The Red Violin
Through four centuries and in five countries the film tells the story of the mysterious violin famous moving scenes between the past and present in intermittent scenes, between the five Tarot cards. The story begins in Cremona, Italy, 1681, where Italian violinist Nikolo Bosotti and his wife Ana Rudolph are waiting for their first child. She is appalled by fear because her age does not allow pregnancy or childbirth.
4 December 1954, Khorostkov, Ternopol Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Khorostkiv, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine]
28 April 1948, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
21 December 1948, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
22 May 1966, Shanghai, China
22 August 1958, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
17 September 1971, Montréal, Québec, Canada
May 25, 2003
Derided by some contrarian critics for being "safe", this is an ambitious and at times uneven epic that stretches several continents and centuries . . .
January 01, 2000
a composition in five movements. Although the primary theme (the violin) ties all the segments together, it is but a thin string.
October 10, 2004
François Girard ... with co-writer Don McKellar and an able cast, has spun a yarn that crosses all manner of boundaries: geographic, artistic, and taste.
July 02, 2004
It is disconcerting to see {Jackson}...after watching his exceptional performances as crazy criminals in two Quentin Tarantino movies.
May 26, 2006
A surprisingly exciting and delicate epic.
July 02, 2003
entertains with fanciful fable and contains beautiful virtuoso violin solos (by Joshua Bell) and location shooting, but offers little substance
October 07, 2004
The story lines, while having little direct connection to historical events, are obviously grounded in musical and artistic legend.
March 05, 2002
A spiritually rich and musically sublime drama about the soulful dimensions of beauty.
August 15, 2013
Like the immaculate instrument it follows, "The Red Violin" is a piece of filmmaking fully refined by the hands of someone who believed in the material, and the effect it leaves us with is one of transcendence.
