I do hate to be a naysayer, but I will anyway. It's a great idea for a film: following a wonderful violin through the centuries and through different worlds. The music is grand. But something is missing -- life. Except for the Chinese sequence, (and the music), the picture is static. Sure you're interested in what happens to the violin in its many lives, but it just doesn't hang together. And the ending, in present day Montreal, is simply a disappointment.