Summary

THE RED VIOLIN chronicles the journey of a legendary musical instrument -- a violin famous for its unusual reddish hue. Placed on the auction block in modem-day Montreal, after traveling around the globe for over three-hundred years, the violin comes to the attention of expert CHARLES MORRITZ (Samuel L. Jackson,) who mounts an investigation to authenticate the enigmatic instrument and establish its true worth. Created by seventeenth-century Italian master violin-maker NICOLO BUSSOTTI (Carlo Cecchi) as a gift for his unborn son, the violin becomes the embodiment of Bussotti's grief when his beloved wife, ANNA (Irene Grazioli,) and his infant die in childbirth. Mysteriously, CESCA, the family's housekeeper and a reader of Tarot cards, has predicted a long and adventure-filled life for Anna, coupling her fate to the dramatic fate of the Red Violin. From this moment on, the violin embarks on a journey through time, becoming the emotional, spiritual, and intellectual centerpiece of the lives of its various owners. As the Tarot cards predict the future "life" of the violin -- describing a death, an ocean journey, a trial, and other events that come to pass -- Morritz and his team of twentieth-century experts, scientists, and musicologists at the auction house, including EVAN WILLIAMS (Don McKellar,) use their skills and instruments to probe the secrets of the violin's past, searching for the key to its perfect acoustics and its unusual red finish. The answers can be found in the Red Violin's tumultuous history. After Anna's death, the Red Violin leaves Italy, resurfacing in an Austrian monastery famed for its young orchestra. There, it is played by generations of orphans until it comes into the hands of six-year-old child prodigy KASPER WEISS (Christoph Koncz) in 1792. Realizing that the boy has an exceptional talent, the monks call in French music master GEORGES POUSSIN (Jean-Luc Bideau) to launch Kasper's career. The maestro recognizes the frail boy's musical potential and determines to find a patron to support him. But Poussin disapproves of Kasper's emotional dependency on the violin -- the lonely orphan even sleeps with his instrument -- and tries to separate them. As a result, Kasper becomes ill, dying at the very moment his royal audition begins. The Red Violin is buried with Kasper, but grave-robbers steal the magnificent instrument and it ends up in the hands of nomadic gypsies. In England in 1893, the Red Violin captures the attention of FREDERICK POPE (Jason Flemyng) a Byronic violinist who enthralls audiences with his flamboyantly romantic musical style. Pope is equally passionate in his personal life. His affair with novelist VICTORIA BYRD (Greta Scacchi) becomes charged with eroticism when the Red Violin enters their lives, and sexual fulfillment and musical inspiration become one. When Victoria realizes that the Red Violin has become her rival -- a seductress who holds Pope in her power -- she tries to destroy it. Pope's Oriental manservant rescues the Red Violin and transports it to his native Shanghai, where he sells the instrument to a pawnbroker. It languishes unnoticed in the shop for decades until a mother buys it for her young daughter XIANG PEI. Several years later, in 1965, Xiang Pei (Sylvia Chang,) now a grown woman, finds herself at the center of the maelstrom of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. A party official, she is expected to support the denunciation of a music teacher who is chastised for teaching a useless western instrument -- namely, the violin. Xiang Pei takes a chance and speaks up on behalf of the violinist, saving him from punishment. But she realizes that she must dispose of her own "corruption," the Red Violin she has owned since childhood. Rather than cast her violin to the flames, Xiang Pei locates the music teacher and implores him to take the instrument into hiding. Though aware of the risk, he hides the Red Violin in his attic, amongst dozens of other western instruments he has collected for safekeeping. The Red Violin remains in its hiding place until the present. The Cultural Revolution long over, Chinese authorities realize the value of the music teacher's collection and decide to send the instruments to an auction house in Montreal. While other experts focus on a potential Stradivarius in the collection, New York based Charles Morritz, as tough as he is brilliant, concentrates on the beaten and battered Red Violin, conducting tests to determine if the instrument might be the lost 17th century Bussotti masterpiece. Intrigued by the violin's unusual color, Morritz sends samples of its unique red varnish for analysis. Once Morritz establishes that the unusually-colored instrument is in fact the long-lost Red Violin, eager bidders come from all over the world to participate in the auction. They include modem-day trustees of the Austrian Monastery that raised -- and buried -- Kasper Weiss, a representative of the Frederick Pope Institute, and a Chinese businessman who knew Xiang Pei when he was a child. The Red Violin has a lasting hold on all the lives it has touched. And its newest conquest is Charles Momitz: the Red Violin has become his obsession. Once Morritz' investigation leads him to the shocking and ultimately inspirational secret of the Red Violin, he alone understands its true value, a value that has nothing to do with money. He resolves that the violin will fulfill its original destiny -- to pass from father to child as an enduring symbol of love and the relationship between art and life. With the help of Evan Williams, Morritz substitutes a convincing fake for the precious Red Violin, hides the original under his coat, and leaves the auction to return to New York. Morritz has a different and more worthy plan for the instrument. He will present it to his child as a legacy of love, just as Bussotti hoped to do when he first created the magnificent Red Violin.