Cannes 2023: The Zone of Interest Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Cannes International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

It has been nearly a decade since Jonathan Glazer’s beloved experimental science-fiction horror film Under the Skin premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. Much like Glazer’s early work, Under the Skin was polarizing amongst release. However, it has since become a cult classic and is considered by many to be one of the finest cinematic achievements of the 2010s. Instead of capitalizing on his newfound success, the illusive auteur disappeared for ten years and slowly worked on a passion project that has finally come to fruition.

Unlike Under the Skin, which is a genre film at its core, The Zone of Interest couldn’t be more steeped in reality. Loosely adapted from Martin Amis’ novel of the same name, The Zone of Interest follows Rudolf Höss (Friedel), the commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp, as he and his wife (Hüller) strive to build a dream life for their family in a house located next to the camp. Glazer has always been one of the provocative filmmakers of his generation, and that sentiment continues to ring true, as he crafts a chilling portrait of the horrors of the holocaust, through the ignorant perspective of a perpetrator. The audience is subjected to witnessing a Nazi officer live an idealistic life and raise a family with a privileged lifestyle, while simultaneously being responsible for the brutality that existed within the concentration camps.

The Zone of Interest approaches telling a holocaust story in an unflinching and unprecedented fashion. Glazer took a big swing in deciding to alter the perspective of the novel its adapted from, yet its completely up to the audiences tastes to determine whether that risk paid off. Many critics who attended the premiere at Cannes were enamored by the unconventional and deeply disturbing nature of the film, leading to an impressive score of 98 on Metacritic, one of the highest scores the site has ever seen. Personally speaking, this was not the case as the film is likely to be greeted with a far more divisive response once the fall film festival rollout begins.

Glazer presents a birds eye view into the life of a Nazi officer, focusing mainly on the mundane aspects of the family’s life, in contrast with the screams being heard from the other side of the wall that separates the two realities. The film brings some interesting ideas about the manifestation of hate and how human beings can gladly turn a blind eye and even play a role in committing horrific acts of savagery. However, the execution unfortunately prevents the film from being a thorough exploration of these concepts, and presents audiences with something far more surface level. Outside the initial shock, Glazer’s decision to hyper-focus on this family going about their day to day routine, not only creates distance between the characters and issues and hand, but also the film and the audience. It’s a cold and completely inaccessible film that asks interesting questions, but doesn’t have the insight to fully explore them,

In the end, The Zone of Interest will please those who seek out experimental work that provides an entirely new angle and dismisses tropes, but it lacks the depth to stand beside more emotionally effective holocaust dramas. While a commendable effort, the film wasn’t necessarily a successful one.

still courtesy of A24

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Tristan French