The Piano Playing this Week on Dish Network

Dish Network is showing the film ‘Piano’ this week. Let’s look at the synopsis of this great movie. In 1847, Ada and her daughter, Flora, are sent to New Zealand, where the mute Ada is to marry Stewart. Mother and daughter disembark on a remote beach, where they spend the night. When Stewart and the hired hands arrive the following morning, Ada’s piano proves too heavy for them and is abandoned.

Ada feels out of place among the gossiping older women of the expatriate community. She visits a neighbor, Baines, seeking help in retrieving her piano. He refuses, but when she plays the instrument on the beach, he is watching.

Baines visits Stewart, offering to buy the piano in exchange for land and piano lessons. Stewart agrees. Ada is angry at not being consulted, but Stewart persuades her to give Baines lessons. It is Ada who plays, while Baines is more interested in her than the lessons. He proposes that she should earn the piano back at the rate of one black key for each lesson. The ‘price’ becomes sexual. Flora is resentful at being excluded and watches through the keyhole as the couple make love. When Stewart admonishes her for joining in the Maori children’s suggestive games, she becomes annoyed and blurts out what is happening. Baines has grown uncomfortable with the deceit involved in the relationship and returns the piano. Stewart offers to arrange for Baines to have piano lessons with somebody else, but Baines rejects the offer. Ada has lost interest in playing and goes to Baines. He tells her to leave if she has any feeling for him, but he cannot keep up this stance. Flora tells Stewart where Ada spurs him into being more demonstrative that night, but Flora interrupts the couple. The next morning, Stewart boards up the windows and doors, imprisoning Ada. She retaliates by not allowing him to touch her, though she can touch him. When Baines announces that he is moving away, Stewart removes the planks. Ada responds by sending a reluctant Flora to Baines with a love message written on a piano key. Flora gives Stewart the message instead and in his anger he attacks the piano with an axe. One of Ada’s fingers is chopped off and it is this which Flora takes to Baines.

Stewart is filled with remorse and anger. When he has tended Ada, he goes to Baines’s house. Flora is sleeping there. He holds a gun to Baines’s head and declares that he wants Baines and Ada gone. Accompanied by Flora, the couple leaves by boat. Ada insists on the piano being thrown overboard. Her foot catches on a rope attached it, dragging her into the water, but she frees herself. Baines and Ada are next seen living together, with Ada learning to talk again and giving piano lessons. Baines has made her a prosthetic finger. The final moments reprise the underwater scene, with Ada still attached to the piano.

I think I’ve shared whatever I could gather from the movie. So, sit back and enjoy ‘The Piano’ on Dishdtvdirect.com.


By: Francis David


Francis helps people understand DISH Network Satellite TV Service. DISH Network is available in your area, and Francis can help you choose DISH Network Packages and Channels the fit your budget.