"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". 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." Melbourne International Film Festival 2026

"Gerade ist die erfolgreiche Pianistin Lucy mit ihrer Familie aufs Land gezogen, als plötzlich die Polizei vor der Tür steht und sämtliche elektronischen Geräte ihres Mannes beschlagnahmt. Für Lucy beginnt die verstörende Suche nach der Antwort auf eine vermeintlich einfache Frage: Wer ist dieser Mensch eigentlich, mit dem sie ihr bisheriges Leben geteilt hat? Ohne effekthascherische Zuspitzung, dafür mit umso größerer Präzision richtet Marie Kreutzer in ihrem neuesten, in Cannes gefeierten Film den Blick auf die leisen Erschütterungen eines Alltags, der plötzlich unbewohnbar wird. Gemeinsam mit einer grandios nuancierten Léa Seydoux entsteht beklemmendes Kino über Vertrauen, Verdrängung und Machtverhältnisse und zeigt dabei, wie nah das Monströse oft an der Normalität liegt." Nonstop Kino Wien

"The latest film by Austrian director Marie Kreutzer once again depicts events from a female perspective, offering up a truly gripping, emotionally charged study of a woman who is forced to confront her sudden misgivings about the man she loves. As a devoted mother and broken woman on the brink of a destroyed life, caught between trust and deception, she finds herself descending to the very depths of her emotions. French actress Léa Seydoux excels in the main role." Vojtěch Kočárník, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2026