The Piano: Critic Reviews

Ms. Campion somehow suggests states of mind you've never before recognized on the screen.

[An] evocative, powerful, extraordinarily beautiful film from the Australian director Jane Campion.

The Piano plays itself with such contrapuntal richness, it resonates in you forever.

The Piano is as peculiar and haunting as any film I've seen.

Sweetie and An Angel at My Table have taught us to expect startling as well as beautiful things from Jane Campion, and this assured and provocative third feature (1993) offers yet another lush parable.

The Piano is a solid motion picture with a universal message and occasional splashes of genius, but it is remarkable only as Holly Hunter's performance is concerned.

Charged tale of a woman's awakening for older teens and up.

A stunning mood piece and a haunting adult fairy tale.

It's often incorrectly reduced to a feminist fable, but the scope of Jane Campion's achievement is broader. If anything The Piano is a masterwork of humanism.

Sublime - Holly Hunter's best work.

The fable's surreal imagery and attention to detail, capturing a place and time--New Zealand outpost in 19th century--in which one mute person (the brilliant Holly Hunter) finds the true meaning of womanhood against all odds, linger in memory.

Campion never underestimates the power physical obsession exerts over human souls, and, for once, a modern film treats erotic passion honestly.

The Piano deserves its place as a classic.

Intriguing and thoughtful - a beautiful tone