Film Noir: Two New Period Movies Explore the Sinister and the Unspeakable Behind Bars and During Wartime
Two new and unsettling trailers dropped this week: a World War II drama from A24, and a stylish ’60s-era noir starring Anne Hathaway as a devious prison counselor.
The Zone of Interest is a German-language Holocaust drama that tells the story of real-life German SS officer and war criminal Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who raised their children in a farmhouse next door to Auschwitz.
Based loosely on Martin Amis’ 2014 book of the same name, The Zone of Interest stars Christian Friedel as Rudolf and Sandra Hüller as Hedwig, along with Daniel Holzberg, Ralph Herforth and Sascha Maaz. The film was shot entirely in Poland and Germany and directed by Jonathan Glazer (Under the Skin, Sexy Beast). Łukasz Żal is the cinematographer.
The Zone of Interest trailer uses its driving score to hint at an underlying urgency alongside what looks like a mostly serene environment. This tension lays the groundwork for a plot that follows one family enjoying familial bliss living literally on the doorstep of the site of the most heinous crimes against humanity. The trailer reveals little in the way of additional plot details for The Zone of Interest, but conveys a most menacing atmosphere.
The film premiered this year at Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix, the fest’s second most prestigious award. It will be released in the United States “soon,” according to the trailer.
The other new trailer was for Eileen, a psychological thriller starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie.
Set in Boston during the bitter, brutal winter of 1964, Eileen follows the title character, a young secretary played by McKenzie, who becomes enchanted by Rebecca (Hathaway), the glamorous, blonde who is the new counselor at the prison where she works. Their friendship takes a sinister turn when they encounter a recently incarcerated juvenile, now at the institution after his father’s murder, and together Eileen and Rebecca form a twisted bond.
The trailer promises events will spiral out of control as the two grow closer, with Eileen’s father admitting at one point he can’t even imagine her with a knife. “Can you imagine me with a gun?” she responds.
Eileen was directed by William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth) who adapted novelist Ottessa Moshfegh’s 2015 chiller of the same name. Luke Goebel co-wrote the script with Moshfegh. The film was produced by Anthony Bregman, Stefanie Azpiazu, Peter Cron and Luke Goebel for Neon Pictures.
The film also stars Shea Wigham, Marin Ireland, Jefferson White and Owen Teague. It premiered at Sundance last January, and opens in select theaters on December 1st and nationwide on December 8th.