Publié
Reading time: 2min
/2026/04/28/69f092d56e4ef751333212.jpg "“The Virtuoso”: Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall in a musical heist film by Daniel Roher")
With this first fiction feature film, American director Daniel Roher also makes a declaration of love to Dustin Hoffman by writing him a lovely role, tailor-made for him.
The director of NavalnyOscar for best documentary film in 2023, signs a rather successful first fiction feature film, with Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall. The Virtuosos releases in theaters Wednesday, May 27.
Niki White is a piano tuner. He works in a team with Harry, an old man who has become a little deaf (Dustin Hoffman) to whom he is very close. Niki suffers from hyperacusis, a pathological hypersensitivity to noise, which causes severe pain. He must live with headphones or earplugs at all times to tolerate daily noises.
Gifted with exceptional hearing, with perfect pitch, and a child prodigy on the piano, Niki had to give up his passion because of his illness. On assignment at a conservatory, he meets Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a promising young pianist and composer, while Harry, victim of a stroke, is hospitalized.
Spotted by a gang of burglars, the young man puts his hyperacusis at their service to detect the combination of safes by ear. To pay for Harry’s medical expenses, Niki goes on a string of heists with this gang of bandits and finds himself caught in a spiral that he no longer controls.
With this first fiction feature film, documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher mixes genres. The film begins as a comedy, with a laugh carried by Dustin Hoffman, sparkling in this role of an old histrionic attached to this orphan boy, whom he has taken under his wing. Then the film takes on the colors of romance, with the meeting between Niki and Ruthie, before switching into the heist film, when the young tuner launches into the villainous affairs of Uri and his gang of broken arms.
The director navigates this mix of genres fluidly, thanks to nervous staging and an excellent cast. However, we focus more on the psychology of the characters, and their feelings, than on the criminal intrigue and the somewhat repetitive heist scenes.
We are touched by the inner journey of Niki who, by going through an extreme experience, ends up finding her true place in her relationship to the world, to music, and to others, in a life disrupted by drama.
The remarkable work on sound, to which Johnnie Burn (La Zone d’intérêt), offers a real dive into Niki’s modified sound world. “I imagined this film based on the sound”, explains Daniel Roher in the note of intent. “I would like the film to be immersive. I would like the sound effects to allow us to adopt Niki White’s subjective point of view. I want to hear what he hears”he specifies.
Daniel Roher pays a beautiful tribute to Dustin Hoffmann, with a very nice role, but also winks which punctuate the rather successful first fiction film of this great documentarian.
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Titre original : “Tuner”
Genre :Â Thriller
Réalisation : Daniel Roher
With : Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Jean Reno
Pays : UNITED STATES
Durée: 1h49
Sortie : May 27, 2026
Distributeur :Â Metropolitan FilmExport
Synopsis : Gifted with exceptional hearing, a young piano tuner sees his life turned upside down when his talent attracts the attention of criminals who drag him into a series of increasingly risky burglaries. Despite himself, he sinks into a dangerous spiral that could cost him much more than his freedom.
