The Piano.

the 2 versions of the poster.

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 have taken into my head stop breathing, will be my last. Today he married me to a man I have not yet met. Soon my daughter and I shall join him in his own country. My husband said my muteness does not bother him. He writes - God loves stoned creatures, so why not he? We are good he has God's patience. For silence affects everyone in the end. The strange thing is I don't think myself silent. That is because of my piano. I shall miss it on the journey. - Ada's voice -

dancing at her mother's music.

No wonder Jane Campion had some reservations when Holly Hunter sought the central role in The Piano. Hunter had established herself as a tiny fireball of energy, Southern abrasiveness, and talk, talk, talk. She was pretty, yet she easily offered the look of a modern Southern shopping-mall belle. But Hunter created the severe, less-than-dainty look of a nineteenth century woman repressed in nearly everything except silent pride. She delivered a stunning performance, and in doing so she expanded her own horizons and won the Oscar. Holly Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia, as the youngest of seven children in 1958. She studied at Carnegie Mellon. Her debut was in The Burning (81), after which she played on TV in Svengali (83); Razing Arizona (87); getting her first best actress nomination in Broadcast News (87); repeating a stage success in Beth Henley's Miss Firecracker (89); Animal Behavior (89); getting an Emmy as ĞRoeğ in Roe v. Wade (89); Always (89); Once Around (91); Crazy in Love (92); very funny and Oscar-nominated as the secretary in The Firm (93); and brilliant in The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (93); Home for the Holidays (95); Copycat (95); Crash (96).

the main characters (besides the piano) :

Harvey (born 1939) got into movies by answering the newspaper ad of an N.Y.U. student director, Martin Scorsese (Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Taxi Driver). Over time, Keitel became typecast as an intense, stereotype, back-alley thug. After Keitel's career had a downward periode in the late seventies, he finally managed to drop the thug persona (and not to mention his pants) in The Piano - Jane Campion's award-winning film. In addition to a normal assortment of baggage and (not to forget) the Piano, Ada brings with her 9 year old Flora (Anna Paquin), her illegitimate daughter. Paquin is ultimately believable in her role, and a great asset to the film. She compliments the main trio effectively. For her performance she got the Academy Award for best supporting actress in 1993. Sam Neill was born in Northern Ireland the year 1947. His family returned to the South Island of New Zealand in 1954. After his graduation, he worked with the New Zealand Players and other theater groups. He also was a film director, editor and scriptwriter for the New Zealand National Film Unit. At the beginning of the eigthies he moved to England where he became famous as the title character in Reilly: The Ace of Spies. In 1993, he achieved critical success with The Piano (and Jurassic Park).