Hear tale of a film that set the standards for feminism by cutting a mute heroine’s finger off and holding her only means of a voice hostage?
Here’s what Jane Campion’s film, The Piano has to tell you about your identity…
Here’s what Campion’s film, the Piano has to tell you about your identity.
“The Piano” shows Campion skilfully weave messages into her work, through the actions of Ada; the protagonist, through the portrayals of secondary characters such as Alisdair and Baines, and finally through the comments of her lesser characters, to serve as a more direct commentary.
The film follows Ada as she arrives in rural New Zealand to meet Alisdair, her husband, for the first time. As it goes on we see the intimate details of her love, her lust, her passion and her voice as she lives without speech, speaking instead through the notes of her dear piano. Ada, as an individual, finds herself “married to a man [she has] not [yet] met”. Other women, of her time would stand alone and be forced to play along to the whims of men who rule their very lives, but Ada stands in stark contrast to this through her consistent defiance of Alisdair as she exercises her right to her own opinions and beliefs. This is perhaps most easily observed in her refusal to conform to Alisdair’s ideal family, though he seems confident that “with time… she will become affectionate”.
An intimate shot later in the film as Ada tempts him, bending his will through the sexual desire he feels, uncovers one of the more interesting messages in the film. He is found reaching out towards Ada with his hands, a reoccurring motif that represent will and desire; shown through Ada’s need for them as a voice and the symbolism of hands reaching for that which we wish to grasp.
The shot is a close shot, where the focus to which the audience is drawn is a weaker, more vulnerable form of Alisdair than we have previously encountered. His expression is hesitant, unsure, yet his gaze is transfixed on Ada. This shot is only on screen for a fraction of a second (I should know I had a lot of trouble screenshotting it), which makes it sudden. It is an unwelcome sight for an already uncomfortable scene. In this scene Ada exercises a control over Alisdair that surprises even Alisdair himself.
Over the course of the film, Alisdair was depicted as a man who speaks the loudest but is heard the least, a direct contrast to Ada, who speaks not at all but is the most pronounced. When comparing him to other characters, we find that Alisdair consistently has trouble with communication. He sees himself above the others, with a clear understanding of his position, but this leads to him having trouble with his goal of colonization. He finds himself alone and distanced from all the other characters. In the case of the Maori, he quite literally does not speak their language. This man, so distant from those beneath him, and desperate to conform to the society around him, shows a lack of understanding of himself and the human condition. He doesn’t understand the parts of himself that he begins to discover as the film progresses; as he is driven to extremes by jealousy and lust and ultimately astonished at the monster he becomes.
He becomes so lost in this spiral of desire and infatuation that he loses the version of himself he once understood and ends up the ‘loser’ of the film. He ultimately finds his affections unreturned and is left as alone as he was at the beginning of the film.
In contrast, we have George Baines, who ultimately ends up as the ‘winner’ of the film. A man of the people who is down to earth, exposed (quite literally at certain points in the film). He understands himself and is depicted as vulnerable and pathetic. Yet, the audience is made to sympathize with him, as he ultimately is likened to a sad schoolboy whose feelings were not returned. His purpose in the story however runs deeper as he is representative of the one individual who is open, and true to themselves and their feelings. Though they may have been malevolent and vile at points, he always acknowledged his desires and his actions worked to follow those means. He acknowledges and understands his desire; ‘his will’. We see this at the moment where Baines returns Ada her piano back the piano to Ada, and where he finds himself entranced with Ada and her voice.
Campion also uses less significant characters to act as a direct medium to the audience, with minor characters such as Nessie, Aunt Morag and the Maori making statements that lead the audience to reflect on more specific aspects of the text. When the Maori men comment that “[the piano key] can [no longer] sing”, it is a direct reflection of Ada and the state she finds herself in as she loses her finger. Ada’s finger is critical in her ability to play the piano. The loss of her finger is made infinitely more important as her piano represents her sole form of independence in her voice and her expression. The voice, and expression that Ada relies on the piano for, is not her will, which is better understood in the most significant scene in the film.
“The voice you hear is not my speaking voice — but my mind’s voice. I have not spoken since I was six years old. No one knows why — not even me. My father says it is a dark talent, and the day I take it into my head to stop breathing will be my last.”
Ada is also shown to be ‘strong-willed’; a determined and powerful woman who stands in solitude but stands firm. Unlike the woman of her time, seen exaggerated in Nessy and Aunt Morag, Ada is persistent and stubborn, willing to act upon her own desires and motivations rather than being pliant to those of others.
However, even she finds shortcomings in her understanding of her will. This is explicitly shown and discussed in her somewhat sudden decision to attempt suicide. Prior to the dramatic events of the ocean scene, Ada had lost her ability to play the piano, an integral part of her life that she ‘needed’ as she leaned on it as a means of communicating. In severing the ties that bind the piano to the boat, Ada may have thought that she was losing her attachment to this world, fleeing the life left to live if it was lived without a voice.
As she descends into the depths of the ocean her she tries to drive herself down with the idea that this is what she wants; that if she can’t even have the life she lives restrained she would rather not live, but ultimately Ada finds that “her will” is to live on. To work towards a future favourable for herself rather by letting go of the concerns of her past, shown symbolically as her foot escapes being tethered to the piano. Instead, Campion intends her to progress, develop and see a positive outcome. Her reliance on her piano gone, Ada slowly begins to rediscover her ability to speak, the crutches it once acted as in a man’s world no longer needed as she finds the voice she lost. The will that she superimposed was not her will at all. Though she thought she knew that which she sought she was mistaken, and ultimately pursuing her joy was what saved her.
Overall, The Piano, sees Campion discuss how identity is rarely truly understood. How people fail to know themselves and the desires they pursue. She shows this in Alisdair’s darker personality hidden even to himself, through Ada and her relationship with her piano, and even uses Baines to show the audience a contrast. The final message is that we know not ourselves but only our desires, and though it might seem like chasing after a fickle dream, looking on to a new tomorrow is best.
