Sandra Huller Poll
Added 2024-03-08 20:00:04 +0000 UTCA couple of you have some very interesting points to say about THE ZONE OF INTEREST. I was talking to someone about Hedwig in particular, and I talked about how marvelous I think Sandra Huller's performance is in the film. I'd love to know from you guys who have seen both critically acclaimed films that she is a part of: which do you prefer her in? ANATOMY OF A FALL or THE ZONE OF INTEREST.
Comments
Amazing actress, even though a little bit "cold" as person, but she's from Germany after all. I voted for "Zone Of Interest". More complex character.
Alexandros Alexandropoulos
2024-03-11 15:51:27 +0000 UTCDude...I was discussing her walk too! I mentioned it to another patron. The way she hobbles. I think she's at the point in her life where her goal is not to attract, but to build. She met her hubby, she has her home. And now...she serves purely to be the functional mother, who keeps her home in order. There's no formalities in that sense. And yes...there's something to that quality, that brutal movement she has...that feels off, and intimidating too. Which is why when she does get angry...you believe it so intensely
Deepfocuslens
2024-03-09 20:15:48 +0000 UTCAgreed. That was what I think sold it for me in Zone. Her subtlety in it, and how real she is...is amazing
Deepfocuslens
2024-03-09 20:13:58 +0000 UTCAlso...I literally just called her Carmela Soprano to another patron in my messages.
Deepfocuslens
2024-03-09 20:13:09 +0000 UTCI think both are amazing in different ways. She was astounding in Anatomy of a Fall. But that's because it's a showy part. It's an actor-y type role. The kind actors dream of. They dont dream of roles like Zone of Interest. I found her subtle power, far more engaging and emotionally powerful in Zone of Interest as a result. Both are amazing. One is more an acting exhibition as I said, brilliantly done. The other involves the kind of talent/experience that is difficult in a completely different way. And it's the kind that demands a lot more of the performer in my opinion, so far as finding the connection with your audience. I much prefer Zone for that reason, personally. I cant get over how amazing she is in it. I have so many theories about her character in it.
Deepfocuslens
2024-03-09 20:12:35 +0000 UTCYeah that'd be my argument as well. I got more out of her performance in Anatomy partially due to the fact she gets more screen time and is the general focus. I kind of wish we spent more time with her in The Zone of Interest though. She is excellent in both nonetheless.
Stephen
2024-03-09 00:21:14 +0000 UTCThe Zone of Interest is the better film overall, but in terms of performance, Huller was better in Anatomy of a Fall. It’s a far more substantial role, and she played it beautifully. However you may feel about the film itself (I think it’s one of the best films of the year, despite some significant faults), you have to admit Hüller is one of the high points and richly deserved her nomination. She deftly embodies the ambiguity at the center of the story, creating a richly compelling portrait of a deeply flawed woman who, though likely capable of violence, probably is guilty of wrongdoing in her marriage in more underhanded ways that led to her husband’s death. It’s a full, nuanced performance of an aloof, manipulative wife who allows us to understand her without inspiring a lot of sympathy. That’s not to say that she’s bad in The Zone of Interest. But in that film, performance takes a back seat to Jonathan Glazer’s highly conceptual, widescreen surveillance aesthetic. She is but a piece in his vision of extreme dissociation: Norman Rockwell at the Gates of Hell. But she does have her moments. We get a view into the interior of Hedwig, how she zealously devotes herself to the house she’s designed and lived in for a number of years as a means of blocking out everything around her. Certainly more so than her own husband, it’s the one thing that gives her happiness in her life. One critic has aptly compared her character to Carmela Soprano in that respect. But though there may be no love between her and her husband, she dutifully plays the role of devoted housewife, and her prolonged exposure to Nazi ideology and the power granted her household has given her venom to spew when she’s in a rage. It’s a fine performance, but it functions not to shine but to serve a masterful vision.
Bennett Oliver
2024-03-09 00:13:23 +0000 UTCThanks man! Yeah, and you brought up a great point about that particular quote in the film talking to her Jewish housekeeper. That was the mask-off/shoe-drop moment that just chilled my core. Couple that with the scene on the dock when she’s talking to her husband, and she starts sobbing, and with SUCH sincerity and vulnerability, about how this is their home and not wanting to move….incredible.
Donoharm
2024-03-08 23:18:45 +0000 UTCSo great you caught that and singled that out.
Dean Imperial
2024-03-08 21:08:56 +0000 UTCYo. I was going to put that in my comment and you did it. YES. Her WALK!!!
Dean Imperial
2024-03-08 21:08:19 +0000 UTCShe is excellent in both films. But I would unequivocally vote for the “Zone of Interest” for the following reason: In “The Zone of Interest” for example, she has to deliver the following line to the local Polish girl who works in her house in a sudden spike of anger: "if I want him to, my husband could spread your ashes on the fields of the beach here." To sell that line, to access that degree of repugnance, with such unaffected loathing, in my humble opinion, is a far greater challenge for an actor than what she needed to access/deliver in AOTF. I cannot imagine where an actor of her caliber had to go spiritually, emotionally, and mentally to pull that off. She knows exactly what’s going on beyond those walls. And this challenge reflects to genius of the film, which — if you get it — realize it’s about we, the audience, and what we’re capable of and not about a narrative.
Dean Imperial
2024-03-08 21:02:56 +0000 UTCShe was great in both, though I would vote for Anatomy of a Fall. I will say that she absolutely nails a key scene in the Zone of Interest when she threatens her house slave in terms that make clear that she knows exactly what is going on next door. Prior to that scene, she refused to engage on the topic, ignoring her mother’s comments about the situation and pretending to be completely oblivious about the muffled gun shots and screams that could be heard in the distance. The anger, the hatred, the lifting of any pretense that she wasn’t complicit — she just nailed that line.
Ryan Holliway
2024-03-08 20:30:20 +0000 UTCAnatomy of a Fall without a doubt. The superior film in my opinion. But I think Huller still does a remarkable job in Zone of Interest. I just wish it was a better film
Henri J. Mertens
2024-03-08 20:20:15 +0000 UTCI have not seen Anatomy of A Fall, so I couldn’t say which is better, but I did see Zone of Interest, and I walked away admiring the level of detail that went into her performance. It was a performance that felt incredibly meticulous, but without feeling too considered and rehearsed. Right down to her walk. Can we take a moment to appreciate her walk in Zone of Interest? Lol That was one particular thing I noticed. Her character doesn’t walk like a “lady”. No grace or elegance to it at all. It looked more like a lumbering gate, kinda looked subtly monstrous. Reminded me of those Balenciaga runway models that walked in a similarly unsettling way.
Donoharm
2024-03-08 20:15:49 +0000 UTCShe was amazing in both movies, but I feel her character in Anatomy of a Fall had more range.
Gornay
2024-03-08 20:03:00 +0000 UTCIt's probably the more "dramatic" performance, but I do seriously believe Hüller's performance in Anatomy of a Fall is masterful. It balances the line between quietness and loudness so well. Also one of those performances I had a super visceral reaction to, I remember my jaw genuinely dropping at the argument scene the first time around.
vince2k
2024-03-08 20:02:52 +0000 UTCI’ve seen ZoI but I’m gonna watch AoaF tomorrow before the Oscars so I can at least have seen 3 of the best actress nominees and decide myself who should win. Right now, I’m at Emma Stone > Lily Gladstone.
Shane Palamara
2024-03-08 20:02:31 +0000 UTC
