"The Red Violin" is not a masterpiece. The emotions of the film itself are a bit exaggerated, and some stories can't stand scrutiny, but in terms of its narrative skills, it is indeed very delicate and ingenious.
There are two clues in the film, one is diachronic, linear narrative; the other is synchronic, flashback and interlude. The double lines are intertwined, rich and not messy. The fortune-telling card in the old woman's hand tells five stories in turn, but the scene of the auction overlaps in time with the appearance of different characters. At the same moment in the world of different people, what we see and experience is full of personal details. This repetitive representation of scenes and time presents the diversity, authenticity and complexity of the real world. However, the five stories over time are legendary and have no witnesses. Therefore, the information is single, and the narration is also unique.
History can only be told, and without a narrator, time and events can only be frozen.
Life is going through right now, and each participant has their own perspective.
The question is, who saw all the experiences of the red violin, and who deliberately concealed the key in the story, and only revealed the shocking truth at the end? Who is this narrator? Is he or she the violin connoisseur who finally owns the red violin? Or the old woman who told fortunes with poker? Yes, but not completely.
The narrator is the one who tells the story, he is invisible. He used two tenses when telling the violin legend, the past continuous and the present continuous. In the past continuous, the viewer and the angle are the same. In the present tense, multiple participants gave their experiences and time. This makes the temporal form of the film complex and meaningful.
Making a fuss about time can easily cause difficulties for the audience to understand. "Red Violin" has various time forms, but it can express clearly, and at the same time, the suspense is revealed just right. It is not easy to do this. The 2009 Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film "Mysterious Eyes" is somewhat similar to the "Red" film in time form and structure. But I always felt that another movie deserved the award: The White Ribbon.
"White Ribbon" is a little dull in narrative, but it is true to the essence of Bergman's film. I'm wondering if there is a movie that combines the "deep" with the "smart", perfectly fine in time and structure, yet as deep as the ocean, but it seems like it can't be the best of both worlds matter.
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