Rose is a candid presentation of a woman's place in society in the 17th century Europe. Avoiding the pitfalls of period dramas with the similar subject matter, where things often get overly melodramatic and didactic, Markus Schleinzer opts for more matter-of-fact approach, depicting harsh prospecting lives of the pastoral Europe after the 30 Year War.
Sandra Hüller plays a mysterious disfigured war veteran returning to a rural village to claim a long neglected farmland. No one remembers the descendants of the property and it's in such disrepair, they don't make much of the stranger taking over the land. It turns out 'the soldier' is a woman and has been pretending to be a man all her life, for the freedom it grants in the world at the time. The soldier, with his bravery- defending other members of the community from a vicious bear attack, and deligent work ethics, gains the trust of the village still steeped in rigid Protestant beliefs and patriarchy, where siring an heir means more than anything. To expand the farmstead and to gain access to the neigbhoring creek, Rose agrees to marry Suzanna, a neighbor's daughter.
Under the pretense of 'protecting the purity', the couple don't consummate their usual marital duties and concentrate on the daily, back breaking work. They acquire some servants to help out at the stead. Things get touchy when the sexual needs are not met and the pressure to have an offspring gets dire. And by some miracle, Suzanna is pregnant and the family affords peace and tranquility for a while. But when Rose is stung by bees while doing a bee keeping duty and faints, her secret gets revealed.
Markus Schleinzer presents a story of a woman pretending to be a man, during the time when religious and societal restrictions for women were tantamount, with direct, clear eyed vision of a woman trying to find her place in the man’s world and yearning to be free. Thankfully Schleinzer spares us the depiction of unnecessary graphic violence and torture. A crisp monochrome image by Austrian cinematographer Gerald Kerkletz (Walden), often lit by candlelights, adds to the serene and somber mood of the film.
But the star of the film is, of course, Hüller. Time and time again, Hüller shows how multifaceted, gifted an actress she really is. In a role with make-up (a nasty scar from gunshot wound) that covers half of her face, she still manages to communicate the range of subtle emotions of a person living with a big secret and even bigger, untold backstory. Caro Braun, who plays Suzanna is also great starting out as a naive young woman who is married off by her father without a single consideration, then later becomes a confidante of Rose and co-conspirator in pursuing their freedom together.
As two women get found out their secret and an angry village mop gathers for a big confrontation, Rose gives a passionate plea, of what matters the most - a good, contributing member of the community and a great neighbor and friend, or a person who just has manhood between his legs? As the tragic ending rolls around, Rose becomes Renée Falconetti from Dreyer’s Passion of Joan of Arc, complete with the straw weaved throne on her head.
Quietly devastating and deeply moving, Rose presents the hypocrisy of its time and unforgiving nature of rigid patriarchal society without ever being too sentimental or preachy.
