Le maître et le violoncelle

In 1980, Thomas, an internationally renowned luthier (maker of stringed instruments), returns to Mirecourt, the land of his ancestors. Solitary and cantankerous, he lives in his family's home that had been unoccupied for years, the home where his grandfather had hung himself. While attempting to bring some life back to the house, Thomas discovers a secret in his grandfather's cello that could make him even more famous than the legendary master violin-maker Stradivari. Thomas concentrates on what he believes to be his destiny in music and shuts himself off from the world until the day Mathilde enters his life. She is a fragile adolescent, daughter of his frère de lait (they shared the same wet nurse) and has asked him to help her create her own cello. She unwittingly provokes disturbing feelings in Thomas when she brings a young man, Victor into their life and persuades him to create the same instrument. While Victor works on the violin, he realizes that he is in love with Mathilde.