While I have been interested in watching films by writer-director Jane Campion, her only work that I was familiar with was Bright Star. It instantly became one of my favourite films because of its absolute beauty, both in terms of the stylistic and narrative elements.
So I was excited to hear that we would be looking at auteur theory and viewing a selection of works from Jane Campion. Film form is an art and the director is the artist or auteur (author), whose influence and unique style can be identified throughout their work. The auteur theory began with the French New Wave in the 1950s, claiming that films should reflect the director’s personal vision.
There are not many globally recognised female directors as the film industry is one that has been male-dominated since it began. Of course that’s not forgetting the likes of Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow (first female to win an Oscar for Best Director), who have certainly made their impression in the industry.
Campion was born in New Zealand but her film career began in Sydney (so she is generally considered Australian) and has made a number of short and feature films over her lifetime. Her 1993 film The Piano won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and was nominated for a number of Oscars in 1994, with Campion winning Best Writing, Screenplay and Holly Hunter taking out the Best Actress in a Leading Role. Commercially and critically, The Piano is considered to be her most successful film.
Set and filmed on location in New Zealand, the film takes place in the 1850s, and tells the story of a mute woman by the name of Ada (Holly Hunter) who is married off to a man by her father and must move to New Zealand to live with him. Ada has not spoken since she was 6 years old, instead communicating through sign language to her daughter and through playing music on her piano. She is an intriguing character, who manages to make quite a lot of noise for someone who doesn’t speak. She is quite restrained and rigid, but when she plays piano she instantly relaxes, her fingers flowing and dancing across the keys. She makes beautiful, quite haunting music that reflects the mood that she is in at the time. The music is thus used as a key plot device - as a narrative element rather than just a stylistic addition to the film.
The landscape and setting of the film also plays a fairly significant role in the film. Impressive sweeping shots of the forest and sea are included, establishing the type of environment that Ada and her daughter are moving to. This setting gives the film a rich colour palette, with green and blue hues. The environment proves to be a struggle for the characters that try to control it, as opposed to the native kiwis that don’t see it as something needing to be tamed. Water and mud are also elements that cause difficulties for characters and appear repeatedly throughout the film. To get to New Zealand, they must travel across the ocean with all of their possessions, including Ada’s piano. As the piano is too heavy to carry when they first get there, it must be left on the beach until it can be retrieved. Many shots of the piano on the beach and waves crashing against it are interspersed with the rest of the narrative, showing its importance to Ada and the strong bond that she has with it. Underwater shots of the boat crossing the ocean are used at the beginning and end of the film, creating a sense of a circular narrative.
In terms of auteur theory, looking at The Piano and Bright Star, it is possible to see images and elements that Campion has explored and re-used as they are possibly things that intrigue her and which she is drawn to explore. Both films are set in the 19th century, during the colonial period and include strong, unique female characters who stand up for themselves and won’t settle for anything that isn’t what they want. They are quite melodramatic films that explore romantic relationships as well as close family bonds.
A few stylistic elements that I picked up on were the use of flowing white curtains blowing in the breeze (it’s an image that I distinctly remember and love from Bright Star so I noticed immediately when it was used in The Piano), characters sending notes to each other, rhythmic and flowing camera movement and characters viewing the world through something else (through holes, from behind curtains, etc.) showing their separation from the world or other characters. There are probably many more, however I’m just going by memory from Bright Star as it’s been a while since I last watched it. I found both films to be quite naturalistic in terms of their style and lighting in particular and they are both very beautiful yet haunting works.
While Campion cannot be held responsible for the whole film, as a vast array of people are involved in the process of filmmaking, it’s still possible to see her unique touch and I look forward to experiencing more of her films.
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