The Red Violin

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The Red Violin

Directed by	François Girard
Produced by	Niv Fichman
Written by	Don McKellar & François Girard
Starring	Samuel L. Jackson Jason Flemyng Greta Scacchi Christoph Koncz
Music by	John Corigliano
Cinematography	Alain Dostie
Editing by	Gaëtan Huot
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films (USA)
Release date(s)	November 13, 1998 June 11, 1999 (USA)
Running time	131 min.
Language	Italian German French Mandarin English
Budget	US $18 million
IMDb profile

The Red Violin (French: Le Violon rouge, German: Die Rote Violine, Italian: Il Violino Rosso, Chinese: 红提琴), is a Canadian film released on November 13, 1998 (in the USA on June 11, 1999). The film received an Academy Award for the Best Original Score (John Corigliano), 8 Genie Awards, 9 Jutra Awards, a Golden Reel Award (for sound editing), and a Best Artistic Contribution Award from the Tokyo International Film Festival. The film is notable in that dialogue is spoken in the language appropriate to each setting, with subtitles. It was the first film since Apocalypse Now (1979) to have dialogue in more than four languages (in this case five): Italian, German, French, Mandarin and English. While the film's title actually contains words in all five languages, it is generally known by either the English or the French portions.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about (a particular element) follow.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Crew
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Plot

The Red Violin is the story of a fictitious "perfect" violin being auctioned in Canada. Known for its rich red colour, the violin is aptly named "The Red Violin". As the bidding starts, the violin's history is revealed, showing that the violin has been around the world for over 300 years (1681), causing anger, betrayal, love, and sacrifice. The violin's history is depicted in locations around the world, with scenes in Cremona, Vienna, Oxford, Shanghai, and Montreal.

The plot bears strong resemblance to John Hersey's 1991 novel Antonietta, which follows a unique Stradivari violin through several episodes of its history, though that is never acknowledged in the credits.

[edit] Cast

Cremona

Carlo Cecchi - Nicolo Bussotti
Irene Grazioli - Anna Bussotti
Anita Laurenzi - Cesca

Vienna

Christoph Koncz - Kaspar Weiss
Jean-Luc Bideau - Georges Poussin

Oxford

Jason Flemyng - Frederick Pope
Greta Scacchi - Victoria Byrd
Joshua Bell - Orchestra member: First violin (cameo)

Shanghai

Sylvia Chang - Xiang Pei
Liu Zifeng - Chou Yuan

Montréal

Samuel L. Jackson - Charles Morritz
Colm Feore - Auctioneer
Monique Mercure - Madame Leroux
Don McKellar - Evan Williams

[edit] Crew

Director: François Girard
Written by Don McKellar & François Girard
Produced by Niv Fichman
Co-Producers Daniel Iron & Giannandrea Pecorelli
Line Producer Barbara Shrier
Music by John Corigliano
- Solo violin Joshua Bell
- Performed by Philharmonia Orchestra
- Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen

[edit] Trivia

The movie is believed to be inspired by one of Stradivarius's violins, the Red Mendelssohn (1720). The Red Mendelssohn is currently played by Elizabeth Pitcairn, whose grandfather purchased it for her 16th birthday for $1.6 million at auction at Christie's London.

Elizabeth Pitcairn, born December 5, 1973 into a musical Bryn Athyn, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania family, began the violin at age three and performed her first concerto with orchestra at 14. She studied violin in Los Angeles with Robert Lipsett at the USC Thornton School of Music. Appropriately, she is one of few soloists who perform the Red Violin Chaconne composed by John Corigliano. Her great-grandfather was John Pitcairn (19 January 1841 - 1916), founder of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass company.