The new York Times surveyed 500 influential figures in hollywood, including directors and actors, about thier favorite films since January 1, 2000. based on this, the newspaper compiled a list of the 100 best films of the 21st century. Two German films made the cut,including “the life of the others” by Florian Henckel from Donnersmarck,a film about the GDR and the Stasi,which ranked 48th.

The NYT describes the film: “Who can you trust in East Berlin in 1984? In Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck‘s exciting, worrying drama about a cutting playwright, his lover and the Stasi agent, who is supposed to monitor their mutual loyalty, it is about the life of other-friends, their stubborn employees. The basis of the film is both steamed and destructive,a wire rope act between exposure and arbitrariness.” Matthew Weiner, the screenwriter, director, and television producer behind “Mad Men,” voted for the film.However,author Franziska Hauser criticized the director in the Berliner Zeitung.

Notably, three films featuring actress Sandra Hüller from Thuringia are among the top 100. One is the German production “Toni Erdmann” from 2016, directed by Maren Ade. The NYT writes: “Almost a decade in front of her celebrated roles in ‘anatomy of one case’ and ‘The Zone of Interest‘, the German actress Sandra Hüller played the main role in this double character study on a cramped career and her aging Schelmenvater (Peter Simonischek). When dad suddenly and unadaptably visited his half -alienated daughter in Bucarest A dadaeske parade made of forced karaoke, spontaneous nudity and borrowed Bulgarian folklore.”

Actor John Turturro is quoted about “Toni Erdmann”: “When the father makes his daughter sing his daughter at a party ‘The Greatest Love of All’, she meets all of these false tones, and Sandra Hüller is a really good singer. This is not only incredibly informative, but also ancestical and one of the greatest acting moments that I have in the past 25 years saw.”

“As a wife, who may have pushed her better half out of the window of a chalets, Sandra Hüller…offers a masterpiece in anger.”

Sandra Hüller in “Anatomy of a case”: “Master performance in anger”

The French judicial drama “Anatomy of one case” by Justine Triet from 2023 stars Sandra Hüller as a woman accused of murdering her husband. The New York times commented on her performance: “As a wife, who may have pushed her better half out of the window of a chalets, sandra Hüller, who received an Oscar nomination for this role, offers a masterpiece in anger, outrage and ugly truths that she (and tried) will never tell.” Actor Tramell Tillman voted for this film.

“The Zone of interest” from 2023, also featuring Sandra Hüller, is another film on the NYT’s best list. Directed by Jonathan Glazer, it depicts the everyday life of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of the auschwitz concentration camp. German actor Christian Friedl plays Rudolf Höss, while Sandra Hüller portrays his wife, hedwig Höss. They live next to the concentration camp. The nyt: “You gardening a soundtrack of the mass murder while the ashes of human body falls from the sky.”