Mrs. Prefect and I were watching The Red Violin on TV last night. One of those silly stations with 200 LOUD commercials per every 2 minutes of the movie. So we missed little bits here and there when we changed channels too late.
My Question:
At the end of the movie, did Jackson’s character steal the red violin? Or did he replace the forgery with the real violin? Don McKellar’s reaction seems to me to have meant that Jackson had already stolen the violin, but Mrs. Prefect was thinking the opposite. Help please.
I am pretty sure Jackson’s Daughter ended up with the real red violin. Though I’m not sure why that is a good thing since it was seemingly cursed throughout the film.
Warning spoilers bellow un boxed
The child owner died young, and it was buried with him. That wasn’t the original child owner either (or was it, I haven’t seen this for about a year). Wasn’t the Chinese owner originally owning it as a child, it didn’t do her that much good did it, though she saved it from the fire. The blood in the varnish all adds to the idea that it is cursed since all the owners seem to die young or unhappy, it seems to drive them to extreme obsession.
Yeah, but the kid had a weak heart before he got the violin, and there were many other orphans that used it without implications of curses. I think Menocchio has a good reason for that version of the ending, I will concede defeat to the LOML
Yeah, I always felt that he stole it for his daughter. At first I think he wanted to keep it a secret that it was THE red violin, to get it for himself. After all the publicity he could only steal it. IIRC he spent a ton of money on the fake one to do the swap.
[spoiler]Unless you count the stilborn Italian baby the violin was created for in the first place, the orphan kid was the first child owner (well, there were other orphans in the monastery before him). The blood was more to symbolize the connection between mother, unborn child, and violin, than to indicate some occult curse.
I think it’s wrong to look at the violin as a cursed object. It is a character, and this is its biography. It’s had a very tragic and tumultuous “life”, sure. But it hardy caused the bad things happening around it.
It was meant to be a gift from a loving father, and now it is. Jackson’s character both appreciates it as a work of genius, and as something to be passed on to a child. He won’t (we can assume, I think) push his ailing daughter to death for the art, nor will he engage on self-destructive behavior like the Romantic, or get involved in some bloody Canadian cultural revolution. More than the other bidders at the auction, he appreciates what the Red Violin is and how it should be used. Like a hero the passes through many tials before settling down to his reward, the violin can now look forward to happily ever after. [/spoiler]
Just watched the movie Red violin, “WOW” great movie!!!
I’ve tried to figure out if he ended up with the real violin or the copy by watching the expressions on his face a few times, was thinking he felt guilty as he was leaving and left the real violin. Ha I’m still not sure!!!