Le Violon Rouge

The Red Violin

A red and perfect violin inspires passion, making its way through three centuries over several owners and countries, eventually ending up at an auction where it may find a new owner.

In present day Montreal, a famous Nicolo Bussotti violin, known as "the red violin," is being auctioned off. During the auction, we flash back to the creation of the violin in 17th century Italy, and follow the violin as it makes its way through an 18th century Austrian monastery, 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."

Passion Is TimelessAn instrument of passion. A shocking secret. An extraordinary journey.

Read more reviews if u want to: just type The Red Violin and google it...

but anyways, for those who have never watched the film before, or will not want to watch it, here's a summary. for those who want to watch it, skip this whole paragraph.

the story begins with an auction of the red violin (duh). then flash back. the violin is made for the violin maker's unborn child. his wife gets her fortune read but doesnt realise its actually the violin's future, about the many journeys and trails. then the wife dies at childbirth, and the maker paints the violin red. then the violin ends up a century later in an orphanage where young Kaspar Weiss takes it up, and Goerges Poisson spots this young wonder, and takes him to Vienna. He trains Weiss to perfection, then as he goes for an audition, he heart conditions catches up wif him and Weiss collapses in front of the prince. The violin is buried with him but is stolen but grave diggers, and the violin ends up wif gypsies. Then Lord Frederic Pope gets hold of it from the gypsies, and he is inspired to perform better, until his life falls apart and he commits suicide. The violin then ends up in China during a culture revolution, where the owner has to hide the violin or face punishment (which she actually mets out to others.) she is found out by her son and is forced to leave the violin with an illegal music teacher, who soon after commits suicide and when he tries to hide the many instruments, and the stress overcomes him. The red violin is then passed on again. It ends up back in Montreal, whereby it is worked on to bring on a huge price at an auction. When it is discovered to be THE red violin, the person whom restored the violin exchanges it with another red violin during the auction and brings the actual red violin with him. He is the only one that uncovered the truth about the red varnish: it is actually the maker's wife's blood, painted on using her hair, after she died. The passion and love that is kept in this violin has been passed on for generations...

Another thing that struck me is how it is also cursed. Kaspar Weiss died, Frederic Pope died, the china guy died.. all because of the red violin. and how it will continue to affect others through the passion for music and a good violin. the fake red violin was sold for 2.5 million US dollars, and the buyer wld never know it was a fake.

Weiss slept with the violin every night, and Poisson said to him (this is a translation) --- to really be able to play your music, u must let go of it. u are enslaved by the violin. tonight you are sleeping alone! To which Weiss was utterly shocked.

And so do we all need to let go? Letting go… it seems to come up so many times to me these days… I received this last night… and its not for the first time I got it but still, it’s a reminder… and the line about how life is short struck me the hardest; as though i don't know that already. who's racing with time right now?

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised aglass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "Theabsolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it."

"If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour,I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have tocall an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I holdit, the heavier it becomes."

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carryour burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomesincreasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass ofwater, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden."

"So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don'tcarry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carryingnow, set them down for a moment if you can."

"Relax; pick them up laterafter you've rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!

And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probablyworth it.
* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
* The second mouse gets the cheese.
* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world toone person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
* We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty andsome are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but theyall have to live in the same box.
* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

And I dunno how much I see in all this, but definitely, I’ll try my best. Now that it’s the holiday anyways, I’ll have to let go of things. Not that I can see it happening, looking at the schedule on my wall. I kept telling myself, things will be better in the holidays. But work load has increased, stress levels higher, emotional strain greater… sighs. And I need physical training too… Gosh I’m going to need all the help I can get. I miss the laughter, the joy that I see in everything. I miss the optimism that has helped me through the toughest times. I miss the friends whom I can complain, and share my burden with. All these seem to have walked far away from me… why?

When I was out today, I kept my eyes open, to see a sign, that will tell me all is well. Well, it didn’t come. And now here I am, typing this, and in my head I hear this familiar song:

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it seems as though they’re here to stay
Oh I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be
There’s a shadow hanging over me
Oh yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go I don’t know, she wouldn’t say.
I said something wrong now I long for yesterday

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away
Oh I believe in yesterday.


Funny, why this song just came up all of a sudden.

My dreams are still coming.

-ch