The Zone of Interest: at first glance, the family at the center of Jonathan Glazer is very regular, almost boring: the husband lives near his always-consuming work, and the wife takes care of the beautiful house and the large group of children they have together. What sets them apart, of course, is that his workplace is Auschwitz and he is the commander of the concentration camp. This is an unusual Holocaust film: the horror is not in what is shown onscreen; the horror is not in the ignorance of those close to it; it is, in fact, in how normally and trivially it is perceived by them. In that sense, it is rare how thematically appropriate a poster is. Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel give solid performances as the wife and husband, but they are, by design, distant and cold characters.

The aesthetics match what the characters are doing: cinematographer Łukasz Żal’s camera is mechanic and distant, generally keeping its subjects at arm’s length, with precise, unemotional framing and neutral lighting. It’s not necessarily pretty, but thematically rich. Production designer Chris Oddy’s sets are clean and immaculate, with all the ugly things hidden behind a wall. The sound design (by Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn) is where the horror happens, often muted in the background, sometimes more obvious. Composer Mica Levi’s musical score is minimalistic and chilling.