89
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100USA TodayMike ClarkUSA TodayMike ClarkCampion's script is very well received, but the film finally makes it on cinematics: bleakly beautiful photography, haunting score, and good acting. [12 Nov 1993]
- 100The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenGreat art is both immediately accessible and eternally elusive, having at its centre a powerful simplicity that speaks to anyone who cares to listen, that rewards every interpretation while embracing none. The Piano is great art.
- 100Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonThe Piano plays itself with such contrapuntal richness, it resonates in you forever.
- 100Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt is one of those rare movies that is not just about a story, or some characters, but about a whole universe of feeling.
- 100Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonIn Jan Campion's The Piano, the emotions are deep, fierce, primordial. Sexuality overwhelms the film's characters like ocean waves blasting against a cliffside. [19 Nov 1993]
- 90TimeRichard CorlissTimeRichard CorlissCampion has spun a fable as potently romantic as a Bronte tale. But The Piano is also deeply cinematic. [22 Nov 1993]
- 90Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranIt takes exceptional acting to enable a story like this to take hold, and Campion has gotten it here. [19 Nov 1993]
- 89Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenThe wonder of The Piano is that such an outwardly simple story could emerge into such a complex swirl of lingering memories.
- 80Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum"Sweetie" and "An Angel at My Table" have taught us to expect startling as well as beautiful things from Jane Campion, and this assured and provocative third feature offers yet another lush parable--albeit a bit more calculated and commercially minded--about the perils and paradoxes of female self-expression.
- 75Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittAlthough the action tends to become melodramatic and even overwrought at times, the imaginative power of Campion's images and emotional insights (especially with regard to the heroin) rarely allow the story to seem artificial or exaggerated. [12 Nov 1993]