A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Red Violin

Date Viewed: 6/26/99

Details:

Jason Flemyng

Greta Scacchi

Don McKellar

Sylvia Chang

Samuel L. Jackson

Score: John Corigliani

Director: Francois Girard

Score: ++

The Review: In its simplest form, this late 1998 Canadian release follows the history of one individual violin from its construction to the modern day. But this is not a simple film. The time structure is complex and takes a bit of getting used to; but once you understand it, all of a sudden the cross-connections click and your appreciation of the film-maker's art increases tremendously. Well-constructed, carefully paced, and compelling.

A pregnant young woman, the wife of the violin maker Busoni, visits with her servant and asks the boon of a fortune telling for the unborn child. When told that this is not feasible, but that she will tell for the woman herself, the focal point of the film is established: a five-card fortune based on the Tarot deck. We are then introduced to the violin being constructed as a gift for the maker's (expected) son. As the plot and time sequences unravel, we return to the fortune telling session as one, then another, card is turned and interpreted; and we return to stages in the process of finishing the violin. Also interwoven is the contemporary anchor, an auction house in Montreal in the process of conducting an auction of classic string instruments. At first the fortune telling seems confusing and erroneous, until the structure and finish reveal themselves.

For me this film has the attraction not only of the music itself -- the instrument, its construction, and performance all combined into a fascinating topic, including an excellent score by composer John Corigliani -- but also of the themes of concealment and mystery. Just why is the "red violin" so (in)famous? Through how many hands and lives has it passed? Why does it exert the power it seems to have? The film's structure is part of the puzzle, and well worth the effort of resolution.

Filmed in Cremona (Italy), Vienna, Oxford, Shanghai and Montreal; subtitled (as necessary) from a corresponding melange of Italian, German, French and Chinese. Highly recommended.

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