The Zone of Interest depicts the Holocaust without the horrifying and grotesque imagery of the 20th century’s greatest crime. Director Jonathan Glazer of Under the Skin and Sexy Beast portrays the family life of Auschwitz’s commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller). They lived in an idyllic home with a beautiful garden directly adjacent to the concentration camp. You hear gunshots and terrifying screams as the fiendish couple enjoy a luxurious lifestyle. Their children collect gold teeth while Hedwig parades around in the fur coats of her husband’s victims.

German actor Christian Friedel (Babylon Berlin, Perfume) portrays Höss as supremely duplicitous. He was able to organize genocide and then read his children bedtime stories. Friedel needed to “connect his emotional archive” to “create a believable character.” He hated “the whole family” but had to give Höss “a human face.” Friedel had “no empathy” for a man capable of “incredible crimes” but had to show the truth. Höss had feelings, tried to be “a good father,” and even expressed “sadness” over the death of his horse. Friedel wants the audience to realize, “this could be me.”

Friedel trusted Glazer’s vision of “changing the perspective, but not to idolize or glamorize these people.” He believes it’s “more intense” to have the family “next door to a murderer camp” and can “clearly hear the atrocities.” The sound effects weren’t used on set but “was great for the acting, because we were sometimes in a completely silent situation.” Friedel thinks “it was more helpful not to hear all the sounds, and not to smell, because we act in a normal way.”

Sandra Hüller is absolutely brilliant as Hedwig. She follows an amazing performance in the Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Anatomy of a Fall, with a shockingly vile turn. Friedel worked with Hüller previously on Jessica Hausner’s Amour Fou. The actors are “very close” and “talked every day about what was going on.” Friedel admitted to being “unsure” of the “multi-camera system,” but they “had each other” throughout the process. Hüller was “an inspiration” and he was “crying on her last day.” Read on for our complete interview with Christian Friedel.

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A Murderous Family
The Zone of Interest Release Date February 2, 2024 Director Jonathan Glazer Cast Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel, Freya Kreutzkam, Max Beck Runtime 1hr 45min Genres Drama, History, War Studio A24, Access Entertainment, Film4

MovieWeb: Spectacular film, really one of the creepiest, most unnerving performances by you and Sandra Hüller I’ve seen all year. When you think of Rudolph Höss, he’s an evil monster with horns. The Zone of Interest shows him with his family, as an ostensibly loving father with a wife and children. How do you get into character without having any empathy for such a heinous murderer?

Christian Friedel: That’s a good question, because that was the decision for acting. Do we act from the outside to give maybe a picture from the inside? Or is there a connection from my personality to this character? I need to connect my emotional archive with this character to find the truth or to create a believable character. You believe he wants to be a good father. He wants to be a good worker. He’s interested in nature. He’s sad to say goodbye to his horse, for example. There’s sadness inside of him.

Christian Friedel: I don’t like Rudolf Höss. I really hate the whole family, or even the couple. I cannot understand how they can live so close to the camp, how they can work, how they made some decisions. That’s unbelievable for me, but I want to give this character a human face. So I need to connect my personality. I was shocked when I watched the movie for the first time. I realized, “Oh my God, this could be me.” I think all the viewers had to ask themselves, “Oh my God, this could be me.” That was important, but I don’t have any empathy for this man.

A24

MW: Let’s get your initial reaction from when you read the script. We have these awful ingrained images of the Holocaust. But when you watch the movie, it’s this beautiful home and a seemingly caring family. Was there ever a worry about not showing what happened at Auschwitz? Did you have complete faith in Jonathan [Glazer] from the beginning?

Christian Friedel: Yes, I had, absolutely. From the beginning, I trusted Jonathan. I really like the idea of changing the perspective, but not to idolize or glamorize these people. When I read the script for the first time, I had these pictures in my mind, because some details of the sound design were written down. And then I realized, “Oh my God, that’s going on.” You can hear it. You can feel it. Maybe it’s stronger not to see or react to these incredible crimes but to feel them. Maybe it could be more intense than to show this. Then to realize that the family lives next to the door to a murderer camp, hear the atrocities, and smell the death is unbelievable. This is really intense. I trust in this vision. This could be the right way to do it.

A24

MW: The sound design is incredible. You hear screams and gunshots while they’re having tea and cakes. Were any of the sound effects audible on set to aid the performances?

Christian Friedel: We never hear the sounds. That was great for the acting because we were sometimes in a completely silent situation. Then, if you watch the movie and you hear this, and you watch these persons acting ordinary, normal, they ignore in a very professional way what’s going on around them. We know that from the beginning. We know there will be a ‘second’ movie. One is the movie you see. Movie two is the movie you hear. For us as actors, it was more helpful not to hear all the sounds, and not to smell, because we act in a normal way. This is a beautiful home. It’s a beautiful garden. It’s beautiful weather. It was helpful not to hear that.

Related: Best World War Two Movies from a German and Axis Perspective, Ranked

Sandra Hüller as Hedwig
A24

MW: The scenes between you and Sandra are masterful, especially when you realize that she’s complicit. She understands what’s going on and isn’t naive. She’s willing to enjoy the spoils of her cruel husband’s job. Talk about working with Sandra, developing a loving relationship with this person who’s equally monstrous as Rudolph.

Christian Friedel: Some people said she’s more monstrous than him. Sandra and I worked together on a movie called Amour Fou from Jessica Hausner. I think it was 10 years ago. Sandra is a great actress and an inspiration for me. It was great to work with her. When we met for the first time, we had the feeling that we knew each other since we were born. We were very close. We trust very easily and became friends. That was really helpful in this movie, because this couple, there’s a lot of trust between them. It’s more of a professional couple. Maybe there was love in the past. We don’t know. But they arranged very professional lives. They know, I think, each other’s affairs. They dreamed of this life.

Christian Friedel: Sandra and I talked every day about what was going on. It was really important that we had each other. Then we have the possibility, in the evening, at dinner, for a phone call to talk about what’s going on. Sometimes we were unsure. “Is it right? Is it wrong?” Sometimes you don’t know with this multi-camera system. Was it good or was it bad? We talked, and we had each other. I was crying on Sandra’s last day. This was really intense. It’s great to work with someone who’s so close to you, because you find a rhythm together. She inspires me in the moment, and that was really, really great.

The Zone of Interest will be released theatrically on December 15th from A24. You can watch the trailer below: