'Rose' and the piece of fabric that embodies gender politics

Whether legendary Chinese warrior Hua Mulan, France's patron saint Joan of Arc or pirates Mary Read and Anne Bonny, history offers numerous examples of women who adopted male clothing to circumvent the assigned gender roles that restricted their freedom — and many more cases remain undocumented.

Markus Schleinzer's film "Rose," a historical drama set in the 17th century, imagines the life of one of these women who conceals her gender.

Starring Sandra Hüller in the title role, Rose appears in an isolated community as a scarred soldier returning from the Thirty Years' War, and claims to be the heir to a long-abandoned farmstead.

Following its premiere at the Berlinale, "Rose" hits German theaters on April 30, and it will also be distributed internationally by Mubi later this year.

A quest for freedom

When filmmaker Markus Schleinzer turned 50, one of his friends told him that exactly 250 years before his birth, a woman who presented as a man for most of her life was executed for sodomy.

Sentenced to death by Prussian King Frederick William I in 1721, Catharina Margaretha Linck became the last person to be executed for lesbian sexual activity in Europe.

Linck led an unconventional life. Beyond wearing men's clothes and having sexual relationships with other women, she also fought as a soldier and claimed to be a prophet, spending a few years with an unorthodox religious group. She went by the name Rosenstengel (Rose stem). 

That intriguing story led Schleinzer down a rabbit hole of research on women who took on a male persona throughout history; he became fascinated by "what drives people to step into other identities in order to live something that is denied to them," the filmmaker told DW.

A wide variety of reasons drove women to pass as men: "Most often it was about escaping forced marriage as a young woman, or escaping violence in general, especially domestic violence, whether from their father, employer or husband," says Schleinzer.

But there were also many cases of women who tried to support themselves after the death of their spouse.

For some, the motivation was simply to follow their husbands to war — which was something only male soldiers could do.

In other cases, families aimed to save their honor if a son didn't want to fight in a conflict; they'd send a gutsier daughter instead.

Beyond these different motivations, adds Schleinzer, "all these women had the same goal: freedom."

"The fate of all these people deeply moved me," says the filmmaker. As a queer person himself, he has always explored queer identity and history in his work: "So, from the very beginning, writing this screenplay was a political endeavor for me."

Mentioning that he was raised solely by women, the filmmaker adds that he believes "that the only thing that could save us right now is if we had more feminism in the world, and returned to the fundamental principles of feminism."

Women's inequality remains a persistent global issue, gender-based violence is rising, and transgender rights are one of the most polarizing issues in the current political discourse. For the filmmaker, even though "Rose" is a historical drama, "in reality, it also tells a story about the present time we live in."

"Rose" is a tale that reflects on "how people are denied things that are perfectly logical for others to live by." For the filmmaker, the question is: Why are they denied these rights?

Sandra Hüller offers a muscular performance

"Rose" is Schleinzer's third feature film, following "Michael" (2011), a critically acclaimed yet deeply unsettling fictional portrait of a pedophile, and "Angelo" (2018), which tells the story of a boy abducted from Africa and brought to Europe in the 18th century.

Beyond his work as a filmmaker, Scheinzer is also a casting director, who has among other projects worked on several Michael Haneke films, among other projects. The influence of Haneke's Palme d'Or winning "The White Ribbon" (2009), another stark black-and-white historical drama recognized for its deliberate ambiguity, can definitely be felt in "Rose."

Markus Schleinzer's experience as a casting director has also influenced his writing; early in the process of developing "Rose," he already visualized Sandra Hüller portraying the main role.

One of Germany's most celebrated actors, Hüller has gained international recognition in recent years, especially after starring in "The Zone of Interest" and "Anatomy of a Fall" in 2023.

"It was very clear to me from the beginning that this character would be very complex," explains the director, noting that the challenge was to reveal Rose's depth without any big monologues, but rather through "lots of silence."

It's a character who constantly embodies different layers at once, notes Schleinzer: Rose's own identity as a woman, her persona as a con artist, but also "all the radars that are constantly kept active, to detect if people are aware of her deceit."  

Hüller, who expresses all these layers at once through her precise and sensitive acting, won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlinale.

Not a classic victim

The moral ambiguity of the character is also what distinguishes "Rose" from other films about women who go through the world dressed as men; many of these previous works tend to heroize these figures.

But Rose is not an activist against the patriarchy; she acts out of self-interest. She is much more complex than the classic victim; she herself becomes a perpetrator, as another person falls victim to her secret. Rose is both strong and vulnerable — and that makes her a compelling character.

"Above all, the film doesn't want to preach," says Schleinzer. 

But it definitely prompts reflection on the longstanding structures and symbols that imprison women to this day. Late in the film, Rose is asked what led her to defy her birthright. "There was more freedom in trousers," she replies, adding: "It's just a small piece of fabric."

Edited by: Tenzin Sekhon