Gentle Monster

Léa Seydoux is riveting as a wife and mother coming to grips with the emotional, moral and practical fallout when her husband is charged with a shocking crime.

When avant-garde concert pianist Lucy agrees to move her family from the city to the countryside, the goal is to provide her husband Philip with respite following a burnout-induced panic attack. Instead, the move leaves her isolated and emotionally unprepared when the police arrive to execute a search warrant on Philip’s computers. As she struggles to process her shattered new reality and to protect herself and her young son, Lucy must untangle truth from love.

Gentle Monster had its origins in a news story that director Marie Kreutzer read while preparing to film Corsage (MIFF 2022). Three years later, she found herself dealing with the collateral damage of a similar story as Corsage star Florian Teichtmeister was charged with the same offence. Here, Kreutzer shrewdly orients her focus around the women left to deal with the emotional aftermath of the crimes men commit, and her leads are up to the task: Léa Seydoux is magnificent as she navigates Lucy’s complex, multifaceted response; Jella Hasse provides a stoic counterpoint as the investigating officer managing her own wayward family member; and Catherine Deneuve is excellent in cameo as Lucy’s suffer-no-fools mother. With a striking score by Camille, Gentle Monster is a psychologically pointed exploration of shifting emotional sands, as devastating as it is vital.

Content: Melbourne International Film Festival