CANNES, France (AP) — For Sandra Hüller, eruptions of emotion don’t come naturally. She prefers to be quiet and calm, and often her screen presence radiates intensity when she’s simply watching. But when she explodes — whether in grief or karaoke — she can be magnificent.“It’s not something that I like to do, particularly,” Hüller says, sitting in a garden in Cannes. “Maybe I like the characters more who don’t erupt all the time because these are very annoying people, I don’t know.”She takes a drag on a cigarette and considers it further.“I like to observe more than I like being observed. When I do something big, of course I’m the center of attention. Maybe that’s the root of it. But you are not my therapist so we will not find out today,” Hüller says, and laughs.The full range of Hüller’s talent is on full display this year in four films that run from big to small. Foremost among them is “Fatherland,” the Cannes Film Festival entry by Paweł Pawlikowski, the Polish director of “Ida” and “Cold War.”
In the first week of Cannes, “Fatherland” (which Mubi will release later this year) was widely acknowledged as a clear standout, and a possible Palme d’Or favorite. Like “Ida” and “Cold War,” it’s elegantly shot in black and white, uncommonly brief (82 minutes) and throbs with the pain of postwar Europe.
