I must be missing something here.
I can't stop thinking this was a waste of my time. During the film and after, as I pondered it, I kept coming back to that thought.
The film was not poorly executed. It was well edited, the sets were good, and there was little on the technical side I disagreed with. The story made little sense.
I think the story must have something to do with finding your true love, but that is only because of how the last five minutes or so compared to other films I have seen. Ada, the protagonist, acted mute. The only purpose I saw this serve was the lack of communication between her and her husband. It helped show how strained their relationship was. Other than that, her unwillingness to speak held few difficulties. That element was overall an odd one.
The fact that it was strictly her choice was also odd. She was not truly mute. We hear her make a lot of sounds, and by the end is trying to speak again. We don't know why she stopped. My guess is that she was a selfish woman, and had something she wanted to hide or forget. I find a self-centered protagonist hard to get along with. Her suicide attempt was foolhardy. While a viewer could probably identify with her, as "nobody understands me" or "why can't they just listen as I express myself in non-word terms," I see no reconciliation that the viewer may then aspire to reach. All that happened was there was a man who was egotistical and they ended up being happily selfish together.
(I understand that that may have sounded harsh. I am sorry. I understand all too well that these are real issues real people deal with on a daily basis. My point is I saw no change in the protagonist; there was no hope.)
I did enjoy watching Ada and her daughter communicate. Having sign language in a film always adds dramatic visual flare, and is frankly fun to watch. The daughter, who did most of the interpreting, was another puzzling thing. She could understand her mother, although where she came from and who her father was remained a mystery. She lied a lot, and was starving for attention. Again, it was odd.
As far as some technical aspects, the color grading had a wide range. It was very easy to tell where the scene was based on the overall color of the shot. At the performance, for example, the scene was very yellow. At the piano lessons it was closer to green, and out-of-doors was bluish. It was extraordinarily contrasting. I don't know if it was for more definite separation of scenes, or mood, or artistry, or a combination, but it was cool. Also distracting, but very cool.
There was a brief, maybe 30-frame sequence, of an animated man being struck by lightning. No other animated sequences were used. The style was at odds with the style of the film, and nobody actually got struck by lightning. That made little sense, visually. In the story it was simply a depiction of the little girl's imagination.
One obvious connection made at the beginning of the story is that Ada is the piano. Their fate is hand-in-hand. That is another reason the suicide scene is odd. Anyway, the images do a good job of expressing the mood. I would sum up the movie as disjointed poetic nonsense. As I said, there must be something I'm missing. If I find it I will write a new post. Until then, this little ramble is what I've got.
I did enjoy watching Ada and her daughter communicate. Having sign language in a film always adds dramatic visual flare, and is frankly fun to watch. The daughter, who did most of the interpreting, was another puzzling thing. She could understand her mother, although where she came from and who her father was remained a mystery. She lied a lot, and was starving for attention. Again, it was odd.