Gentle Monster Review
Gentle Monster (2026) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Marie Kreutzer and starring Léa Seydoux, Catherine Deneuve, Jella Haase, Sylvester Groth, Laurence Rupp, Katharina Lorenz, Jeanne Werner, Regina Fritsch, Raphael Nicholas, Harry Waterstone, Malo Blanchet and Hanna Habersetzer.
Filmmaker Marie Kreutzer (Corsage)’s devastatingly complex drama, Gentle Monster, features the hard-working Léa Seydoux as a mom named Lucy Weiss. Over the course of this film, Lucy must confront the possibilities of her husband doing something that is truly wrong in every possible sense of the word. It’s not an easy watch at all, but Kreutzer does add some accessibility factor to the movie for more mainstream viewers who will be able to view the film on Netflix soon.
Lucy is a pianist and a dedicated mom to the young Johnny (a well-cast Malo Blanchet). This film’s main premise begins to unfold when the authorities, including Jella Haase’s police investigator, Elsa Kühn, seize Lucy’s husband, Philip (Laurence Rupp)’s electronic items. It appears that a search is underway to discover materials linked to child pornography. Philip has seemingly participated in questionable activities. This begins to raise issues of trust for Lucy, who is very intimate with Philip and trusts him, even though the investigation that begins turns their lives upside down and inside out.
Revelations are made, and the trust that seems to have structured Lucy and Philip’s marriage becomes altered in fascinating ways that Kreutzer delves into with a very delicate touch. This movie has some vague details in terms of some of the specifics, but is crystal clear in how it conveys the love that Lucy has for her family.
There are scenes between Lucy and Johnny that are quite moving. Johnny admits he has secrets that he keeps from his parents, and Lucy probes the situation to discover what those secrets may be, and whether or not they could implicate Philip’s guilt and reveal actions of significant wrongdoing.
Though the performances are all top-notch, this movie is an uneasy film to sit through. Besides the overdone and steamy sex sequences between Rupp and Seydoux, there are scenes that could make the viewer queasy when considering the crimes that Philip is being accused of. There are no easy answers in this film, although it’s certainly not an easy resolution that is reached by the unveiling of truths over the course of the picture. At the same time, the movie is watchable if one can try to get past the disturbing nature of the topic the conversations in the film revolve around.
Seydoux masterfully conveys confusion in the film, and she keeps a certain amount of intensity intact in her characterization here. In support, Haase is superb as the investigator who is trying to get to the bottom of the alleged crime that she has been assigned to look into. Haase commands the viewer’s respect at all times as her character is simply doing her job and isn’t out to destroy Lucy’s life.
There are many facts, but they are occasionally glossed over to prevent the film from leading to a darker situation that is more easily understandable. While the resolutions in the picture are reached with conviction, there are many elements that could leave viewers pondering the situations here and trying to figure out what, exactly, Philip is truly guilty of, and how he should be punished.
Blanchet is a solid kid actor, and has a lot of strong acting skills that are present in the performance he gives in this picture. It’s a heartbreaking piece of work in a film that has many superb scenes, but somehow doesn’t coalesce into a satisfactory whole, for whatever reason.
This film uses the Coldplay song, “Yellow” as part of the concluding proceedings. A song about hope and faith is certainly a key ingredient that is necessary in a disturbing movie such as Gentle Monster. This film’s title, by the way, refers to the user handle that is assumed on the internet by the key suspect in the picture.
Seydoux is always at the top of her game, and never takes on a project without worth. Gentle Monster is heart-wrenching and emotional, and the acting that Seydoux demonstrates on-screen is certainly of the highest caliber.
Still, Gentle Monster has undeniable flaws. It makes hard decisions in terms of what it wants its audience to think about. Meanwhile, the resolve of the main story line feels incomplete.
Catherine Deneuve has a small role as the mother of Lucy, Eloise, and there’s a late scene between Seydoux and Deneueve where the two actress play off each other like the real thespians that they are, creating deep drama that will profoundly spell out the very distinct relationship of the mother and daughter.
This film needed more of a raw edge to some of the dark material at hand here to be wholly successful. It spells out the nature of disturbing topics, yes, but doesn’t always follow those elements through analytically in the aggressive way in which the material could have been addressed. That being said, Gentle Monster is interesting and should raise a lot more questions than it does answers as to its difficult subject matter and the effects of making poor choices on the family unit as a whole.
Rating: 7/10
Leave your thoughts on this Gentle Monster review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons.
Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page.
Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, Mastodon, Flipboard, Bluesky, and Threads.