The Zone of Interest (2023)

The Zone of Interest is a haunting and masterfully restrained 2023 film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, based loosely on the novel by Martin Amis. It explores the banality of evil through the lens of a Nazi commandant’s family living in disturbing proximity to the Auschwitz concentration camp. With a minimalist approach to horror, it’s less about what is shown and more about what is heard, felt, and implied.

Detailed Summary

A Family Home Beside the Camp

The film centers around Rudolf Höss (played by Christian Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz, and his wife Hedwig (played by Sandra Hüller), who live with their children in a picturesque house with a garden, only a wall away from the horror of the Holocaust. The setup is chilling: their domestic life is serene, filled with garden parties, children playing, and servants bustling around, all while the machinery of genocide grinds next door.

The sound design is crucial. Throughout their idyllic daily life, the audience hears the ever-present ambient noise from Auschwitz: trains arriving, dogs barking, gunshots, screaming, and furnaces roaring. The juxtaposition is the core of the film’s horror—it’s not graphic, but psychologically devastating.

The Ambition and Comfort of Hedwig Höss

Hedwig becomes increasingly attached to their luxurious life, seeing herself as the queen of this place. She’s proud of their home and shows no visible signs of discomfort regarding its location. Her cold detachment mirrors the dehumanization central to the Nazi regime. While her husband’s job is to make Auschwitz more “efficient,” her job is to ensure their family thrives in its shadow.

Career Trouble for Rudolf Höss

Rudolf is soon reassigned to Berlin, causing friction with Hedwig. She refuses to leave Auschwitz, viewing it as a place where she has achieved personal and material comfort. This rift reveals the emotional vacancy between the couple, who are more committed to status and ideology than to each other or their children.

Rudolf’s internal life is rarely shown, but small, telling moments—his insomnia, brief flashes of hesitation—hint at a fragmented human underneath. Still, his loyalty to the Nazi cause and the systemic brutality remains unwavering.

A Secret Rebellion

Throughout the film, Glazer subtly introduces the idea of resistance. A Polish girl, unnamed and barely shown, is seen at night placing apples inside the shoes of prisoners. This motif becomes a quiet symbol of humanity—a glimmer of defiance in an otherwise soul-crushing environment. Her scenes are deliberately underplayed but resonate powerfully.

Movie Ending (Full Spoilers)

The ending shifts gears with an unexpected modern-day coda. After Rudolf returns to Auschwitz for an inspection, the film cuts to footage of contemporary Auschwitz—cleaned, silent, but still bearing the scars of history. We see a janitor cleaning the site, working in near silence, as if tending to the memory of what happened there.

Then, over black, we hear the sound of modern breathing apparatus and industrial machines—a dissonant reminder that the machinery of mass violence still exists in modern forms. It’s chilling and ambiguous, but the implication is clear: history is not dead, and the potential for atrocity lives on if forgotten or ignored.

The film doesn’t offer redemption, closure, or catharsis. There’s no dramatic confrontation or reckoning. Instead, the final moments implicate the viewer directly—asking what we choose to see, what we choose to ignore, and what horrors we enable through silence and distance.

Are There Post-Credits Scenes?

No, The Zone of Interest does not have a post-credits scene. The film ends on a deeply reflective and unsettling note, and the credits roll in silence—deliberate and respectful, reinforcing the movie’s sobering tone.

Type of Movie

The Zone of Interest is best classified as a historical psychological drama and art house horror. It is a Holocaust film, but not in the traditional sense—it avoids graphic violence in favor of auditory horror and emotional numbness. It is also a meditation on complicity, denial, and domestic evil.

Cast

• Christian Friedel as Rudolf Höss
• Sandra Hüller as Hedwig Höss
• Freya Kreutzkam as Inge-Brigitt
• Ralph Herforth as Müller
• Medusa Knopf as Else
• Imogen Kogge as Hedwig’s mother

Film Music and Composer

The film’s score is composed by Mica Levi, known for their eerie, experimental compositions (Under the Skin). The music is sparse but deeply disquieting, often manifesting as low-frequency rumbles or abstract noise. It feels more like an ambient threat than a traditional score—constantly reinforcing the atmosphere of dread.

Filming Locations

The movie was shot primarily in Poland, including areas near Oświęcim (the town where Auschwitz is located), though not within the camp itself. The house used for filming was reconstructed to resemble the Höss family home.

The physical proximity of the locations matters. By filming close to the real site, the atmosphere carries a weight that can’t be manufactured. You feel the ghost of history embedded in every frame.

Awards and Nominations

The Zone of Interest premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize.

Other accolades include:

• Academy Awards (2024):
  • Best International Feature (WINNER)
  • Best Director (Nominee)
  • Best Picture (Nominee)
  • Best Sound (Nominee)
• BAFTA Awards (2024):
  • Best Film Not in the English Language (WINNER)
  • Best Director (Jonathan Glazer – Nominee)
• Independent Spirit Awards:
  • Best International Film (Nominee)

Behind the Scenes Insights

• Jonathan Glazer directed the actors remotely using hidden cameras and earpieces, avoiding a traditional film crew on set to preserve realism.
• Many of the actors were encouraged to improvise mundane daily routines to contrast with the horrors next door.
• The film uses almost no traditional cinematic lighting; everything was shot in natural light to maintain authenticity.
• Sandra Hüller reportedly avoided reading too deeply about Hedwig Höss during filming, focusing instead on the character’s denial and detachment.

Inspirations and References

• The film is loosely based on Martin Amis’s novel The Zone of Interest (2014), but Glazer departs significantly from the novel’s satirical tone.
• The real-life figure Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz, inspired the character directly. Glazer used Höss’s memoirs and historical documents in the development.
• Stylistically and thematically, the film recalls works by Michael Haneke and Chantal Akerman in its austerity and moral rigor.

Alternate Endings and Deleted Scenes

There is no known alternate ending, but Glazer filmed hundreds of hours of footage of the actors simply going about daily tasks. Many of these were cut to keep the film focused and tight. There were longer domestic scenes with the children and Hedwig that were trimmed, possibly to avoid humanizing them too much or softening the film’s harsh moral line.

Book Adaptations and Differences

The Martin Amis novel features multiple narrative perspectives, including that of a Nazi bureaucrat, a Jewish Sonderkommando, and a love story thread that is absent in the film. Glazer stripped all that away to focus exclusively on Rudolf and Hedwig Höss. The film is far more minimalist and grounded in realism, while the novel is more literary and abstract.

Memorable Scenes and Quotes

Key Scenes

• Hedwig brushing her daughter’s hair while the sound of gunfire echoes in the background.
• Rudolf swimming with his son in the river as ash falls silently around them.
• The scene of the Polish girl hiding apples for prisoners—wordless but emotionally staggering.
• The modern-day Auschwitz janitor sequence, showing the continued maintenance of memory and history.

Iconic Quotes

The film is largely sparse in dialogue, but some moments stand out:

• Hedwig: “We’ve earned this. This is our reward.”
• Rudolf (to his wife): “You don’t know what it’s like beyond that wall.”

Easter Eggs and Hidden Details

• The film opens with a black screen and a sustained, oppressive soundscape—designed to disorient and prepare the viewer.
• The family dog barks constantly at night—subtly reacting to the trauma across the wall.
• The color palette subtly shifts between scenes inside the house (warm) and outside (cold, gray), reinforcing emotional numbness.

Trivia

• No traditional film score or music cues are used during key moments, only industrial or ambient noise.
• Jonathan Glazer refused to film any scene inside Auschwitz, believing it would be morally and artistically wrong to recreate it.
• The actual house used was built specifically for the film, right near a real historical site.
• The actors were not given traditional scripts—instead, they were guided day by day through their scenes.

Why Watch?

The Zone of Interest is one of the most unique and unsettling Holocaust films ever made—not because of graphic imagery, but because of its emotional detachment and moral ambiguity. It forces viewers to confront how evil hides in plain sight, how ordinary life can exist beside atrocity, and how easy it is to become complicit.

It’s a masterclass in restraint, a horror film with no monsters—only humans.

Director’s Other Movies

• Under the Skin (2013)
• Birth (2004)
• Sexy Beast (2000)

Recommended Films for Fans

• Son of Saul (2015)
• Come and See (1985)
• The White Ribbon (2009)
• Schindler’s List (1993)
• The Painted Bird (2019)
• Ida (2013)