In present day Montreal, a famous Nicolo Bussotti violin, known as "the red violin", is being auctioned off. During the auction, the action flashes back to the creation of the violin in 17th century Italy, and continues to follow the violin's history. It has journeyed through an 18th century Austrian monastery, to a violinist in 19th century Oxford, China during the Cultural Revolution, and back to Montreal, where a collector tries to establish the identity and the secrets of "the red violin". This movie, like a book of short stories, can hook you once and annoy you the next. The segments follow a violin for 3 centuries obviously shooting for a wide range of settings, thus a wide range of stories and characters. Commendably all the settings and characters are very different.
The Red Violin is an engrossing film if you let yourself become engrossed. There are many subtle plot elements and references that you might miss if you aren't paying attention. This is sometimes detrimental as you feel as though you've missed large sections and you aren't sure what is going on. The segments of the violin's life are enjoyable for different reasons but are all well presented. I enjoyed this film a lot and would encourage people to go see it. I thought that it was quite ambitious for a film to have a violin as its main character, but I am glad they succeeded without making it talk or sing.