The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes - Movie Review

Malvina van Stille (Amira Casar) is in the midst of another incredible opera performance as her voice mesmerizes the crowd when suddenly she is shot and killed. If such a tragedy wasn’t enough, her body soon goes missing. Meanwhile, Felisberto Fernandez (Cesar Sarachu) is a piano tuner who comes from a long line of piano tuners with ears so powerful they can hear any noise from the ground to the sky. He has been hired by an awkward physician named Dr. Emmanuel Droz (John Gottfried) to come to is secluded clinic, not to tune a piano, but to refurbish his eerily human-like automatons. Felisberto must work quickly because the doctor wants these androids ready for a private opera he himself is staging wit the aid of his assistant and clinic manager, the exotic Assumpta (Assumpta Serna). She captures the eye of Felisberto who uses her to find out more information about the doctor and his clinic until another woman snares his attention with the harrowing majesty of her singing voice. Felisberto discovers that Malvina, while not alive, is Dr. Droz’s special singer for which this private elaborate production has been created. She will be his own nightingale, but now that Felisberto has the attention of both Assumpta and Malvina, the doctor’s plans are in jeapordy and he must see to it that Felisberto does not ruin his wonderful dream.

Watching this movie is very much like watching a dream. Directors and writers Stephen Quay and Timothy Quay create a fabulous, gothic atmosphere ripe for the both stage and screen with wood-carved backgrounds occasionally standing in for reality while brilliantly manipulating the mood of each scene. The script is something you would hear in a dream, I wouldn’ eve be surprised if George Lynch was a big influence on the two moviemakers. At first it felt like I was watching a filmly by Terry Giliam, and after seeing the credits, I almost was as he is an executive producer.

With The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes being atmospheric in the likes of a morbid fairytale, the story definitely takes its time going anywhere seemingly significant, but every character has layers of expressions and ideals to pick at, and you are never quite sure who is trying to outperform who once their feelings for one another become quite clear, and whether it is an admiration of love or of despicable contempt, no one is safe.