The Devil's Violinist

2013
R
2h 2m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

Jared Harris and David Garrett in The Devil's Violinist (2013)

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19 Photos

Biography Drama Musical

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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

3.9K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 nominations

Trivia
Fun fact: Paganini never played his caprices in public because he wrote them for himself and were like his most intimate idea of music.

Goofs
Limelight 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.

Soundtracks
The 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.

User reviews31

Review

Featured review

4/10

If Syfy Channel Tried To Make a Drama

This is what it would be like.

It wasn't entirely unwatchable, but it was not a good movie by any means. CGI was distracting, although if you look at it as art, they did a good job, just not realistic enough to be passable.

I was surprised Bernard Rose was the writer and Director, who also did the same for Immortal Beloved. Perhaps this movie was just missing Gary Oldman? The movie seems to be confused whether Paganini is the main character or not. It is filled with sub-par, some acceptable, and some over-acted performances. I thought Andrea Deck was good. David Garrett as Paganini, well, maybe his performance was more related to the script. I did enjoy all his performance scenes (performing on the violin, you dirty minded people you).

Am I the only one that noticed St. Patrick's Cross flag flying over London? You'd think Bernard Rose, an Englishman, would catch that. It was clearly in the hands of the Syfy special effects gurus at this point, so maybe the he had no hand in post-production. Or maybe there was a time England was flying the British version of the Irish flag that I don't know about? I doubt it.

Overall, this movie was not great enough to be good, and not bad enough to be great. It falls right in the middle, as most forgettable movies do.