The Red Violin (1998/1999) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/ Member: Online Film Critics Society
**** out of four
Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Don McKellar, Carlo Cecchi, Irene Grazioli, Jean-Luc Bideau, Christopher Koncz, Jason Flemyng, Greta Scacci, Sylvia Chang, Liu Zifang, Colm Feore. Not Rated.
Perfection is elusive. In fact, many will argue that nothing on Earth has ever truly achieved it. Some will even say that there really is no such thing as perfection because everything has flaws; be they concrete or abstract, large or minute. The Red Violin, a stellar new movie from Canadian director François Girard, explores the concept of perfection and what it takes to achieve it.
One of the first scenes in the film takes place at a very prestigious auction. As we enter, the auction is drawing to a close with what is the last lot of the evening, an instrument introduced as "The Red Violin." The camera lingers on the gorgeous piece as we are transported back 3 centuries, to the time and place of the violin's creation.
So begins the story of this uniquely powerful instrument. It's told in an offbeat manner via a fortune teller reading into the future of the violin creator's wife through tarot cards. This is deceptive because she is telling the future of the violin rather than of the woman, who is to die during childbirth soon after. The kicker, however, is that the violin was painted red by her husband using a brush made from his deceased wife's hair and paint colored by the red of her blood. Made with love and out of love, the violin becomes a character in the movie; analogous with the violin maker's wife.
The Red Violin tracks the history of its subject as it changes hands and travels the world, introducing us to many a fascinating character along the way. We come back to the auction scene on numerous occasions, as the movie slowly reveals the motives of the characters we see in present day (one of whom is played by Samuel L. Jackson). Girard is master of his domain -- time -- to the point where his film flows freely through it every which way, manipulating it at will while maintaining the narrative cohesion necessary for the film to work as a story.
As The Red Violin progressed, the violin -- an inanimate object -- established a veritable personality of its own, a feat only the most deft of directors can achieve. This instrument, which drastically and almost consciously changed the lives of everyone it touched, is established as something perfect from the start: a masterpiece. It is shot at, buried, mutilated and subjected to numerous trials and tribulations and yet it always survives: inevitable for a completely flawless entity.
Making a film like this is dangerous because it has the potential to become a pretentious bore (give the project to Terrence Malick or John Sayles and voila!). There is enough theme here to make this a self- indulgently abstract, philosophizing movie, sticking in voiceover narrations and adding excess symbolism. François Girard, however, keeps this movie cerebral yet down-to-earth. He also proves that a movie about a 300 year old violin can be mesmerizing: I did not suspect that this film might be capable of genuinely entertaining me, but alas I'm happy to report that aside from making think, The Red Violin engaged me and kept my eyes glued to the screen.
The story and concept of the violin is intriguing and scintillating, but what is most impressive about this movie is how each of the many characters is interesting as well. From the passionate dedication of George Poussin to teaching his prodigy to Frederick Pope's bizarre connection between sex and music, each of the people in The Red Violin is worth exploring and analyzing. This is an added bonus to what is already a gloriously multifaceted film.
It is films like The Red Violin that keep me coming back to the movie theaters week after week, day after day. It works at an astounding number of levels, entertaining casual moviegoers with its plot twists and its suspense, impressing classical music lovers with a powerful and poignant score, all the while engaging cineasts with its thematic intricacies. It could very well be that nothing in the real world can achieve perfection, but The Red Violin is as close as films come. ©1999 Eugene Novikov ‰
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