Canada/Italië/Verenigd Koninkrijk 1998. Drama van François Girard. Met o.a. Samuel L. Jackson, Carlo Cecchi, Irene Grazioli, Silvia Chang en Don McKellar.
De Oscar voor beste muziekscore (van componist John Corigliano, uitgevoerd door violist Joshua Bell en het London Philharmonic Orchestra) ging in 2000 naar dit fraai geconstrueerde verhaal rond een rode viool. Gemaakt in Italië rond 1680, belandt het muziekinstrument onder meer in de handen van zigeuners en van Chinese muziekliefhebbers tijdens de Culturele Revolutie, om uiteindelijk op te duiken bij een veiling in hedendaags Canada. De makers verweven passie voor muziek met verschillende historische decors. Visueel uitbundig vormgegeven, thematisch wat minder bevredigend. https://www.vprogids.nl/cinema/films/film~521837~le-violon-rouge~.html
Le Violon rouge (Engels: The Red Violin, Duits: Die rote Violine, Italiaans: Il violino rosso, Mandarijn: 紅提琴) is een Brits-Canadees-Italiaanse historische film uit 1998 onder regie van François Girard. Het verhaal bestaat uit een aantal hoofdstukken, waarin een viool centraal staat die over eeuwen heen van eigenaar verandert.
De film heeft de Oscar gewonnen voor de beste muziek, van de hand van componist John Corigliano en uitgevoerd door solist Joshua Bell en het London Philharmonic Orchestra, onder de leiding van Esa-Pekka Salonen. Corigliano werd hiervoor ook genomineerd voor een Grammy Award. Daarnaast heeft Le Violon rouge meer dan vijftien andere prijzen gewonnen, waaronder acht Genie Awards (onder meer voor beste film, beste scenario en beste filmmuziek).
In 1681 maakt vioolbouwer Nicolò Bussotti een viool voor zijn nog ongeboren zoon: een hemels instrument, zo blijkt later. Wanneer Busotti’s vrouw samen met het kind in het kraambed sterft, lakt hij het instrument met bloed van zijn overleden vrouw, zodat zij er voor eeuwig in kan voortleven. De eerste nieuwe eigenaar is de jonge wees en begaafd violist Kaspar Weiss, die honderd jaar later de viool te bespelen krijgt.
Vanaf dat moment begint voor de viool een wonderbaarlijke tocht door ruimte en tijd. De film volgt de viool door de eeuwen en het leven van haar bezitters heen, van Italië naar een Oostenrijks klooster en verder via het negentiende-eeuwse Oxford en het China van de Culturele Revolutie naar Canada. Het instrument legt als een estafettestokje een reis af gedurende een periode van driehonderd jaar, over drie continenten en vijf taalgebieden.
De laatste eigenaar is de vioolexpert Charles Morritz, die de viool op een handige manier voor zijn dochter bemachtigt op een veiling in Toronto. Hij ontsnapt net als de vorige eigenaars niet aan de ongrijpbare, duistere betovering van het instrument.
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The Red Violin (French: Le Violon Rouge) is a 1998 drama film directed by François Girard and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Carlo Cecchi and Sylvia Chang. It spans four centuries and five countries as it tells the story of a mysterious red-coloured violin and its many owners. The instrument, made in Cremona in 1681 with a future forecast by tarot cards, makes its way to Montreal in 1997, where an appraiser identifies it and it goes to auction. The film was an international co-production among companies in Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
The screenplay was written by Don McKellar, who also acts, and Girard, inspired by a historic 1720 Stradivarius violin nicknamed the “Red Mendelssohn”. The film was shot in Austria, Canada, China, England and Italy and features a soundtrack by John Corigliano, with solos performed by violinist Joshua Bell.
After premiering in the Venice Film Festival, it received some positive reviews from critics and grossed $10 million in the U.S. box office. It received numerous honours, including the Academy Award for Best Original Score and eight Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture. The film also nominated for Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost to All About My Mother.
Plot
The Moon tarot card
Cremona, 1681 (Language: Italian)
Nicolò Bussotti is a violin-maker whose wife, Anna Rudolfi, is pregnant. Anna asks her servant Cesca to foretell her unborn child’s future. Cesca cannot determine the future of someone not born, but she does offer to read Anna’s future using tarot cards. The first, The Moon, signifies that Anna will live a long life.
In the meantime, Nicolò has fashioned a new violin. He is about to varnish it when he finds that both she and the child have died. Distraught, Nicolò returns to his shop and varnishes the violin with a red color. The violin then makes its way to an orphanage in Austria.The Hanged Man tarot card
Vienna, 1793 (Language: German and French)
Cesca turns over the second card, The Hanged Man, which means disease and suffering for those around Anna.
At the orphanage, the violin comes into the possession of Kaspar Weiss, a young but brilliant violin prodigy. The monks at the orphanage ask a violin instructor, Poussin, to adopt the boy to further his development. Poussin brings Weiss and the violin to Vienna. They learn that Prince Mannsfeld is visiting Vienna and is looking for a prodigy to accompany him back to Prussia, promising a generous reward. Poussin puts Weiss through a strict practice regimen. However, the regimen and the “Poussin Meter” (a primitive metronome) take a toll on Weiss’ heart defect. On the day of the recital, as he starts playing, Weiss’s heart gives out from the stress and he collapses, dead.
Weiss is buried at the orphanage he grew up in. When Poussin inquires about the violin, the monks explain that they buried it with Weiss. The violin is later stolen by grave robbers travelling in a gypsy procession, who take it to England.
Oxford, late 1890s (Language: English and Romani) The Devil tarot card
Cesca’s third card is The Devil and she explains that Anna will meet a handsome and intelligent man who will seduce her.
Lord Frederick Pope comes across the gypsy procession setting up camp on his estate, as a gypsy woman plays the violin. He offers his hospitality in exchange for the violin. Frederick finds great praise in his public concerts with the violin as well as his compositions, with his lover Victoria Byrd serving as his carnal muse. Victoria, a writer, announces to Frederick that she needs to travel to Russia to research a novel she is working on.
While Victoria is absent, Frederick loses his inspiration to compose and degenerates. When Victoria does not receive his letters for a full week, she resolves to return immediately. But when she arrives, she finds him in the arms of a new muse, the gypsy violinist woman. In a moment of rage, Victoria shoots the violin, grazing its neck and detaching its strings and tailpiece, before storming out.
Frederick’s final letter to Victoria states that he will be committing suicide and that he is leaving his entire estate to her. The violin ends up in the hands of Frederick’s Chinese servant, who returns to Shanghai and sells it to an antiques dealer, who repairs the damage. The instrument is sold to a young woman with her daughter during the 1930s.Justice tarot card
Shanghai, late 1960s (Language: Mandarin)
Cesca predicts the fourth card, Justice, means tough times ahead, featuring a trial and persecution, where Anna shall be guilty.
In the chaos of China’s Cultural Revolution, any ideas or items deemed “bourgeois” are denounced and should be destroyed. One target for public denunciation and self-criticism is a music teacher named Zhou Yuan, who is berated for his fondness for Western classical music. A political officer, Xiang Pei, successfully defends Zhou. Xiang then returns to her residence and retrieves the Red Violin, given as a gift from her mother. Several Red Guards raid Xiang’s apartment after learning of its existence, finding nothing.
Xiang arrives at Zhou’s house and pleads with him to take the violin to keep it safe. He relents and vows to keep it hidden, while Xiang leaves to face possible prosecution from Communist Party officials. Years later, Chinese police enter Zhou’s home to find his dead body amid a “sanctuary” of dozens of musical instruments. Upon this discovery, the present-day Chinese government ships these items to Montreal for appraisal and sale at auction.The upside-down Death tarot card
Montréal, 1997 (Language: English and French)
The final card, Death, Cesca sees not as predicting death, but, due to its upside-down positioning, as rebirth.
Charles Morritz arrives in Montreal as an appraiser for the violins sent by the Chinese government. Almost immediately, he notices the Red Violin and believes it may be the legendary last violin of Nicolò Bussotti. He has restorer Evan Williams perform some work on it, while sending samples of the varnish to a lab at the University of Montreal. At the same time, he purchases a copy of the Red Violin from a private collection in London, the closest copy to the original available.
When the results of the varnish tests arrive, Morritz is shocked to learn that the violin’s varnish contains human blood. Nicolò had carried his wife’s body to his shop after her death and slit her wrist to collect blood for making the red varnish. He admits to the auction manager, Leroux, that it is the Red Violin.
As he prepares to fly home, Morritz stops by the auction house “Duval’s”, with the London copy in hand. As the auction for the previous lot ends, Morritz switches the Red Violin for the London copy, which is sold for $2.4 million. Morritz calls his wife at home in New York City and asks to speak to his daughter, telling her he has a special present for her upon his return.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Violin
Violin Concerto “The Red Violin”: I. Chaconne
Augustin Hadelich plays The Red Violin Caprices by John Corigliano