The release of the Jane Champion's The Piano in 1993 was almost a shocking event and till today is thought to be provoking. The movie has become the focus of the intensive debates about the postcolonial New Zealand and its neocolonial present. It is about the feminine desire and institutional moderation with in the marriage. It is about the psychological complexity of the human relations and love. The issues raised in the movie remain vital in the contemporary cultural studies. They include the possibility of the alternative forms of desire and human intercourse, the impediment of the aspirations to the postcolonial citizenship that does not put into the morass of the racial and identity politics. In this essay I will discuss the above issues and how they are depicted both in the movie and real life.

While reviewing the central debates which emphasize the feminine agency, the strange sense...