Freedom

           The story was about a mute woman, Ada McGrath, who was sent away by her father to marry a wealthy land owner, Alistair Stewart. She was shipped to an island together with her daughter Flora bringing her piano with them. The weather was not welcoming them upon their arrival yet she still stayed and waited for her husband to pick them up. Stewart, on his way to his wife, was clearly shy yet he showed respect and authority. He fetches his wife and child leaving the piano behind for his house had no room for it. Ada had been mute since she was six and the piano had been her only way of expressing her emotions. The great attachment she had with the piano was the reason as to why letting go of it was so hard. As her husband left the second day, she went to George Baines, an illiterate friend of her husband, to accompany her to the shore where her piano was left. She played the piano all day as her daughter danced. Baines’ facial expressions obviously showed that he had fancied Ada. The next day, Baines made a deal with Stewart; to trade in Ada’s piano with the swamp. Stewart agrees regardless of Ada’s refusal. Baines added that he would want Ada to teach him to play. At first, Ada refused to play it for she thought it was out of tune but as soon as she heard that it wasn’t, she immediately played it. Baines took pleasure on seeing Ada play which was the reason as to why he asked her to teach him by showing him as an alibi. He had even made a deal with her to play a number of keys with certain consequences. With the lusting going on, Flora had been left outside. As days passed, they were bound to be caught. Stewart found them but instead of stopping them, which I expected, he lay under the house and listened to them. He tried to win her but he had no hope. He chopped a finger from Ada out of anger but in the end, he still had to let go. In the end, Ada left with Baines and Flora to live a better life, sinking the Piano under the sea.

            I certainly felt angry towards the movie as to the betrayal done by Ada to her husband. But, I still couldn’t blame her for doing it. Baines was the complete opposite of Stewart. Stewart was more focused on tending and growing his land, having no romance with Ada while Baines was a desperate romantic. With the affection he showed towards Ada, such relationship was meant to happen.

            The movie is character oriented. The actors and actresses portraying the roles are very effective in drawing people’s emotions along with them. Holly Hunter, as Ada McGrath, is truly great in portraying the characters heavy and complicated emotions without the use of verbal dialogue. Harvey Keitel, as George Baines, also did great in his role as a mad, desperate lover. Sam Neill, as Alistair Stewart, also did well given his role as the confused husband. The actress who made the movie truly effective, worth watching, and entertaining was Anna Paquin as Flora McGrath. The movie would’ve been dull without her. The theme of the movie was about the expression of one’s love and being free. We could clearly see in the movie that each of the characters has its ways of showing their love. It had also shown Ada’s search of freedom. The setting, at a forest in New Zealand, was appropriate for the story as it gave a dream like image which, I think, is the style of the director Jane Campion. The cinematography was also great with the effect of the film that it brought like the travel from Scotland to New Zealand.

            In the beginning of the film, we’d see Ada’s fingers, which in our point-of-view would seem as if we were peeping on it. This also seemed like bars or the keys of the piano which symbolizes Ada’s imprisonment. The use of voice over may also denote her imprisonment as she said that she’d never speak again. In the end, the piano had been sunk in the ocean which basically implies that Ada is no longer imprisoned but was now a free woman. She had also practiced speaking as shown in later part of the ending.  According to Alan A. Stone, “Campion's symbolism, like Freud's, makes the connection between the sacred and the profane. Playing the piano is Ada's consuming and sacred passion, a cry of the free spirit up to heaven. But playing the piano also has a sexual meaning that comes straight out of the Freudian text as a symbol of autoeroticism. The man who is to be Ada's husband is oblivious to all this. He abandons the icon on the beach. No film ever had a more perfect title.”