"The so-called "gender-swap movie" is an odd thematic sub-genre that can usually go one of two ways. On one hand, there's the big, broad comedies that typically see cis men cross-dressing as (or body-swapping with) women for easy jokes based on tired old gender stereotypes. Think Rob Schneider's The Hot Chick, the absurd sports comedy Juwanna Mann, or the Wayans Brothers' White Chicks, which goes the extra mile by throwing some race-swapping in there, too."
"Perhaps unsurprisingly, these have fallen out favor since their early 2000s resurgence now that society's reached a more progressive, equitable, and compassionate understanding of sex & sexuality. Mostly, we just look back at these examples now and think, Holy sh*t I can't believe they got away with that! But the other type of gender-swap movie has managed to maintain its acclaim, even if they aren't the biggest audience-drawers."
"The latest to fit that mold is Rose, a fascinating and heartbreaking new drama from filmmaker Markus Schleinzer (2018's Angelo) set in 17th Century Germany, a time & place where women were more or less seen as subordinates to men, socially and legally. The phenomenal Sandra Hüller (star of international favorites like Anatomy Of A Fall and The Zone Of Interest) plays the eponymous Rose, a woman who, after being disfigured by a bullet during Europe's devastating"
Rose is a 17th-century period drama about a disfigured woman who assumes a male identity to survive in Protestant Germany after the Thirty Years' War. Markus Schleinzer directs and Sandra Hüller stars as Rose. The film contrasts broad, comedic gender-swap tropes—where cis men caricature women—with austere dramas in which women live as men for dignity and safety. The story interrogates survival strategies, gender roles, and the social and legal subordination of women in the period. The tone blends fascination and heartbreak while emphasizing restraint rather than broad humor.
Read at Queerty
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