Toronto Star - January 6, 1996

"Hope amid bleaknesss"
Lynda Hurst

Cruelty comes in many forms. It doesn`t have to be physical to be devastating, to shut down the spirit of the abused or, for that matter, the abuser.

A mother`s emotional withholding of herself from her children can have impact far beyond her control, even comprehension.

In the CBC drama, Under The Piano (Sun., 8 p.m., chs. 5 and 12), Rosetta Basilio (Megan Follows) is the youngest of five children born to a former opera singer (Teresa Stratas), a egocentric woman who bitterly resents the trade-off she`s made in giving up a career for marriage and family. It is the 1930s, and a child such as Rosetta, whom we would term today an autistic savant, is a shaming final blow to a woman who has never reconciled herself to the choice she`s made.

Regina Basilio`s self-absorption doesn`t allow her to love any of her children, least of all Rosetta, who`s closed up in her own inaccessible world, breaking out only when she hears a piece of music which she can instantly and perfectly replay on the piano. Her mother is repulsed, however, dismissing the ability as mere mimicking, a trick, not the product of a true artist such as, of course, herself.

The child`s existence would be even more circumscribed than it is were it not for her kind but hapless father (John Juliani) and next older sister, Franny (Amanda Plummer). Born with a withered arm, she is equally neglected emotionally by their mother.

But somehow the capacity to love flourishes in Franny and she directs it to her young sister, becoming her protector, her interpreter, her guide out into the world - in so far as Rosetta can make the journey.

As an autistic child, Rosetta can give little back in the ordinary sense. She has no words to acknowledge her sister`s care; her eyes reflect back no light of love. But Franny persists, knowing she is making a difference to Rosetta`s experience of life. But then, one day, she is grown up and offered her own chance out of the stifling Basilio household through marriage.

She takes it, reluctantly leaving Rosetta, now a young adult functioning reasonably well, working in a hospital kitchen, alone with their recently widowed mother. The consequences are tragic in a way that even the devoted Franny couldn`t have predicted. It is where the film begins, flashing back over 20 years, then moving forward to its ultimate conclusion.

The drama is based on the actual story of two American sisters who were profiled on the ABC magazine show 20/20 in 1991. For more than 60 years, Dolly Giardini has been at the side of her autistic sister, Henrietta. They were the daughters of a coldly domineering former opera singer.

Follows visited them in Boston as part of her research into autism. ``They`ve lived together through so many trials and separations. Dolly has always been Henrietta`s advocate. She`s an amazing woman, she blew me away.``

Follows and director Stefan Scaini also worked with Andrea Rifkin, a Toronto woman who operates three group homes for autistic individuals. ``The behavior had to be accurate,`` says Follows. ``Andrea would always say if something wasn`t authentic. I had to meet her standards.``

For the 26-year-old former child actress, who first worked with co-producer Kevin Sullivan on the hugely internationally acclaimed Anne Of Green Gables series a decade ago, the drama is about what she calls ``the power of advocacy.

``The mother`s abuse of her children is at an emotional level,`` says Follows. ``It isn`t black or white. She is not a villain, she`s struggling with disappointments in her life. But her inability to be emphatic, her narcissism, doesn`t allow her to see beyond her own personality.``

Teresa Stratas, the Toronto-born international opera star, pulls off the role of the repressed but complex Regina with eerie grace. Follows is riveting.

A gripping story, alternately bleak and hopeful.

Source: Toronto Star