The Red Violin is a Canadian film released in the USA on June 11, 1999. The film received an Academy Award for the Best Original Score (John Corigliano), 8 Genie Awards, 9 Jutra Awards, a Golden Reel Award (for sound editing), and a Best Artistic Contribution Award from the Tokyo International Film
Festival. The film is notable in that dialogue is spoken in the language appropriate to each setting, with subtitles. It was the first film since Grand Illusion (1937), directed by Jean Renoir, to have dialogue in more than four languages (in this case five): Italian, German, French, Mandarin and English. While the film's title actually contains words in all five languages, it is generally known by either the English or the French portions.
The Red Violin Plot
The Red Violin is the story of a "perfect" violin being auctioned in Canada. As the bidding starts, the story of the violin's origins are revealed, showing us that the violin itself has been around the world for 300 years, causing anger, betrayal, and sacrifice. The violin's history is depicted in locations around the world, with scenes in Cremona, Vienna, Oxford, Shanghai, and Montreal.
The Red Violin Cast
Cremona:
Carlo Cecchi - Nicolo Bussotti
Irene Grazioli - Anna Bussotti
Anita Laurenzi - Cesca
Vienna:
Christoph Koncz - Kaspar Weiss
Jean-Luc Bideau - Georges Poussin
Oxford:
Jason Flemyng - Frederick Pope
Greta Scacchi - Victoria Byrd
Shanghai:
Sylvia Chang - Xiang Pei
Zifeng Liu - Chou Yuan
Montréal:
Samuel L. Jackson - Charles Morritz
Colm Feore - Auctioneer
Monique Mercure - Madame Leroux
Don McKellar - Evan Williams
Director:
François Girard
Writers:
Don McKellar
François Girard
Music:
John Corigliano - composer
Joshua Bell - solo violin
Esa-Pekka Salonen - conductor
The Red Violin