What would you do if your spouse was accused of selling and distributing child pornography? Would you stand by their side and defend them? Would you pack up everything and get out of dodge as quickly as you can? Or would you keep yourself at a distance and allow the investigation to go its course? It’s a difficult situation that no person would want to find themselves in. This difficult situation is at the heart of Maria Kreutzer’s Gentle Monster. While it presents a fascinating scenario and has a great Leo Seydoux performance, it doesn’t bite as hard as it should.
After relocating with her family to the countryside, Lucy (Lea Seydoux, The Beast), a renowned pianist, uncovers a life-shattering truth about her husband Philip (Laurence Rupp, Tank) that forces her to confront the complexities of love, trust and deception.
If there is something that Gentle Monster will make you feel by the time the credits roll, it would be uncomfortable and unsettled. The accusation of distributing child pornography is a serious one, and Gentle Monster treats it as such. The moment that the accusation arrives, you feel Lucy’s life completely shatter as a paranoid panic that grips over her like a tsunami. She begins re-examining her relationship with her husband and begins asking questions to anyone who will listen. She examines her son for signs of trauma and does everything in her power to get to the bottom of it. But as the film goes on, secrets and lies begin to reveal themselves in a thriller-like manner, adding to the uncomfortable tension of the film. All of which is anchored by a fantastic performance from Leo Seydoux and Lawrence Rupp.
But when you step back and examine what the film is actually trying to say, that is when things start to become muddled. Throughout its entire runtime, it feels as though the film is holding itself back, refusing to fully commit to its terrifying premise. When a loved one is accused of a crime as serious as the one depicted in Gentle Monster, you would expect their entire world to come crashing down. Their relationships with family members would deteriorate, their careers would be jeopardized, and they would essentially become social pariahs. Anyone who dared to defend them would risk facing that same ostracization. But Gentle Monster never quite goes that far. And while the film deserves credit for approaching the situation through the lens of “innocent until proven guilty” and allowing us to follow every strand of evidence as it unfolds, there is an undeniable sense of safety to its approach. For a film built around such a terrifying premise, Gentle Monster feels frustratingly unwilling to explore just how ugly and destructive such a situation can become.
Furthermore, while we do see Lucy conduct some investigating and question close family members, for the most part, she does very little to uncover the truth. She is essentially a bystander in her own story, which feels particularly frustrating given the premise. Throughout the film’s nearly two-hour runtime, Lucy should have been doing everything in her power to get to the bottom of the situation. Instead, she vaguely questions her husband, their relatives, and their lawyer, does some investigating online, and takes a look at the police investigation. But beyond that, she barely lifts a finger. For a character whose entire world is supposedly being turned upside down by these allegations, Lucy’s relative passivity makes it difficult to fully invest in her journey.
Ultimately, for a film built around such a terrifying yet undeniably intriguing premise, Gentle Monster is a surprisingly safe and frustratingly restrained experience. Rather than fully committing to the uncomfortable questions raised by its premise, the film constantly feels as though it is holding itself back, never quite willing to explore the devastating consequences that such a situation would have on an individual and their family. And while I was never bored and remained intrigued by the mystery at the heart of the story, I couldn’t help but walk away feeling disappointed by all the wasted potential. There is a genuinely compelling film buried somewhere within Gentle Monster, but its reluctance to push the envelope ultimately prevents it from reaching the heights it could have. Thankfully, Léa Seydoux delivers a strong enough performance to salvage the experience, giving the film an emotional anchor that it desperately needs. It’s a shame, then, that a film with such an unsettling premise never quite has the courage to follow through on it.
My Rating: B-
Gentle Monsters comes to select theatres Oct. 30th.
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