An exquisitely crafted movie about an exquisitely crafted violin

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 1999)

"The Red Violin" traces the history of the fabulous Red Violin, crafted by the great (fictitious) craftsman Nicolo Bussotti, from its birth in seventeenth century Italy to a present day auction in Montreal. More than a simple collection of stories told one after the other, "The Red Violin" is made up of five threads that are sometimes parallel but more often tangled. The movie jumps from thread to thread, sometimes showing us new pieces of the violin's history, sometimes returning to events we have already seen but revealing just a little bit more. It reminds me a bit of Tanith Lee's "The Book of the Damned." Both are made up of several different short stories that are largely unrelated save for the connection of a single mystical object and its effects on those who possess it.
I enjoyed "The Red Violin" immensely as a whole, though some of the threads are better than others. I especially like the Frederick Pope thread. It is witty, sexy, and quite fresh. The auction thread could have been better, but it did succeed at filling its place as an integral piece of the overall puzzle. Although each of the threads would stand reasonably well on its own, the strength of "The Red Violin" lies in the brilliance with which the threads are woven together. The jumps from thread to thread are not at all disorienting. The tapestry they weave is consistent and satisfying. All of the threads come together to tell a wonderful story that was far greater than the sum of its parts.
Be forewarned that "The Red Violin" is a bit slow. That being said, it is an exquisite movie. I highly recommend it.