There’s a particular kind of danger that only shows up after the cannons go quiet: the kind that lives in villages, in ledgers, in who gets to claim a name and a piece of land without being questioned to death. That’s the charge running through the first trailer for “Rose,” the new period drama from Markus Schleinzer (“Michael,” “Angelo”), set to world premiere in the Berlin Film Festival’s Competition lineup.
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Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest”) stars as an enigmatic soldier who returns to a secluded German village and asserts she’s the heir to a long-abandoned farmstead—while presenting as a man. In the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War, the film’s premise turns that disguise into something sharper than survivalist camouflage: it’s a key that might unlock power, property, and autonomy in a world built to deny all three.
Schleinzer co-wrote the screenplay with Alexander Brom, and the film’s central idea is tethered to history, drawing inspiration from documented accounts of women who disguised themselves as men across European life. It’s an elegant hook for a filmmaker whose work has often been about the violence of systems—formal, domestic, bureaucratic—and the way people learn to live inside them until they can’t.
The Austria–Germany co-production is being sold by The Match Factory, with theatrical releases already set for Austria on April 17 and Germany on April 30. Producers include Johannes Schubert, Philipp Worm, Tobias Walker, and Karsten Stöter.
“Rose” premieres next week at the Berlin Film Festival. Watch the first trailer below.
