History Film / TheRedViolin

* TheCameo: Joshua Bell, who plays most of the music in the soundtrack, is seen amongst the Orchestra in Oxford as Frederick Pope prepares to play his music.

* DarkSecret: Xiang keeping the Red Violin safe, even as she herself is a member of the CulturePolice.
** The red violin's beautiful and distinctive varnish [[spoiler: is made with Anna's blood.]]

** When Ming, at the auction, first sees the red violin, he says [[spoiler: "That's not the one I remember." His wife assures him that he's mistaken.]]

* PetTheDog: Frederick Pope may be an arrogant jerk to his conductor and the rest of his orchestra, but he lets the Romani camp stay on his land as long as they like, and even gives them free tickets to his performances, all in exchange for one violin of theirs.

* RedChina: The fourth portion of the story takes place during the UsefulNotes/CulturalRevolution, when Western instruments are outlawed.
* RedHerring: When the monks tell Poussin that they buried the violin with Kaspar and then leave him at the graveside, the way the scene is shot makes it appear likely to the viewer that he intends to open the coffin to steal it back. [[spoiler:Instead the GraveRobbing that is shown immediately after this is revealed to have been carried out by a band of Roma, not Poussin.]] Also see the second MockGuffin entry above.

* TarotTroubles: Anna's reading is not filled with good omens. The Moon, the Hanged Man, the Devil, and Justice all make appearances. [[spoiler: Subverted, with the last card -- Death -- which actually signifies a new beginning and change for the better.]]

* ThePowerOfBlood: of the Blood Is Symbolic variety. [[spoiler: Busotti finishes the violin after his wife's death by making a varnish of her blood and painting it on with her hair. The violin carries on Anna's spirit (or, alternately, her child's). Ever after, the violin's owners constantly play a variant on Anna's Theme.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After she takes the violin to Chou Yan to keep it safe, we see Xiang's father back at the loft, saying he will wait for her to return. It is never revealed if she came back or what happened to her if she did, but considering what Ming had been forced to confess and the attitude of her father and the other revolutionaries, it probably wasn't good.

* GraveRobbing: [[spoiler:[[{{Gypsy}} A band of Romani]] unearth the violin after it's buried with Kaspar and take it to England.]]

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The story of the auction is, although shown several times from different POVs, very little of the movie compared to the long flashbacks showing HowWeGotHere. Or, for another interpretation -- because the film's first and last shots are in Cremona, Italy, it's possible that the entire film is a Whole Episode Flash-''forward.''

* TheMuse: Victoria to Fredrick, as their passionate affair fuels his music, and it's implied Frederick also helps Victoria compose her novels.

* StageMom: Monsieur Poussin acts as this to Kaspar, in the sense that he keeps pushing him to the edge of his health in order to train up to his standards and achieve the miraculous talent he foresees in him--the scene where Kaspar nearly dies from his weak heart due to having the violin taken from him, and Poussin promises him he doesn't have to play if he doesn't want to, can come across as blatant manipulation (since he makes sure to stress how the audition could be cancelled, underscoring how not playing would be disappointing so many people). But unlike most examples of the trope, he isn't doing this to live out a fantasy he can't achieve, or for his own glory (though there is a bit of that in how he wants Kaspar to learn French so "everyone will know I taught him"--it's simply for the money he can make if Kaspar gets chosen by the prince. Still, his overall harsh treatment of the boy is true to the trope.

* ChekhovsGunman: In the opening scenes, as Morritz enters the auction room, he passes by a man desperately trying to enter the auction itself. That man is Nicholas Olsberg, the representative from the Pope Foundation as revealed by the scenes in Oxford.

* TheCasanova: Fredrick Pope.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Fredrick Pope, after Victoria leaves him and shoots at his violin]].

* TheHedonist: Fredrick Pope. His house is furnished with the most luxurious trappings, his musical and sexual appetites intersect in peculiar ways (to say the least), and as time goes on, he develops an addiction to opium.
* HeyWait: You forgot your coat, Mr. Morritz.

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The story of the auction is, although shown several times from different POVs, very little of the movie compared to the long flashbacks showing HowWeGotHere. Or, for another interpretation -- because the film's first and last shots are in Cremona, Italy, it's possible that the entire film is a Whole Episode Flash-''forward.''
* WomanScorned: Victoria grabs a gun when she hears Frederick getting his ''inspiration'' from someone else.

* [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Powered By A Forsaken Child... or Mother]]: The Red Violin. From when Cesca begins to read Anna's cards, the path she lays out strongly resembles the violin's life. But it's unclear whether the future she reads is for Anna or her unborn son [[spoiler:-- and then, if the violin should be seen as carrying Anna's spirit or his.]]

* UsefulNotes/AcademyAward: For Best Original Score.

* RedChina: The fourth portion of the story takes place during the CulturalRevolution, when Western instruments are outlawed.

* ArtifactOfAttraction: The Red Violin. Those who own it tend to love it passionately, and be inspired by it like nothing else. Victoria seems to think it has an evil will of its own. Granted, this becomes increasingly [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as the years go on, and the violin becomes recognizably more and more valuable by its age.

''The Red Violin'' is a historical fiction film following the people that have played an elusive, expertly crafted red violin. The film starts with the luthier in Italy, a fastidious master who crafts a perfect instrument for his unborn son. Then, following the pattern laid down by five Tarot cards, the violin's journey takes it through Europe, Asia, and finally the New World, from one owner to another. Four centuries pass as it haunts its many owners with beautiful music and constant misfortune. The climax of the film is an auction house in Montreal, where the violin, now recognized as a priceless treasure, is up for the highest bidder.

''The Red Violin'' was produced by companies from Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom. It was released by Lionsgate in 1998. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Score (composed by John Corigliano), and received/was nominated for many other awards for filmmaking and music, including a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: All the auction candidates who want to buy the violin for sentimental or respectful reasons are outbid, and it ends up going to the pompous Mr. Ruselsky, who only wants it to boast about it. Or... does it? ]]

* AcademyAward: For Best Original Score.

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Monsieur Poussin adopts Kaspar Weiss not for love or to improve his talent, but only to sell his talent to the highest bidder. When Weiss meets an untimely death, he has the gall to ask the monks for the Red Violin itself, hoping to sell it.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: All the auction candidates who want to buy the violin for sentimental or respectful reasons are outbid, and it ends up going to the pompous Mr. Ruselky, who only wants it to boast about it. Or... does it? ]]

* HypocriticalHumor: Mr. Ruselky, a violin expert testing out the most promising finds, plays the red violin itself, and declares that it's "nothing special." The day that the news story breaks that the violin is actually ''the'' red violin, he at once snaps that he knew it ''at once'', Morritz lied to him, and that violin should be his!

* MeaninglessVillainVictory: [[spoiler: Mr. Ruselky ends up winning the red violin at auction -- but what he doesn't know is, that violin he won is a fake. And even if he figures it out, his pride will never let him admit he was so duped.]]

* TheCameo: See "Actor Allusion," above.

** The [[GraveRobbing]] gypsies, who play it for another century before ending up in Frederick Pope's possession.

* ChekovsGun: [[spoiler: To verify the violin's authenticity, Mme. Leroux (in Montreal) orders a replica of the violin that was made when it came into Frederick Pope's hand (Pope being the violin's most famous owner), in order to compare them. They're almost indistinguishable. Morritz later swaps out the real violin for the replica.]]

** Kaspar averts the trope, a polite and willing little boy who just wants to play music. M. Poussin, his mentor and patron, is certain that Kaspar's talent is worth every sous of debt that he incurs.

* [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Powered By A Forsaken Child... or Mother]]: The Red Violin. From when Cesca begins to read Anna's cards, it's unclear whether the future she reads is for Anna or her unborn son [[spoiler:-- and then, if the violin should be seen as carrying Anna's spirit or his.]]

* ActorAllusion: Violinist Joshua Bell, who is world-renowned and played the violin parts on the soundtrack (and thus, most of the characters who play the titular violin were "played" by him), has a cameo as a violinist in the orchestra during Pope's recital. [[spoiler:He never actually gets to play the violin in this scene.]]

* PetTheDog: Frederick Pope may be an arrogant jerk to his conductor and the rest of his orchestra, but he lets the gypsy camp stay on his land as long as they like, and even gives them free tickets to his performances, all in exchange for one violin of theirs.

** Frederick Pope of Oxford, some century and a half later, is a Byronic musical genius. His performances feature music composed on the spot in a fit of sexual inspiration, and hang the rest of the orchestra for prudes. The downside is that when his muse departs, he can barely function, let alone compose [[spoiler: and finds inspiration with a gypsy girl.]]

* GraveRobbing: [[spoiler:[[{{Gypsy}} Gypsies]] unearth the violin after it's buried with Kaspar and take it to England.]]

** When Ming, at the auction, first sees the red violin, he says [[spoiler: "That's not the one I remember."]] His wife assures him that he's mistaken.

** When Ming, at the auction, first sees the red violin, he says [[spoiler: "That's not the one I remember."]]