Rosenstrasse

A somber, patient dual-timeline drama that moves between present-day inquiry and wartime Berlin, quietly accumulating grief and moral weight.

Directed by

Margarethe von Trotta

Genres

Drama, War

Starring

Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader, Doris Schade

Overview

When Ruth's husband dies in New York, in 2000, she imposes strict Jewish mourning, which puzzles her children. A stranger comes to the house - Ruth's cousin - with a picture of Ruth, age 8, in Berlin, with a woman the cousin says helped Ruth escape. Hannah, Ruth's daughter engaged to a gentile, goes to Berlin to find the woman, Lena Fisher, now 90. Posing as a journalist investigating intermarriage, Hannah interviews Lena who tells the story of a week in 1943 when the Jewish husbands of Aryan women were detained in a building on Rosenstrasse. The women gather daily for word of their husbands. The film goes back and forth to tell Ruth and Lena's story. How will it affect Hannah?

How it feels

Melancholic, tense, earnest and dark. Slow-burning and needs your attention.

About

Grief, family, memory, survival

Content

Mild violence, gore and language. No sexual content.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Watch the trailer on YouTube (opens in a new tab)