{"id":62308,"date":"2019-09-11T22:18:04","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T02:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=62308"},"modified":"2019-09-12T12:06:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T16:06:34","slug":"feature-music-takes-a-bow-in-francois-girards-the-song-of-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/09\/11\/feature-music-takes-a-bow-in-francois-girards-the-song-of-names\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | Classical Music Takes A Bow In Fran\u00e7ois Girard’s ‘The Song Of Names’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Red Violin Director Fran\u00e7ois Girard returns to his roots with a musical mystery about loss and remembrance.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
Luke Doyle as Dovidl in The Song of Names. (Photo: Sabrina Lantos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Song of Names, which premiered at the\u00a0Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2019.<\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

M<\/span>usic and a story about loss and remembrance are inseparably entwined in The Song of Names<\/a>, a Canadian film that made its world premiere as part of the Gala Presentations series at TIFF.<\/p>\n

Based on the novel of the same name by British writer and Norman Lebrecht,<\/a> the movie stars Tim Roth and Clive Owen, along with Catherine McCormack, Jonah Hauer-King, Gerran Howell, Luke Doyle, and Misha Handley, with Canadian actor Saul Rubinek in a memorable character role.\u00a0[Disclosure: Norman Lebrecht writes a weekly column for Ludwig van Toronto.]<\/p>\n

As the story begins, it is 1951, in London. The Simmonds family, including young Martin, anxiously await the arrival of violin prodigy Dovidl, a Polish Jewish immigrant, to his debut concert, financed entirely by George, the family patriarch. Gradually, it becomes clear that Dovidl isn\u2019t going to show, and in fact, he seems to vanish without a trace. The cancelled concert leaves the Simmonds family in financial ruin; George has a stroke two months later and dies, believing Dovidl is dead.<\/p>\n

Decades later, Martin, played as an adult by Tim Roth, is an adjudicator at various music festivals, leading a fairly dull and routine existence in a crumbling house with his wife, played by Catherine McCormack. One day, he sees a young violinist make a gesture before his performance \u2014 a gesture that was Dovidl\u2019s trademark. It sets Martin on a journey to find the answers to the no-show that changed his life, and left him without both his father and the boy who he had come to think of as a brother.<\/p>\n

Canadian director Fran\u00e7ois Girard<\/a> was the natural choice to bring the story to the screen. The Quebec native\u2019s first international hit was 1998\u2019s The Red Violin, which also screened at TIFF, along with his Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould in 1993, among others. Along with films, Girard has directed plays and operas, including Wagner\u2019s Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera, and wrote as well as directed two Cirque du Soleil shows.<\/p>\n

\"Fran\u00e7ois
Fran\u00e7ois Girard (Photo: Yves Lacombe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI came into my door to film through music,\u201d he says. \u201cOpera is the mother of film.\u201d But, when he saw that the focus of the film was a violinist, he wasn\u2019t sure. \u201cAt first, I had a resistance to making this film,\u201d he says \u2014 not wanting to repeat the themes of The Red Violin. But, the story, with its strong universal themes, appealed to him.<\/p>\n

The screenplay by Jeffrey Caine is based on Lebrecht’s book<\/a>, with some tinkering of the story elements for cinematic purposes. [Disclosure: Norman Lebrecht writes a weekly column for Ludwig van Toronto.] Girard read the script first, then the book, which has a completely different structure. For the movie, Caine turned the story into a mystery to add narrative momentum. \u201cHe turns it into a quest \u2014 a mystery,\u201d Girard says. The book, however, was still the wellspring when it came to the details of character. \u201cI often went back to the book for understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie is shot with rich tones, particularly in the period scenes, which are imbued with gorgeous colours and atmospheric lighting that captures the look of pre-war Europe and wartime London. In flashbacks, we learn how Dovidl Rapoport, as a young boy, was sent to live in relative (at the time) safety in London with the family of Martin, away from the looming Nazi threat in Poland. George Simmonds, a music publisher, lavishes attention \u2014 and money \u2014 on Dovidl and his talent, to Martin\u2019s chagrin.<\/p>\n

The story doesn\u2019t shy from taking a hard look at its protagonists. Dovidl isn\u2019t an entirely sympathetic character \u2014 self-absorbed, and not particularly attentive to anyone\u2019s feelings or needs other than his own. Martin, too, is often petty and jealous of the talent and charismatic Dovidl. After the initial hostilities, however, the two form a strong bond, albeit one that is always something of a love\/hate combination \u2014 like true brothers, in other words.<\/p>\n

Casting the complex story was crucial. It plays out over three time periods, and involved using three different actors each for the roles of Dovidl and Martin, from age 10 to 13, 17 to early 20s, and then Tim Roth and Clive Owen as the two men now in their mid-fifties. British violinist Oliver Nelson helped to coach Clive Owen and Jonah Hauer-King, who play Dovidl at 55 and as a young adult, respectively, on how to make their violin playing seem realistic in the movie, and Taiwanese-Australian violinist Ray Chen plays for Owen and Hauer-King. No such effort was required with Luke Doyle, who plays the young musical prodigy. \u201cYou can\u2019t fabricate all the musicians,\u201d Girard says.<\/p>\n

\"The
Clive Owen as Dovidl in The Song of Names<\/em> (Photo: Sabrina Lantos)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Doyle, a musical prodigy in his own right, plays Dovidl from age 10 to 13. The young musician comes from Glastonbury, and underwent intense training in acting, along with work a dialect coach for his Polish accent and a few lines in Yiddish. His playing in the film is real, including Henryk Wieniawski\u2019s Variations on an Original Theme, Opus 15 and Niccol\u00f2 Paganini\u2019s Caprice #9 and #24.<\/p>\n

As an actor, he ably embodies the role of a young Dovidl \u2014 flip and arrogant, yet also brittle, with a sadness that he carries inside the self-confident exterior. \u201cHe is also a very precocious mind,\u201d notes Girard, who met Doyle a few times in London for casting interviews. \u201cI realized I was the one auditioning. I knew he could pull off the arrogance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Girard worked with all three Dovidls and Martins in groups. The actors would discuss their portrayals, and work on the physicality and developing the strong connection and bond between the two characters. In the novel, both Dovidl and Martin\u2019s families are Jewish, but actor Roth suggested that Martin\u2019s family not be Jewish, creating additional tension in the story.<\/p>\n

During adult Martin\u2019s quest to find Dovidl, he journeys to Poland, visiting the site of the Treblinka concentration camp. It is a genuinely poignant moment in the film, which was the first feature to receive permission to shoot on the Treblinka memorial grounds.<\/p>\n

In the story, The Song of Names is part of a Jewish tradition of remembrance, in this case, a tragic one. It is a song that the survivors of Treblinka created to memorize the names of all those who died within its gates. While the song itself is a work of fiction, the notion is rooted in Jewish liturgical traditions.<\/p>\n

\"Howard
Canadian composer Howard Shore. (Photo: Sam Santos, Canadian Film Centre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Girard gives high praise to the film\u2019s original score by Oscar-winning Canadian composer Howard Shore, perhaps best known for his work on The Lord of the Rings. It is Shore\u2019s haunting music that Dovidl plays as The Song of Names. \u201cHe\u2019s been one of the most incredible companions and partners,\u201d Girard says. There were many discussions about the movie and the story, and how the music would fit into it. Unlike most other films, Girard was looking to capture more than just mood or background music. He calls the composition \u201cthe core\u201d of the film. \u201cIt\u2019s not a sound he was capturing \u2014 it\u2019s a spiritual DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with the film\u2019s central themes of loss, remembrance, and how to pick up the pieces from that loss, there is another concept woven into the story.<\/p>\n

After the cataclysmic events of 1951, and their aftermath in the decades subsequent, the film\u2019s resolution leaves both characters with a new future. \u201cThere\u2019s an interesting turn in Dovidl\u2019s character,\u201d Girard says. It revolves around the question of art and music, the individual versus the community. What is the role of art \u2014 does it serve the ego of the artist, or should it serve a higher purpose? Or, can it do both? \u201cIt questions the implications of what an artist is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film has been picked by for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics. Look for a release later in 2019.<\/p>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook<\/span>,<\/i><\/a>\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/span>\u00a0for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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