In their conversations leading up to the making of Rose, star Sandra Hüller and director Markus Schleinzer worked hard at fine-tuning their eponymous 17th-century hero. Hüller was to play a woman disguising herself as a male soldier in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War, ingratiating herself in a small Protestant village. She considered preparation routines like strength training, before setting them aside as anachronistic; she agonized over keeping things as believable as possible. “She was wondering, ‘What should I do with my voice — should I lower it?’” Schleinzer recalls. “Then we started to laugh because then we found out that my voice, as a man, is higher than her voice as a woman. It would be a weird thing for her, to lower her voice to pretend to be a man, for a male director who has a much higher voice than hers.”
The anecdote offers some amusing insight into the dynamic between Schleinzer and Hüller, which remained deeply playful and collaborative over the years it took to get Rose made. Yet it also speaks to the ultimate mastery of Hüller’s portrayal here, which never goes for the easy or obvious choice. In a career full of decorated performances, this ranks among Hüller’s very best, a moving, wondrously strange embodiment of a survivor in constant, subtle hiding. Below, you can watch the exclusive trailer for the film for a first look.
Rose premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February, where Hüller won the Silver Bear for best lead performance. The star then went on to receive a Tribute Medallion in Telluride earlier this month, where the movie made its North American premiere; now, it’s making the rounds in New York. “Rose is another extraordinary showcase for her gifts and a master class in the art of acting with rigor, honesty, physicality and zero showiness,” wrote THR chief film critic David Rooney of Hüller in his review.
Schleinzer first had the idea for Rose on his birthday, when a friend told him that 250 years ago to the day, a woman had been executed for being caught living her life as a man. The Austrian filmmaker and former casting director, who came up under the legendary Michael Haneke, became obsessed with the story and researched hundreds of other examples, from decades before and after. He saw them speaking to the current climate of fear felt by various marginalized communities. “Every life, every day is a political act — so we cannot hide,” says Schleinzer, who is queer. “We have to change things if we want to have a better life as a community.”
Already at work on the script, Schleinzer then met Hüller on the set of the 2023 German black comedy Sisi & I — as her co-star. “I was really bad in this movie because I was so keen to watch Sandra firsthand — I already had started writing Rose and started stalking her, watching all the things she was ever in, even the tiny television spots she had at the beginning of her career.” He later sent her the script, which was written in prose, more akin to a novel; she jumped at the challenge.
Sandra Hüller in Rose.
The Match Factory/Courtesy Everett Collection
When asked what surprised him about Hüller’s approach to the role, Schleinzer points to a viral red-carpet clip of the star describing her process in straightforward terms — “I really have to disappoint you, it’s not so much: I learned the lines” — in noting that what results from that is anything but simple.
“I was a casting director for 17 years and I always had the feeling that my main job was to get people out of being afraid, of having fear or discomfort — there is this type of actor who loves to talk, because talking means that they do not have to act, they can just talk, talk, talk, talk,” the director says. “Sandra is the complete opposite. She is someone who gets easily bored, so no take is the same: ‘Now I’ll become a little more boyish,’ ‘Now I’m the soldier.’ I had the big problem of choosing how to build up a character for the audience, then — but this was surprising, to see such life come alive in front of your eyes on the set every day.”
Shot on location near the East German border with original sets, scouted by Schleinzer through hours of hiking, the film boasts a handmade quality in Gerald Kerkletz’s black-and-white cinematography, the exacting makeup and costume work and the dry humor that allows the absurdity of certain situations to breathe — even as Rose hurtles toward profound tragedy. “My intention was to make something more about these days we are in than just a museum piece with some nostalgic images,” Schleinzer says.
Rose premiered this past weekend to more raves at the New York Film Festival, and will be released in North American theaters by Mubi on Dec. 11. The project started shooting less than two weeks after the end of Hüller’s campaign for Anatomy of a Fall, which netted her a best-actress Oscar nomination — and shot in small increments over many months from there. This could be the project that brings her back to the Oscars, although her greatest competition may be herself: She’s also terrific as the lead of Cannes-winner Fatherland, also a Mubi release, and plays key supporting roles in Project Hail Mary and Digger.
But within the scope of Hüller’s filmography — really, any actor’s — Rose feels special. “Sandra said I should not threaten people, but I have watched her career for the last 20 years and I’ve seen so many prizes taken away from her,” Schleinzer says with a grin. “If she’s not going to be nominated for this one, I’m going berserk.”
Check out the official poster below.
Rose poster.
Mubi
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