This tautly strung, nailbiting journey of a flawless violin though 300 years of its history shows how it affects the lives of everyone it touches, and magnificenly celebrates the survival of the life-force and the power of art against the odds down the ages. The English Victorian interlude, with bizarrely overacting Jason Flemyng and Greta Scacchi, is a high camp folly, but the present-day climax, with music expert Samuel L Jackson tempted to make off with the instrument during a Canadian auction, is a gripper, beautifully played against type by the star. A true epic, it won an Oscar for its lush score.