When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
Acting
Holly Hunter's mute performance—every glance is a whole monologue.
Direction
Campion frames desire through muddy petticoats and piano lid gaps.
Score
Michael Nyman's repetitions that build to exquisite torture.
Director
Jane Campion
Holly Hunter
Ada McGrath
Harvey Keitel
George Baines
Sam Neill
Alisdair Stewart
Anna Paquin
Flora McGrath
Cliff Curtis
Mana
Kerry Walker
Aunt Morag
Ian Mune
Reverend
Geneviève Lemon
Nessie
Pete Smith
Hone
Bruce Allpress
Blind Piano Tuner
Rose McIver
Angel
Verity George
Bluebeard's Wife
Stephen Papps
Bluebeard
Karen Colston
Bluebeard's Wife (Miss Palmer)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Holly Hunter performed all piano pieces herself after months of intensive training; no hand doubles were used.
Anna Paquin at 11 became the second-youngest Oscar winner ever, beating out Winona Ryder for The Age of Innocence.
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