‘Rose’ Review: Sandra Hüller Amazes, Again, in Markus Schleinzer’s Immaculately Controlled Tale of Gender Privilege
Variety | 16.02.2026 00:04
While jumping through the hoops of her first U.S. awards season two years ago for “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest,” it must have amused Sandra Hüller to be labeled a “breakthrough performer” — as if the “Toni Erdmann” star hadn’t repeatedly proven herself one of the world’s great working actors since her startling feature film debut in 2006’s “Requiem.” No one should be surprised that she’s again extraordinary in “Rose,” as a 17th-century war veteran concealing a host of secrets (not least among them her gender) beneath a man’s rugged work clothes. Yet the performance itself is consistently and subtly surprising: still and observant when you might expect mannered fuss, raging when you expect retreat, never transparent or complacent regarding the character’s motives or sense of self.
