotic. Everything a powerful film should be.
November 12, 2023
Beautiful writing and very clear that Campion did her research (love to see that). So descriptive and ugh gosh just a great screenplay. Very intrigued to see how this plays out on screen (I haven’t seen the movie yet *shocking*). Reading about the cast and crew talking more about the film (especially production design and location manager) after the actual script was SUPER interesting. I love when the setting is so intentional to mirror the story.
Have never seen or read any of Campions work and so glad this was my first experience. Can’t lie - I’m a little weary of some things that I read in general. So very intrigued to see how it translates in the film.
Have never seen or read any of Campions work and so glad this was my first experience. Can’t lie - I’m a little weary of some things that I read in general. So very intrigued to see how it translates in the film.
January 30, 2021
This is the screenplay/script of one of the most amazing stories of all time, beautifully captured by Jane Campion. The movie won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1993. Apparently I loved it so much, I bought the book twice (but different editions).
January 18, 2022
Incomparable, devastating, fascinating, and other words that don't do justice to Jane Campion's screenplay for the 1993 film The Piano.
December 26, 2023
hmmmm this is/was probably better as a film; but having read it i don't know that i especially want to see the film
May 10, 2024
Never saw the film or read the novel.
However, I found the screenplay rather sad and atmospheric. Not sure what to take away from it though.
However, I found the screenplay rather sad and atmospheric. Not sure what to take away from it though.
July 15, 2025
No me ha gustado mucho, la trama es sencilla y apenas tiene argumento. Diría que es aburrida y los capítulos son bastante largos (15-20 pág) así que no la recomiendo.
November 12, 2019
I read the screenplay (not the novel) to The Piano because I wanted to read the te reo Māori parts out loud to myself for practice. Having never seen the movie, something was missing. I was intrigued enough to want to see the movie (and read the actual novelization), but without seeing the film, I was left feeling like all the relationships were super strange. If I had seen the movie I would never have even taken the time with this, because I'm sure there is no way it could be better than the film. One day maybe I will come across a copy of the novelization and see if that changes my feelings.
Read
January 7, 2008adakalanya ketika kita menginginkan sesuatu harus ada yang menjadi korban, tapi saya tidak mau.
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January 27, 2008tiap satu not, satu persetubuhan, satu pelepasan, satu kerinduan...
Want to read
January 26, 2009stamped
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews