Drama · Romance
Australian
1993 · Directed by Jane Campion · 120 min
In the mid-19th century, a Scottish woman who has chosen not to speak travels to New Zealand with her young daughter and her piano for an arranged marriage. The settlement is muddy, isolated and unfamiliar, and the film is a tense, sensual drama of desire and control.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining film of 1990s art cinema, it showed that a female-authored, interior and erotically frank costume drama could reach a wide audience and the highest awards.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a film about expression: how a person with no spoken voice still makes her will known.
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