Mise en Scene of 'The Piano' - Setting

In the film, setting plays an important part. The harsh cold environment of the west coast of the south island make Ada feel isolated and daunted in her new home. The time period means that the characters have to endure tough and dirty conditions, which creates an unpleasant feeling in the film. In this particular scene, however, the setting adds to the harsh reality of the scene. The setting is in a clearing in the New Zealand woods, the place is an unpleasant place to be. It is filled with mud and mire, created by the torrential rain that soaks the characters and their clothes, the fallen trees whose leaves branches stick out of the logs as broken shanks. All this culminates in the setting being a horrible place. The grimness of the place results in an increased gloomy tone for the film. The mud in the scene makes the characters feel uncomfortable; the dirty environment matches the despair of the scene. The audience react to the mire with repulsion, much how they react to the violence in the scene. The rain burdens the characters and makes them feel worn out. The rain, symbolically, means sadness or grievance, and the scene certainly has a lot of that.  The rain makes the scene feel cold, which, along with the blue lighting, gives the scene an icy intense feel. The fallen trees create darkness in the scene aesthetically. At 01:33:50, there are trees lying in the mud with broken branches protruding from the log like spikes. These violent looking things put a mood of brutality in the scene, which the audience reacts negatively too. All of these features combined make the scene more severe and harder to watch. This adds to what the scene is trying to say because, by making the scene dark and harsh, the film is condemning and regretting the action in the scene.  It is criticising the oppression of women by highlighting the most obvious example of Alisdair’s mistreatment of his wife and emphasising how wrong it is through setting and mise en scene in general.