The Red Violin
Starring: Carlo Cecchi, Irene Grazioli, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Flemyng, Greta Scacchi, Sylvia Chang.
The Red Violin is a beautiful and epic film, spanning three centuries, set in five countries and telling a number of different stories. It begins in seventeenth century Italy. Master violinmaker Nicolo Bussotti is anxiously awaiting the birth of his first child. His wife is worried and asks her housekeeper to tell her fortune. The fortune is not completely reassuring, but it helps to calm her down. She goes to her husband with her worries and he takes her to see the violin he is working on. It will be his masterpiece. He finishes it as a dedication to his love for his wife, and it becomes The Red Violin. It finds its way into a German monastery, and for a century it is played by orphans, until one is recognized as a child prodigy. He and the violin are given a chance at fame in the German court. The violin finds its way across Europe, into Britain a century later and is discovered by British virtuoso violinist Frederick Pope. The violin inspires and revitalizes him. Many years later the violin is a victim of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and must be saved from the hatred of the times. It remains hidden until the present day, when the famous Red Violin is once again discovered, and auctioned off in Canada by the Chinese Government.
The linear narrative of the story is broken up with flashes to the present, as instrument expert Charles Morritz (Samuel L. Jackson) begins to uncover the violin’s true identity and the secret of its creation. The auction sequence is also revisited several times, as the history of the violin is uncovered and the importance of those bidding for it is explained. We also periodically flash back to the fourtune told to Bussoti’s wife in the seventeenth century.
The Red Violin inspires those who play it. It remains a true testament of Bussotti’s love of his wife. So to, The Red Violin is a testament to enduring love, and a great story to boot. The print screening in Australia is a 2hr15min version, a shorter version has been released overseas.
Esther Speight
