Gentle Monster

Renowned concert pianist Lucy (Seydoux, No Time to Die; Silent Friend, SFF 2026) decides, as her husband Philip (Laurence Rupp, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation) suffers more and more from burnout, to move the family to the countryside, at considerable financial cost. There, in a country house outside Munich, the couple and their young son settle into a calmer life. But the idyll is shattered when one morning, the police arrive at their door, confiscate Philip's electronic equipment and begin questioning him. Devastated, Lucy confronts the possibility that the man she loves and the father of her child, is not the person she thought he was. As Philip tries to preserve the marriage, Lucy seeks a way forward that protects her son and herself. Seydoux's towering performance is entrancing as we see her cycle through shock, devastation, anger and optimism. Through the film we see fragments of Lucy's phenomenal concert performances, featuring deconstructed reimaginings of pop songs – all written by men – and revealing of Lucy's dilemma in which she must take on the burden of responsibility for a man's actions. Directed with precision by Kreutzer, Gentle Monster is powerful, provocative and morally complex.