Film review: 'The Red Violin'
Spanning several centuries and even more languages, "The Red Violin" is an artfully composed, intriguingly rendered tale about a particularly soulful musical instrument and its profound effect on the lives of those who cross its predestined path.
Directed by Francois Girard and written by Girard and Don McKellar, who collaborated on 1994's equally inspired "32 Short Films About Glenn Gould," the understated epic, with its intricately interwoven story line, casts quite a beguiling spell.
The Canadian-Italian co-production should score some impressive art house numbers for Lions Gate.
Using a contemporary auction as its framing device, the film nimbly moves back and forth in time, charting the course of a priceless violin with an odd reddish hue.
Created by 17th century master violin maker Nicolo Bussotti (Carlo Cecchi) as a gift for his soon-to-be-born son, the instrument becomes inextricably linked to the predictions of a tarot card reader (Anita Laurenzi) after Bussotti's wife Anna (Irene Grazioli) and the baby both die in childbirth.
Resurfacing in an Austrian monastery circa 1792, the red violin falls into the hands of 6-year-old orphan Kasper Weiss (Christoph Koncz), a child prodigy with a weak heart. It later becomes the passed-around property of nomadic gypsies, ultimately finding its way to England in 1893, where it captures the attention of the roguish Frederick Pope (Jason Flemyng), a Byronic musician with a Mick Jagger swagger whose steamy affair with romance novelist Victoria Byrd (Greta Scacchi) will come to a torrid end.
Looking slightly worse for wear, the violin turns up in 20th century Shanghai, languishing in a pawn shop until it's purchased for a little girl who grows up to be Xiang Pei (Sylvia Chang), a party official of the Chinese Cultural Revolution who is forced to hide the offensive Western instrument of corruption.
From China, the story shifts back to its starting point in Montreal, where the violin is among a collection of musical treasures being sold for Chinese authorities by a Canadian auction house.
Dispatched to the auction, New York-based expert Charles Morritz (Samuel L. Jackson) is intrigued by the instrument's unusual coloring and becomes the latest and most likely the last person whose life will be changed by its presence.
Unafraid to blend in a little bit of Poe with the poetry, Girard and McKellar have assembled a rich storytelling tapestry. As each of the fortune teller's five tarot card readings propel the violin further into the future, Morritz's scientific research methodically peels back the layers of its tumultuous past.
While the film seems to fall just short of achieving an emotionally satisfying sweep -- there's a prevailing austerity that has a distancing effect on the material -- and the tone-shifting English episode feels a little out of place, there is much to be admired here.
Chang and Jackson are among the highlights of the very capable international cast, while behind-the-scenes contributions from cinematographer Alain Dostie, production designer Fran‚ois Seguin and costume designer Renee April are equally dynamic.
John Corigliano's score, meanwhile, creates a fittingly diverse musical landscape for violinist Joshua Bell's timeless, searing solos.
THE RED VIOLIN
Lions Gate Releasing
Director:Francois Girard
Screenwriters:Don McKellar with Francois Girard
Producer:Niv Fichman
Director of photography:Alain Dostie
Production designer:Francois Seguin
Editor:Gaetan Huot
Costume designer:Renee April
Music:John Corigliano
Casting:Deirdre Bowen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Charles Morritz:Samuel L. Jackson
Auctioneer:Colm Feore
Madame Leroux:Monique Mercure
Xiang Pei:Sylvia Chang
Frederick Pope:Jason Flemyng
Victoria:Greta Scacchi
Nicolo Bussotti:Carlo Cecchi
Anna Bussotti:Irene Grazioli
Cesca:Anita Laurenzi
Georges Poussin:Jean-Luc Bideau
Kaspar Weiss:Christoph Koncz
Running time -- 130 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Directed by Francois Girard and written by Girard and Don McKellar, who collaborated on 1994's equally inspired "32 Short Films About Glenn Gould," the understated epic, with its intricately interwoven story line, casts quite a beguiling spell.
The Canadian-Italian co-production should score some impressive art house numbers for Lions Gate.
Using a contemporary auction as its framing device, the film nimbly moves back and forth in time, charting the course of a priceless violin with an odd reddish hue.
Created by 17th century master violin maker Nicolo Bussotti (Carlo Cecchi) as a gift for his soon-to-be-born son, the instrument becomes inextricably linked to the predictions of a tarot card reader (Anita Laurenzi) after Bussotti's wife Anna (Irene Grazioli) and the baby both die in childbirth.
Resurfacing in an Austrian monastery circa 1792, the red violin falls into the hands of 6-year-old orphan Kasper Weiss (Christoph Koncz), a child prodigy with a weak heart. It later becomes the passed-around property of nomadic gypsies, ultimately finding its way to England in 1893, where it captures the attention of the roguish Frederick Pope (Jason Flemyng), a Byronic musician with a Mick Jagger swagger whose steamy affair with romance novelist Victoria Byrd (Greta Scacchi) will come to a torrid end.
Looking slightly worse for wear, the violin turns up in 20th century Shanghai, languishing in a pawn shop until it's purchased for a little girl who grows up to be Xiang Pei (Sylvia Chang), a party official of the Chinese Cultural Revolution who is forced to hide the offensive Western instrument of corruption.
From China, the story shifts back to its starting point in Montreal, where the violin is among a collection of musical treasures being sold for Chinese authorities by a Canadian auction house.
Dispatched to the auction, New York-based expert Charles Morritz (Samuel L. Jackson) is intrigued by the instrument's unusual coloring and becomes the latest and most likely the last person whose life will be changed by its presence.
Unafraid to blend in a little bit of Poe with the poetry, Girard and McKellar have assembled a rich storytelling tapestry. As each of the fortune teller's five tarot card readings propel the violin further into the future, Morritz's scientific research methodically peels back the layers of its tumultuous past.
While the film seems to fall just short of achieving an emotionally satisfying sweep -- there's a prevailing austerity that has a distancing effect on the material -- and the tone-shifting English episode feels a little out of place, there is much to be admired here.
Chang and Jackson are among the highlights of the very capable international cast, while behind-the-scenes contributions from cinematographer Alain Dostie, production designer Fran‚ois Seguin and costume designer Renee April are equally dynamic.
John Corigliano's score, meanwhile, creates a fittingly diverse musical landscape for violinist Joshua Bell's timeless, searing solos.
THE RED VIOLIN
Lions Gate Releasing
Director:Francois Girard
Screenwriters:Don McKellar with Francois Girard
Producer:Niv Fichman
Director of photography:Alain Dostie
Production designer:Francois Seguin
Editor:Gaetan Huot
Costume designer:Renee April
Music:John Corigliano
Casting:Deirdre Bowen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Charles Morritz:Samuel L. Jackson
Auctioneer:Colm Feore
Madame Leroux:Monique Mercure
Xiang Pei:Sylvia Chang
Frederick Pope:Jason Flemyng
Victoria:Greta Scacchi
Nicolo Bussotti:Carlo Cecchi
Anna Bussotti:Irene Grazioli
Cesca:Anita Laurenzi
Georges Poussin:Jean-Luc Bideau
Kaspar Weiss:Christoph Koncz
Running time -- 130 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 6/11/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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