19th Century violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini incurs the wrath of his diabolical manager while preparing for his debut performance in London, and falling for the daughter of an Englis... Read all19th Century violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini incurs the wrath of his diabolical manager while preparing for his debut performance in London, and falling for the daughter of an English impresario.19th Century violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini incurs the wrath of his diabolical manager while preparing for his debut performance in London, and falling for the daughter of an English impresario.
- Awards
- 2 nominations
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFun fact: Paganini never played his caprices in public because he wrote them for himself and were like his most intimate idea of music.
- GoofsLimelight is used in several concert scenes (including showing the actual chunk of lime), but the film is set in 1830 and the first use of limelight for a performance of any kind was 1836 and for theater performance in 1837. Further, Paganini had ended his concert performances in 1834 and his lifestyle and health made it highly unlikely that he would have ever stood in the limelight before his death.
- Quotes
Urbani: How quickly they have turned on you...
Niccolò Paganini: Urbani...
Urbani: I'm willing to forgive your disloyalty...
Niccolò Paganini: I've taken several beatings. I'll never take you back.
Urbani: You did not really love her. You loved the idea of what you thought she was. An innocent. Someone whose purity could redeem you of your many sins. But she's human! She has the same carnality and ambition as you. All that would have happened, is that you would have destroyed her... you would've have corrupted her... with the same seeding and infection that burns within your blood... I am not the Devil. I serve the Devil and you are my master.
- SoundtracksThe Devil's Violinist
Score produced and orchestrated by Franck Van der Heijden
Conducted by Ulf Schirmer
Score performed by Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Historical Orchestra: Orchester 1756 der Salzburger Konzertgesellscaft auf historichem Instrimenatarium'
Paganini Music Arrangements by David Garrett and Franck Van der Heijden
All Songs licensed courtesy of Decca Records, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited.
© & (P) 2013 Decca, a division of Universal Music Operations Limited.
What is the truth of Paganini? Bernard Rose's biopic plays fast and loose, which shouldn't matter because art strives for universal truths. Yet such striving often leads to cliché, as has happened here. As an instrument the violin lends itself well to furious solos, so the transition from classical musician to rock god is easy – throw in some long shaggy hair and stubble and sunglasses and we've basically got ourselves a Georgian Ozzy Osbourne. Not that the film is terribly anarchic. Early on we get some Dogma 95-influenced hand-held camera and hack 'n' slash editing but it soon gives way to familiar period stageyness.
Rose's film exists in the same realm as Milos Forman's Amadeus and touches on some of the same themes – genius emerging from chaos, both a creative and destructive force – but it's a relatively shallow movie, and one whose TV budget cannot be elevated by its impressively crashing classical soundtrack and its smoggy capital exteriors. Forman's film had a force-of-nature at its centre in the form of Tom Hulce. The Devil's Violinist has David Garrett, who's a wonderful violinist but no actor. Alarm bells ring when a character is meant to be thinking hard about something and actually grabs their chin.
But then, could any actor have provided a sympathetic portrayal? How charming is any man this juvenile; this unprofessional? Why should we care for a man who whinges about being "misunderstood" in one breath then dismisses his fans with the next? How do we side with someone who claims to love another and then accidentally shags a complete stranger with the same hair colour? Better writing and an actual actor might have helped us answer these questions.
Garrett isn't very well-supported, to be fair. Harris turns a scheming snake into a pantomime villain. Joely Richardson is gobsmackingly miscast as a cockney troublemaker. And while Alien Isolation fans may be pleased to see Andrea Deck in her full feature debut, I wouldn't expect the scripts to start piling on her doormat on the basis of this. But then, again, Charlotte is bafflingly written: she's genuinely repulsed by Paganini – a player and a player – only to spin on a sixpence once she hears him knock out a few notes, melody apparently trumping manners.
Rose has a firm hold of his film's darkly humorous tone, and the musical performances are, inevitably, spectacular (almost worth the rental fee alone, if for some reason an actual David Garrett Live DVD isn't available). But the decision to build a movie around a real musician backfires horribly, and with a bland and over-familiar script ("Who is the real you?" one character genuinely asks) it has to go down as a handsome, tuneful failure.
- rooee
- Jun 19, 2015
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Details
- Release date
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- Also known as
- El violinista del diablo
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Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $11,294
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $8,013
- Feb 1, 2015
- Gross worldwide
- $4,069,418
- Runtime2 hours 2 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1