Before it left Criterion Channel, I had to check out this one. I never had the chance to see it on TV and it never was something I was able of rent back in the day. It actually turned into something I didn’t expect it to be. My favorite part had to be the end when [SPOILER ALERT] Holly Hunter let’s her foot get caught as her piano falls to bottom of the sea. We get that awesome final image of her dead dangling above her piano. The rest of the film was way more romantic than I thought it would be. Harvey Kietel really is being a creep throughout, but yet we’re somehow on his side and realize how Holly Hunter can love him while she has no feelings for Sam Neill. Anna Paquin is also spectacular in this. I was first introduced to her in X-MEN. I think I would have looked at her differently if I had seen this one first. This was also my first Jane Campion film that I’ve seen. I had seen TOP OF THE LAKE, but I think I need to start digging into her filmography more as this really showed a world no one ever gets to see. It’s so specific it shouldn’t work, but it does.
