Sandra Hüller “I had a few days of procrastination before accepting Anatomy of a Fall”

From our journalist in Berlin,

Like the ancient god Janus, Sandra Hüller is the two-faced actress who haunts moviegoers. In the Palme d'Or Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet, she plays a successful novelist suspected of having pushed her husband who envied her success into the void. An X-ray of a marriage at the end of its tether, the Palme d'Or never completely removes doubt about one's innocence or guilt. In The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer on our screens at the end of January and also awarded at Cannes, she plays the wife of the SS commander, administrator of Auschwitz, who lives as if nothing had happened in a house with a view of the camp concentration and crematorium ovens. Two astonishing roles for which she collects honors and which could take her to the Oscars, much to the surprise of the person concerned. Nominated for the European Film Awards in the best actress category for these two performances, the 45-year-old German actress was crowned on Saturday for her performance in Justine Triet's drama. Le Figaro met her a few hours before the ceremony.

LE FIGARO - You are nominated twice this year for Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest. A rare double...

SANDRA HÜLLER. I am not aware of these statistics like you. Both of these films are extremely important personally, artistically and professionally. They took me to new corners. These projects are so different. But what unites them is probably their seriousness and their difficulty. In particular the Area of ​​Interest. Being nominated for playing Hedwig, a woman who turns a blind eye to the Final Solution unfolding beneath her window, even embarrasses me a little. Like a film that never made us feel comfortable. As the Oscars approach, everyone asks me if I believe in the possibility of a nomination. I can't answer you. I don't understand the rules of the game to be visible. There are so many settings, so many studios...Art is not a competition.

Looking back, have you formed a conviction about Sandra's guilt in Anatomy of a Fall? Did she kill her husband? Did he commit suicide?

The first time I read the script, I didn't know what to think about Sandra. I had a few days of procrastination before deciding it didn't matter. At the bar of a court, a defendant can be unfailingly sincere even if he committed the act for which he is accused. I chose to deliver each line as if I believed in it. A spectator made a very valid comment to me. Is this a movie about a woman who killed her husband or a movie about a kid who fears his mother killed his father? For him, it is inconceivable that his mother is a criminal. It is less difficult to accept that his father took his own life. This is perhaps a film about the extremes to which the imagination can plunge us. Justine wanted to tell the story of how we set out in search of the truth. Is this even possible? I like the idea that a character retains a part of the unknown, the unspeakable.

Did you hesitate to accept The Zone of Interest and portray this woman who seems affectless?

I would never have said yes to a film that uses the Shoah as a simple backdrop to tell the story of the ups and downs of a family, which, to be frank, disgusts me. Jonathan Glazer took the opposite view by showing the banality of their existence and their desires: to have a beautiful garden, a bigger house. The question he asks is: How is such indifference possible? What are we willing to sacrifice for our comfort and some extra benefits? We are all tempted on a daily basis to look away from subjects that are disturbing. As German actors, playing a Nazi character is not trivial. We were overwhelmed to have been so warmly surrounded by our Polish team. For the first time, with Hedwig I had to work on what I wanted to show, and not feel. How does this woman walk who has so many children, gardens, behaves like a farmer but closes her senses to the fate of the exterminated and tortured deportees beyond her wall? To get into her head, I hung on to every little detail of the scenario: her clothes, the absence of even the slightest piece of jewelry. Perhaps she walks a little hunched, unknowingly carrying a load, a weight on her shoulders.

Both Sandra and Hedwig are inscrutable. Do you see any parallels between them?

Rather, I see a form of energetic continuity. I have completed three very strong projects. The Zone of Interest then Sissi and I, a costume film which offered me a free, slightly strange character. I needed this exuberant role to forget Hedwig and find myself in the shoes of an independent and mature woman, who takes responsibility and never apologizes. This is perhaps the only thing Hedwig and Sandra have in common. Each role is a political choice even when you choose a lighter project precisely so as not to talk about politics.

What did these two characters teach you?

I wish I had the audacity of Sandra who does what she wants. With Hedwig, we had a lot of conversations about whether a woman who ignores the murder of thousands of people can love her dog and her children. I don't think it's possible to wish for so many deaths and still have some humanity.