"In Markus Schleinzer's Rose, the lead character, played by the mesmerizing Sandra Hüller ( Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest, Toni Erdmann), never utters her real name, nor is she ever asked it. The narration (spoken with dry, devastating efficiency by Marisa Growaldt) calls her Rose, but among the characters she is simply referred to as "the Master" and spends most of the film posing as a man."
"Shot in luminous black and white, it delights in the textures of this life. Every piece of wood, every strand of rope, every rolled rock has a solidity that reinforces the idea that this world is made up of never-changing facts. We imagine the people here have lived like this for hundreds of years, and may well do so for hundreds more, which helps explain their fear of anything that doesn't match their experience."
A scarred veteran who long posed as a man returns to an isolated 17th-century farming community claiming a large plot of land. Locals meet the veteran with suspicion until a childhood memory of a chapel fire convinces them of a local past. The narrative emphasizes mutable identity as the veteran is called Rose by narration but addressed as "the Master" by villagers. The austere, time-loose setting feels both specific and placeless. Luminous black-and-white cinematography highlights tactile textures and the unchanging material world, underscoring villagers' fear of unfamiliar change.
Read at Vulture
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]