The Red Violin

Fun, fun, fun! A film about 300 years in the life of a violin? It would be hard to think of a less prepossessing subject for a film - The Drying of the Paint or The Growing of the Grass might at least find a certain cult niche, but this is really putting the audience to the test.

It' s quite an epic too, plodding along at something well short of breakneck speed for its 130-minute duration, and there are no car chases worthy of note. It is, however, quite an appreciable artistic achievement in its own way, and if you can manage to indulge the movie on its own terms, you will be glad you took the trouble.

The action (for want of a more appropriate term) commences in Italy in 1681, with the great violin-maker Nicola Bussotti joyfully constructing a red violin in celebration of his son's imminent birth. His wife cashes in her chips during childbirth, however, and the stricken Bussotti plods ahead and finishes the thing in memory of her. Thus commences the epic odyssey of the violin itself, which spans three centuries and touches on five cities (Cremona, Vienna, Oxford, Shanghai and Montreal) as the instrument irreparably influences the lives of everyone it enters the possession of.

While it might sound like shockingly dull stuff, it is filmed with some panache, and the story itself is not without power. Even at 130 minutes, the film could be accused of trying to cram the events of too many lifetimes into too short a timespace, but The Red Violin is still highly engrossing if one is willing to slow down to its own pace.

Not recommended to anyone in a hurry, the film is still one of the worthiest foreign-language treats of the year thus far, and ideally suited to hungover afternoon viewing.