Nicolo Paganini, born in 1782, was a genuine child prodigy, learning Mandolin and Violin at the ages of 5 and 6. By the time he was 13 he traveled about Italy to find the best teachers but they told him he was too advanced, they could not teach him. He was certainly the best and most known violinist of the late 1700s and early 1800s. And many still think that he remains the best violinist of all time. In fact he was so good that some people of that period were sure he had a pact with the dEVIL. And it even prevented him, upon his death, to have a Christian burial.And that is the significance of the title of this movie. It takes the life of the real violinist, Nicolo Paganini, and weaves in a fictional story about his special appearance in London, where he also met a young soprano, but was destined for love unfulfilled.The star, and one of the producers, is actual concert violinist David Garrett as the adult Niccolò Paganini. Garrett himself was a child prodigy of sorts and when you see him play he can do remarkable things, Paganini-like things, with the violin. He is not an experienced actor, yet he does fine in the role, and this movie could not have been realistically made without someone of his caliber. When we see him playing famous, complex Paganini compositions, we see Garrett playing them himself. I am a musician, my father was a violinist, it makes a difference to have a real virtuoso musician in the role.In this fictional story, early in his performance career, Paganini receives a lukewarm reception from a crude crowd, who would rather hear his barnyard composition. But he meets Jared Harris as Urbani, wearing a black cape with red accents, he looks and feels like the dEVIL. He makes a pact with Paganini, he will serve him and help make him famous if he will agree to serve Urbani after he dies. (In a later scene Urbani says he is not the dEVIL but works for him.) The other nice touch is young American operatic singer Andrea Deck as Charlotte Watson, the young lady Paganini falls in love with in London as he stays as her father's house guest.I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, especially the music. There is a great lull as the story is established, up until about 54 minutes, but then there is a great scene where Paganini is in a hostile pub in London, then he mesmerizes everyone with his playing. Then around 1:12 to around 1:24 more music at the concert in London.I know this is a fictional story built on the real Paganini, but it is a great glimpse into who this violin master might have been.

We did not hold out much hope for this after reading the reviews. Gratefully, the reviews, as they are quite often, were, in my opinion, wrong. It is beyond me how these negative reviews make it past the smell test. The performance of the music was as visually captivating as it was sonically beautiful. The acting was more than passable and the direction was as good as any. Anyone with slightest knowledge of Paganini, or anyone who bothered to even look up his name on wikipedia, would understand that this movie summarized his life with artistic license. The story itself was a composite of real events, failures and triumphs. In short, if critics loved Amadeus ( truly pitiful depiction of reality with hyperbolic acting antics throughout) and hate this movie, then I will never fathom their trade.

Please, if you are one of those that won't watch a movie simply because it has bad reviews, DON'T watch this. This movie had dimension and a great backstory that most people seemed not to notice. Well, the synopsis covered everything, all the roles were well played except for the lead role himself, Niccolo, but that is passable since he did not have a lot of lines.I got mashed up at a point during the movie when the reporter got jealous, then I got the plan. The mastermind behind this entire movie is Urbani!!!! That is what should have been standing out to those viewers who just look at the superficial and physical. If anything, try looking at Urbani as the devil in this movie. He freaking asked for Niccolo's soul to be signed to him for the afterlife at the beginning of the movie. That alone got me hooked to see if Niccolo could get his soul back, maybe through the pure love Charlotte had for him. He was foolish though, and Urbani made sure he died not at a ripe and old age by encouraging him in acts of drugs and sex and using it as an avenue to spike his 'medication'. That was ANOTHER critical minor detail that should get all the viewer's attention.Other characters in this movie did well, Urbani brought everything together with all the snide comments he made at all Niccolo's outbursts. Another big clue!!! All i have to say is if you end up watching the movie, keep a close attention on all Urbani's words, lines, actions, behaviour, etc, and the movie will make more sense.At the end of the movie, it was written in German that Paganini's body was not allowed to be buried in 'consecrated ground', now if that doesn't tell you what happened to Paganin's soul, I don't know what will.I liked the movie, but its not something that's worth multiple views.

We just saw this movie. I am a Designer and Artist to the core. What no one said here till now, is how drop dead gorgeous and yes maybe a bit "plastic" the director turned David Garrett in this movie. And made the best of Joely Richardson. And have you "seen on you tube " Nicole Scherzinger singing the aria. And even the story maybe a tad on the "too obvious" side but it done in a real very clever way and one is dragged at moment between asking one self is it play or a new filmed version like all the "Shakespeare" have been turned into..The lights and visions are conveyed with real quality. It made me dig deeper for several hours discovering very good music and plenty of entertainment and that is what I want from my movies. The costumes are plentiful and the decor detailed and every hairdresser should have wanted to style the David's gorgeous head of curls that look so very stunning in dark. It could make a way more sexy add for a leading shampoo brand that all these boring muses shaking their manes. Really ladies and gents this is a movie for relaxing and visually enjoying with a twist of love and passion and money dealing that Artist will associate with.