Well, I can’t say the first image of Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” gives us much but it does go along with the aura of mystery surrounding this film.
It features people lying on a beach front donning 40s-style bathing suits. I doubt we’ll be getting anything else before the film premieres in two weeks time at Cannes.
We do finally have a synopsis:
“Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig strive to build a good life for their small family in a pavilion with a garden not far from the camp. When a mutation comes to threaten everything they have built, Hedwig refuses to leave the house of their dreams.”
The upcoming holocaust drama has been shrouded in secrecy, it might also be in Polish and German. This would be the filmmaker’s first non-English film. The leads in “The Zone of Interest” will be played by award-winning actors Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann) and Christian Friedel (Amour Fou).
What we also recently learned is that Glazer’s film was the only one unanimously approved by the Cannes selection committee this year. Venice was heavily trying to lure Glazer to premiere his film there, but Cannes won out.
Glazer’s last film was 2013’s “Under the Skin.” It was named the 12th best film of the last decade in our massive critics poll. Before that, Glazer had just directed two features, 2001’s pulverizing “Sexy Beast” and 2004’s “Birth,” which was one of the most underrated movies of the 2000s.
“The Zone of Interest” will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19th.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.