The Red Violin (1998)

• Year: 1998
• Released: 11 Jun 1999
• Country: Canada, Italy, United States, United Kingdom, Austria
• Adwords: Won 1 Oscar. 20 wins & 19 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120802/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_red_violin
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-red-violin
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Italian, German, French, Mandarin
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama, Music, Mystery
• Runtime: 130 min
• Writer: Don McKellar, François Girard
• Director: François Girard
• Cast: Carlo Cecchi, Jean-Luc Bideau, Christoph Koncz
• Keywords: violin, auction,

	7.6/10
	57/100
	74% – Critics
	91% – Audience

The Red Violin Storyline

Duval, a Montréal-based auction house, is in charge of the disposition through auction of a recently discovered private collection of stringed instruments, the jewel of the collection being the so-called red violin – so named for its color – made by Nicolò Bussotti in the late seventeenth century, and most famously once owned by British virtuoso Frederick Pope in the late nineteenth century. The restoration and verification of the instruments, including the authentication of the red violin, was overseen by New York based expert Charles Morritz. Through flashbacks, the history of the ownership of the red violin is presented, some of those stories, while perhaps not as renowned as that of Pope, nonetheless no less interesting. Included in that history is Bussotti’s creation of the instrument, which he intended for his yet unborn offspring – who he knew would be a son – it being the perfect instrument in his estimation especially in comparison to all his other creations, and the reason behind the last minute decision to finish the instrument in the distinctive red varnish. Accompanying the stories of the red violin’s ownership is that history being present in the bidding room in the importance for those potential bidders of those individual connections to the violin. Interwoven with these stories is the one consistent item beyond the violin itself tying those stories together, namely a tarot card reading for Bussotti’s wife Anna late in her pregnancy by the Bussottis’ elderly servant Cesca concerning what Anna was anticipating as a difficult birth.

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The Red Violin Movie Reviews

“The perfect marriage of science and beauty. Impossible.”

I didn’t know if there was even the slightest chance this was based on a true history so I searched for the name of Nicolo Bussotti and learned that the character in the movie was fictitious, although parts of the red violin’s origins WAS based on the life of Antonio Stradivari who lived during the era that opened the story. I rather enjoyed this picture and the way it traced the violin’s history through the centuries, along with the tarot card gimmick that introduced each of the major turning points in the instrument’s history. Most of the narrative appeared to fit historically, although I did have to laugh when the Oxford violinist Pope (Jason Flemyng) declared his lustful desire for Lady Victoria (Greta Scacchi) by stating “I feel a composition coming on”. That was just such a concession to modern dialog that it disrupted the continuity of the scene for me. I’m still chuckling about it.

What I wasn’t prepared for in the story was it’s twist finale, given Charles Morritz’s (Samuel L. Jackson) scholarly and professional approach to determining the violin’s authenticity. As the instrument’s restorer (Don McKellar) proclaims that “This is the single most perfect acoustic machine I have ever seen”, there’s still no indication that the pair would conspire to pull off the crime of the century. The film’s ending with Morritz making a clean getaway rivaled the revelation made regarding another Samuel Jackson character, that of Elijah Price, in a movie that came out just a couple years after this one titled “Unbreakable”. He was even a collector of sorts in that movie too.

beautiful music but not much tension

A Nicolo Bussotti violin, known as “the red violin,” is auctioned off in Montreal. It was built in 1681 and Nicolo’s last. The movie follows the violin from the story of its construction to the present. Nicolo’s wife Anna Rudolfi is pregnant and her servant Cesca reads the tarot cards. When Anna dies in childbirth with her child, Nicolo mixes her blood with the vanish to paint on the violin giving it the unusual red color. The tarot cards foretells the future of the violin and not Anna.

This is a difficult thing to make each section as compelling as possible. In the end, that is not achieved. Each section doesn’t have enough time to tell its drama compellingly. Also the movie already shows that the violin doesn’t get buried or burned. The music is beautiful as long as you love violin music. This is a beautiful sounding movie but the plot doesn’t have much tension. There are some poetic moments but it meanders a bit.

The Red Violin

The Red Violin is an ambitious film that traces the journey throughout the centuries of a violin borne by tragedy.

Famed master violin maker Nicolo Bussotti creates the violin in 1693 in Italy. When he loses his wife and child while she was giving birth, he adds their blood to the varnish for the violin thus giving it a distinctive red colour.

The mother had consulted her future with a reading of tarot cards. That future is carried via the violin as over the years it goes through Vienna, Britain and then China.

In 1997 Montreal, there is an auction taking place of various instruments from China. Charles Morritz (Samuel L Jackson) appraises them and notices what could be the fabled red violin.

He makes tests to authenticate it but also has a plan to keep the violin for itself.

Outside the thriller element regarding Morritz. The various segments are not that compelling. It just does not have the drama of a film such as Amadeus. Only the Oscar winning score by John Corigliano maintains interest.