As Europe erupts into World War II, 9-year-old Martin comes to love his new adopted brother Dovidl, a gifted violin prodigy of the same age and recently arrived Polish-Jewish refugee in London. But hours before Dovidl's debut concert performance at the age of 21, he vanishes without a trace, meaning shame and ruin for his family. A lifetime later, a young violinist shows a 56-year-old Martin a stylistic flourish that could only have been taught by Dovidl.
Music occupies a central place in the filmography of François Girard (Saint-Félicien, Canada. 1963), who made his film debut in 1990 with Cargo. Next came Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993), Bach Cello Suite #2: The Sound of Carceri (1997) Le violon rouge (The Red Violin, 1998), for which John Corigliano won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, Silk (Soie, 2007), an adaptation of the book of the same name by Alessandro Baricco, Boychoir (2014) and Hochelaga, Terre des Âmes (Hochelaga, Land of Souls, 2017). He also directed the documentary Souvenirs d’Othello (1995).