Review: 'Gentle Monster' stars La Seydoux as a wife discovering the unthinkable about her husband
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Set us as preferred It takes frighteningly little to destroy a happy family.So much love, so much joy, so much shared history can be erased by one terrible act or the discovery of something rotten that had been festering undetected.
Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer explores the unimaginable in “Gentle Monster,” in which a celebrated concert pianist learns that her husband and the father of her son might be involved in child pornography.Instantly, her life shatters, the pieces so scattered she may never be able to pick them all up.Léa Seydoux plays Lucy, a musician who brings an element of social commentary to her avant-garde live performances, delivering ethereal covers of emphatic love songs written by men — such as Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” — to interrogate that gender’s general discomfort with emotions.
It’s an important early clue into Kreutzer’s larger aims, but first the writer-director establishes Lucy’s endearing rapport with her sensitive husband Philip (Laurence Rupp) and their pre-tween son Johnny (Malo Blanchet).Having recently moved to the German countryside after living in Munich, they’re adjusting to a quieter existence with fewer neighbors but less-reliable cell service.
Lucy and Philip’s sex life remains robust and Johnny enjoys the extra outdoor space.Nothing’s ever perfect, but all seems well enough.Yet when the police arrive unannounced one morning, Philip isn’t surprised.
Led by Elsa (Jella Haase), the authorities inform him they need to confiscate his computers and hard drives.He offers no resistance, quickly getting on the phone to his lawyer.
Lucy comes downstairs, baffled by what’s going on as he’s taken away.When she later visits the police station to get more information, she’s directed to the second floor.
That’s when Lucy realizes ...