The Red Violin

Le Violon rouge (1998)

Timing: 2:11 (131 min)

7.374/10
397

7.494/10
5234

7.6/10
36000

All about film

Video 0

Photo 9

Actors and characters

Release date

1998-09-10

Country

Canada, Italy, United Kingdom

Production

Film4 Productions, New Line Cinema, Téléfilm Canada, Rhombus Media, Mikado Film, Sidecar Films & TV, CITY-TV

Genre

Drama, Thriller, Mystery, Music, Romance

Budget

$18 000 000

Revenue

$9 495 408

Website

Director

François Girard

Actors

Carlo Cecchi, Irene Grazioli, Anita Laurenzi, Tommaso Puntelli, Samuele Amighetti, Jean-Luc Bideau, Samuel L. Jackson, Greta Scacchi, Aldo Brugnini, Christoph Koncz
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Don McKellar, François Girard

Producer

Niv Fichman

Operator

Alain Dostie

Composer

Artist

Audition

Editing

Gaétan Huot
All team (38)

• Joshua Bell performs the music for this film, composed by John Corigliano. Based on this music, Corigliano later wrote a violin concerto specifically for Bell.
• The music performed by the gypsies on screen is based on genuinely old Gypsy melodies.
• Almost all of the name and surname combinations heard in the film are fictional, but constructed from the names and surnames of famous people of the corresponding era.
• Joshua Bell served as a hand double for the violinists. When a close-up of an actor who didn't actually play the violin was required, it was Bell standing behind the actor, and it was his hand that was visible on the violin's fingerboard. According to Bell, director François Girard scolded him several times for 'overplaying'.
• At the time of filming, Christoph Koncz (who played Kaspar) was only nine years old. He is a conductor of Austro-Hungarian origin who performs internationally with renowned orchestras.
• The scene with Jason Fleming’s character and the letter in the bathtub references the famous painting “The Death of Marat” (1793) by Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825).
• The tarot card deck used by Anita Laurenci’s character was created specifically for the film.
• The red violin owes its color to a varnish mixed with human blood. It is believed that the “Red Mendelssohn,” Antonio Stradivari’s (1596-1684) violin, which served as a source of inspiration for the film’s scriptwriters, was coated with a varnish mixed with blood, although in reality it was not blood, but Burgundy wine.