The music in this film takes on a life of its own...

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 2000)

I just recently had the wonderful opportunity to participate in an interview with the director of this film, François Girard, and it was fascinating. I am a student in a university film music class, and he spoke to us about his thoughts and motivations in making the Red Violin. He talked about the way that the music was a way to speak in a universal language, a language that everyone could understand. It moves through space, time and cultures excellently, much better than spoken words. Girard gave us the interesting example of children he knew who watched the film, and how they understood what was happening even though they were too young to even read the subtitles... The subtitles were a way to stay true to the mood of the characters, while letting the melodies and music played by the characters express their individuality. The soul of the young pregnant woman, 'Anna' becomes closely tied to the 'soul' of her husband's masterpiece, the Red Violin. The song she sings becomes, as Girard told us, the basis for all of the music in the rest of the film... Essentially, this movie is a story about the power of music and how it can change lives, for better or worse.