Despite its confusing epilogue and overall billing as a love story (it’s hard to root for a romance founded on sexual assault), “The Piano” was one of the first mainstream films to look askance at women’s complex social roles through a female lens. Ada supposedly has power over Baines because he desires her. However, Baines writes the terms of their relationship and persists in sexually pursuing Ada despite her outward rejection. Ada is brashly unafraid to defy her husband, but her husband is able to punish her brutally for her betrayal. Ada is property and person, objectified yet independent. She “loves” Baines — but what even is love to a woman in her position? Desire? Mobility? Rather than suffocate herself, Ada pursues an unconventional life with Baines, and the film neither condemns nor celebrates her for doing so.
Campion immediately followed the themes of “The Piano” with 1996’s “The Portrait of a Lady.” Campion’s adaptation of Henry James’ eponymous novel details the life of independent American Isabel (Nicole Kidman) as she is ensnared in a toxic romance with Gilbert Osmond (John Malkovich). Like Ada in “The Piano,” Isabel is valued for her independence and punished for her desire.
Campion manipulates form and story to create “The Portrait of a Lady” in all its singularity. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about ‘Portrait’ is its opening credits, in which a cast of modern women provide voice-overs detailing their romantic desires. The credits continue over a number of hauntingly beautiful video portraits of modern women, before an image of the title, written on a woman’s hand, gives way to a shot of 19th-century Nicole Kidman. The film explicitly relates its messages to the plights of modern romance. Straight womanhood, Campion continually points out (whether or not people will listen) is fraught and paradoxical. Attraction to your social oppressor can be formidable and poisonous, even if the journey along the way is filled with ecstasy.
Campion’s 2009 gem “Bright Star” expands on these themes with even more finite consideration. Arguably her most successful period piece since “The Piano,” “Bright Star” chronicles the life of John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his lover, Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). This quietly stunning work of art, penned and directed by Campion, reexamines the complexities of male-female romance and the anxiety borne from social immobility. Once again set in an era run by classism, status, and early mortality, “Bright Star” offers Campion the chance to unravel some of her favorite motifs. The result is a breathtaking, surprisingly sweet movie from the at-times bleak creator. As lyrical as Keats’ own work, this empathetic and impressionistic film perfectly translates a literary legacy for the screen. Such an unflagging homage to Keats comes as no surprise from Campion, whose emotional depth as an artist can perhaps only be matched by the poet himself.
Though Jane Campion produced some more truly masterful works at the dawn of the new millennium (though “In The Cut” was widely panned as her first misstep), she created a veritable magnum opus with 2013’s seven-episode series “Top of the Lake.” The series for Sundance TV, which will continue this year with second season “Top Of The Lake: China Girl,” follows Detective Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) as she investigates a number of brutal assault and murder cases targeting women. After years of compartmentalizing her career’s inherent trauma, violence, and workplace misogyny, a case in her hometown forces Robin to confront her troubled past as a rape survivor. The result is seven hours of laborious, heart-rendingly beautiful storytelling. Elisabeth Moss shines as the repressed protagonist, offering a performance so multi-layered it makes the seven-hour series feel like a cohesive feature. Holly Hunter makes a triumphant return to Campion’s world as season one’s GJ, the wise leader of a women’s commune, and delivers some of modern television’s most profound dialogue (“Everything you think you are, you are not. What’s left? Find out.”). Despite a contentious start (early reviews were mixed), critics and fans alike have high hopes that “China Girl” will continue the unmatched feminist legacy of “Top of the Lake” — and leading performances from Nicole Kidman and Gwendoline Christie certainly won’t hurt.
Jane Campion’s feminist efforts don’t end with her storytelling. While crafting unique and irreplaceable female characters, Campion has also produced a number of independent female-directed films. Her production projects include 2006 Slamdance competitor “Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story” by Patty Kim and Chris Sheridan, as well as 2017 Cannes Competitor “They” by Iranian filmmaker Anahita Ghazvinizadeh. Campion is known for hiring female crew members and directing scripts by women. Her first feature, “Sweetie,” drew attention to talented cinematographer Sally Bongers, and she collaborated with Australian screenwriter Laura Jones on both “An Angel at My Table” and “The Portrait of a Lady.”
For the past 35 years, Jane Campion has hardly gone four years without producing or creating a film. Sporting a filmography laden with prestige and unprecedented dedication (she has written seven of her ten long-form projects) Campion is a true Renaissance woman of modern filmmaking. The Lincoln Center retrospective casts much-deserved light on her prolific and pioneering career, and draws extra attention to the anticipated “Top of the Lake: China Girl.” So here’s to Campion! May her career stand as an example to all emerging female directors looking for a foothold in the industry — you can make it, and you can tell the stories that matter most to you.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s ‘Jane Campion’s Own Stories’ retrospective of the groundbreaking filmmaker’s rich and revelatory body of work, runs September 8-17.
