By Alexander Frederick
She didn’t get a “Golden Palm”. Nevertheless, cinema star Sandra Hüller (45) was THE topic at the end of the Cannes Film Festival.
Because the actress, who was born in Suhl, inspired audiences in two films. She was acclaimed for her roles in the drama Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest. British director Jonathan Glazer (58) called her performance “extraordinary”. “They should invent a separate category for Sandra Hüller.”
For the mother of a daughter, the two films were the way out of an acting crisis. “After ‘Toni Erdmann’ (was nominated for an Oscar in 2017) I didn’t know for a long time how to proceed,” says Hüller to the “Berliner Morgenpost”.
Sandra Hüller was the center of attention at the Cannes Film Festival Photo: picture alliance/dpa/MAXPPP | Dylan Meiffert
“I was offered the same roles, businesswomen, all very similar. I had already played that. What else could I have discovered there?” It took several years “until I started enjoying my work again, until I found projects that had to do with topics and questions that moved me. It was very fortunate that these films came.”
What was noted in both roles. Many festival-goers in Cannes were enthusiastic about Hüller. Count her among the currently most important German actresses. The fact that she ended up empty-handed when it came to the award for best actress became a minor matter.
Sandra Hüller and director Justine Triet (right) shot “Anatomy of a Fall” Photo: picture alliance / Rocco Spaziani | Rocco Spaziani
Because films in which she played were awarded for it. Anatomy of a Fall won the Palme d’Or for Best Festival Entry, while Glazer received the Grand Jury Prize for The Zone of Interest.
This would certainly not have happened without Huller’s special achievement. Thus, the “Actress of the Year 2020” has won almost everything without holding an award in her hands.