Project Hail Mary's Sandra Hüller Starred In A Near-Perfect Murder Mystery Movie

In Phil Lord's and Christopher Miller's new sci-fi film "Project Hail Mary," German actress Sandra Hüller plays Eva Stratt, the government agent in charge of the titular Project. She is stern and forthright, knowing what needs to be done, serving as a contrast to the fearful and whimsical Dr. Grace (Ryan Gosling), the film's protagonist. Hüller's performance grounds the movie, reminding viewers that there is a whole world at stake and that the story isn't just about Dr. Grace's personal arc. 

Hüller, like so many professional actors, first took an interest in her craft in high school, and pursued acting as a career in the years after her graduation. Throughout the 2000s and into the 2010s, Hüller appeared in many German productions, in addition to her continued career on the stage. In the United States, critics first took note of Hüller's talents in Maren Ade's 2016 film "Toni Erdmann," in which she played the daughter of a whimsical eccentric. Hüller also appeared in the 2021 sci-fi romance "I'm Your Man," which got a little bit of attention stateside.

2023 was a banner year for Hüller, however, as she appeared in two notable, penetrating German dramas that received a lot of awards attention and/or critical acclaim. In Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest," she played Hedwig Höss, the real-life wife of Rudolf Höss, the Nazi commandant in charge of Auschwitz. In that film, she embodied the banality of evil. It was one of the best films of 2023.

More famously, though, Hüller received an Academy Award nomination for her role in Justine Triet's crime drama "Anatomy of a Fall," a murder mystery wherein her character, Sandra, stands accused of murdering her husband. It, too, was one of the best films of 2023.

"Anatomy of a Fall" was highly acclaimed and widely awarded. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and was nominated for 10 César awards, winning six, including Best Actress for Sandra Hüller. "Anatomy" was also nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay (which it won), and Best Editing. 

"Anatomy of a Fall" is a crime thriller in its setup, but a painful personal drama in its execution. The bulk of the movie takes place in court, a year after the death of Sandra's husband. She is accused of bashing her husband in the head and pushing him from a window, while the defense maintains that his fall was an accident. To get to the heart of the matter, though, the court needs to dissect the nature of the pair's relationship, and it seems that Sandra's marriage wasn't exactly rosy. The couple resented each other. She looked askance at him for causing the accident that led to their son's partial blindness, while he felt that she, a writer, was a plagiarist and that she was cheating on him with other women. (In a refreshing detail, Sandra's bisexuality is stated plainly and matter-of-factly, and not as something salacious or scandalous in and of itself.)

Sandra's case doesn't seem that strong. One of her recent books featured a lot of eerie parallels to what had just happened. 

"Anatomy of a Fall" features many painful courtroom scenes wherein Sandra is forced to confess multiple personal details on the stand, almost as if the prosecutors want her to experience attrition rather than reveal the truth.

The details of the case in "Anatomy of a Fall" are more interesting when going in blind, but we at /Film have openly discussed the ending, should you be interested in reading about it in detail. We also called the film one of the best of the decade so far, and that's not something that can be easily challenged. Between "Anatomy," "The Zone of Interest," and "Project Hail Mary," Sandra Hüller is developing a habit of appearing in the best films of the '20s. 

It should be noted that "Anatomy of a Fall" was the second time that Hüller and director Justine Triet worked together. Hüller previously had a supporting role in Triet's 2019 drama "Sibyl," which starred Virginie Efira and Adèle Exarchopoulos. Triet has said (via Deadline) that she wrote the role of Sandra in "Anatomy" specifically for Hüller, and the director's next film will be an English-language thriller called "Fonda" and will star Mia Goth and Allison Janney. 

Hüller, meanwhile, has become a very in-demand actress, evidenced by her involvement in several other high-profile movies set to be released in 2026. She is going to appear in "Fatherland," directed by Paweł Pawlikowski ("Ida," "Cold War"), and in "Digger," starring Tom Cruise and Jesse Plemons and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu ("The Revenant," "Birdman").

"Anatomy of a Fall" remains great, and it was deeply beloved by critics the world over. It currently has a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 287 reviews. The film is currently available to stream on Netflix, and I recommend carving out two and a half hours to watch it immediately. You can thank me later.