Well, what a special treat this 1992 movie proved to be. Holly Hunter, who plays Ada, a single mother whom has been mute following an undisclosed personal incident as a child, delivers a truly transcendental performance.
Set in the early 19th century, Ada, along with her daughter Flora (played with equal revere by an adorably radiating Anna Paquin), is sent from Scotland to New Zealand for an arranged marriage union with Alisdair (Sam Neill). The drama unfolds when an illiterate, yet very perceptive, local village man, George (Harvey Keitel), expresses a deep romantic interest in Ada - a woman who is guardedly introverted, though with a melancholic yearning to be understood, and connected, with someone.
In fact, it is the way in which Ada does communicate which gives this movie an underlying feeling of poetic resonance; Ada speaks through the deeply spiritual playing of her piano.
Most of the peripheral characters (including Alisdair) reveal their own simple-mindedness by not being able to see past Ada's disability, and hear her inner soul express just how special a person she is. Ironically, or should that be fittingly, the illiterate George is the only one who connects with her being, and what unfolds is a beautiful love story... though not without its tragedies.
As the final curtain falls on 'The Piano', the poetry of Thomas Hood is narrated in Ada's mind;
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
This analogy is reflected throughout 'The Piano', and it's what I most took away from the movie. Sometimes, in order to truly make a connection with someone, it is necessary to look past things of material concern, and instead listen for what the silence of the soul is loudly expressing.
