Le Puy-en-Velay. He has been a violin maker for over 40 years: "If I don't see my violins, I'm scared."

How old are you, Pascal Douillard? The luthier on Rue Cardinal-de-Polignac thinks, hesitates for a moment... then whispers, "Fifty-seven."

The craftsman's mischievous air is enough to understand that this is not a matter of coquetry, but rather a real detachment from a reality that is ultimately futile on the scale of the temporality in which he evolves. "Once made, a violin is made to last for centuries."

That morning, the soft, clear light of cloudless days illuminates his studio perched high above the old town of Le Puy-en-Velay. Through the window, the view over the rooftops extends the journey between...

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