Structure

 120 page script  3 acts  1 st and 3 rd acts short (30 pages)  2 nd act longest (60 pages)  All structures involve turning points, a build up to the climax and the denouement where the loose ends are tied

 After 9 pages, the first plot point emerges – the leaving of the piano on the beach  You could argue that the deal with Ada is the first important plot point (p46)

 Ada and Baines consummate their love  Stewart asserts himself (attempted rape, barricades the house)  Ada’s finger chopped off

 Ada’s choice to live  ‘Happy families’ in Nelson (the town freak)

AdaStewart Flora

AdaBaines Flora

AdaStewart Flora

AdaBaines Flora

A romance  Typically, someone falls in love with someone they can’t have.  They overcome the obstacles and live happily ever after  In this film, however, the romance is more brutal, extreme and powerful

 Usually seen from a European point of view, as Europeans were the great colonisers  What happens to a culture when another culture takes over?  Look at attitude towards sex, women, land, values, etc  A postcolonial film might try to address the wrongs of the colonisers or to show them in a negative way.

 Take some damaged characters and give them some challenges (often relationships) which despite the agony they cause eventually result in healing.

 Set in another time  Allows modern audiences to question their own time  E.g. Ada uses her husband as a sexual object. We see this as shocking, especially for a Victorian woman and to see a man so vulnerable. Women in our time are constantly viewed as sexual objects. Campion has subverted this.

 What is the value to a film maker to have multiple structures operating simultaneously?  Which structure is the most familiar and satisfying to the average filmgoer? Explain.  Essay – To what extent do you agree that the structure of ‘The Piano’ enhances the audience’s enjoyment of the film?