The Red Violin (French: Le Violon Rouge) is a 1998 drama film directed by François Girard and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Carlo Cecchi and Sylvia Chang.

The screenplay, inspired by a historic 1720 Stradivarius violin nicknamed the "Red Mendelssohn", was written by Don McKellar and Girard.

Vienna, 1793 (Language: German and French) Cesca turns over the second card, The Hanged Man, which means disease and suffering for those around Anna.

Oxford, the late 1890s (Language: English and Romani) Cesca's third card is The Devil, and she explains that Anna will meet a handsome and intelligent man who will seduce her.

Frederick finds great praise in his public concerts with the violin and his compositions, with his lover Victoria Byrd serving as his carnal muse.

The violin ends up in the hands of Frederick's Chinese servant, who returns to Shanghai and sells it to an antiques dealer, who repairs the damage.

Shanghai, late 1960s (Language: Mandarin) Cesca predicts the fourth card, Justice, means tough times ahead, featuring a trial and persecution, where Anna shall be guilty.

Years later, Chinese police enter Zhou's home to find his dead body amid a "sanctuary" of dozens of musical instruments.

Nicolò had carried his wife's body to his shop after her death and slit her wrist to collect blood for making the red varnish.

As the auction for the previous lot ends, Morritz switches the Red Violin for the London copy, which is sold for $2.4 million.

Morritz calls his wife at home in New York City and asks to speak to his daughter, telling her he has a special present for her upon his return.

[5][6] By the time the film was made, the Red Mendelssohn was owned by Elizabeth Pitcairn, heiress to the PPG fortune, whose grandfather purchased it for her 16th birthday for $1.7 million at auction at Christie's London.

[8] The concept of a history of a violin was the starting point, with Girard not initially realizing the project would call for five languages or an unusually large budget.

[9] His screenplay, written with Don McKellar, sees the eponymous instrument travel over greater distances, while the years separating each segment become shorter.

[14] Girard, McKellar and producer Niv Fichman went location scouting at the beginning of production, visiting Prague and Hong Kong and meeting writers who helped correct foreign-language dialogue.

[15] Lord Frederick Pope's estate was Chicheley Hall while his concerts were filmed at the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford University.

[17] Hundreds of Chinese police, with guns, closed the streets where shooting took place, due to the 450 extras loudly calling for revolution.

[3] Since the violin movements seen in the film had to match Corigliano's music, real-life child prodigy Christoph Koncz was cast.

[14] By February 1999, The Red Violin had grossed $2 million in Canada, surpassing the previous year's winner of the Genie Award for Best Motion Picture, The Sweet Hereafter.

The site's consensus states: "A symphony of storytelling whose lulls lead to satisfying crescendos, The Red Violin weaves a centuries-long saga with the journey of a single instrument.

[35] Canadian Maclean's critic Brian D. Johnson, referencing Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, wrote "The Red Violin amounts to more than Five Short Films About a Fiddle", crediting Corigliano's music for supplying intensity and the story for making the eponymous violin into its own interesting character.

[27] Roger Ebert called the film "heedlessly ambitious", possessing "the kind of sweep and vision that we identify with elegant features from decades ago".

[38] Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B, with Lisa Schwarzbaum writing the fictional violin surpassed all real fiddles in colourful pedigree, and finding the storytelling interesting.

[39] The Washington Post critic Stephen Hunter assessed the score to be the strongest element of the film, and the story to be intriguing and occasionally "macabre".

[41] In The San Francisco Gate, Bob Graham accepted the film's ambition and judged Samuel L. Jackson to be cool in the role, in a very different way than in Pulp Fiction (1994).

[45] Composer John Corigliano was previously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score for the 1980 film Altered States before winning for The Red Violin.

[49] The Red Violin was also nominated for Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Score, but lost to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

[46] After the film's release, the Red Mendelssohn owner Elizabeth Pitcairn also learned its Chaconne, which she called "spooky", adding "that's when the violin can tell its own story; that's when it can actually speak".