Back in the early 2020's director Marie Kreutzer was hard at work on research for what she thought would be her next film after “Corsage” (2022). Kreutzer was initially horrified by a news story that she read about the realities of paedophiles Shaken to her core, she felt the topic needed to be seriously examined in a film, but she did not want to commit to making such an important film until she had researched it forensically, despite how hard it would be delving into such dark material for an extended time. After talking to police about how they conduct a warranted search of people under suspicion, the unthinkable happened two days later. Florian Teichtmeister, one of Kreutzer's leads of her film “Corsage”, had his house raided over suspicion he possessed and/or produced child abuse material. Without going into any more detail about this case and the media furore that surrounded it, Teichtmeister ended up pleading guilty, and Kreutzer was rightly horrified and disgusted by her former collaborator's actions, while expressing how shocked she was that he was involved in such a thing. The ramifications for her future film about child abuse and paedophilia were almost drastic as she nearly abandoned the project entirely because she knew it would forever be associated with Teichtmeister. In the end she decided that the film was too important and needed to be told, but she rewrote it with another angle included about how you never truly know someone. After this incredibly long introduction, let me say that I am so grateful that Marie Kreutzer made sure “Gentle Monster” would see the light of day, as I found it to be a truly outstanding film. It is an incredibly hard watch, and to be honest, I found the viewing of it absolutely harrowing to sit through, and I was quite emotional and taken aback by the time it finished, but I was in no doubt that what I just witnessed was an excellent and important film.
Director Marie Kreutzer tells her heartbreaking tale from the wife, Lucy's point of view, as she is shocked and angry that her husband, Philip, has been accused of such a serious crime. Lucy's initial reaction to the situation is to make a joke, asking Philip if he had hacked into a bank, as police officers take away computers, laptops and his phone. Lucy follows to the police station to support the man she loves and asks the person at the front desk whereabouts he is. They tell her he is on level two, and she heads to the elevator, and as she is about to press the button she sees what type of crime is investigated on that level: “child sex crimes”, and in that moment, Lucy's entire world collapses, and her focus turns from her husband to her young son. As I mentioned right at the top, “Gentle Monster” is a harrowing watch, as Kreutzer has done an amazing job of putting you in Lucy's shoes along with her. That moment in the elevator is absolutely devastating, because you know nothing will ever be the same again for Lucy. However what haunts Lucy the most, as I am sure would haunt all mothers, is knowing whether or not her son is a victim of her husband's accused crimes. All the emotions and feelings pouring through Lucy in this one moment from love, anger, hate, betrayal, fear, embarrassment and disgust, are too much to handle and process in a short time frame, and it does not help that the police cannot answer as to whether or not her son is a victim too, because investigating all of the digital material could take months. Through the length of Kreutzer's film we are with Lucy as she has to navigate all of her complex feelings about her husband, fearing what could have happened to her son, while at the same time trying to keep life as normal as possible for her son too. We also get a side plot relating to the female cop who is in charge of Philip's case, as she navigates her own lonely life, trying to deal with her father and his declining condition from Alzheimer.
Right from the opening frame of “Gentle Monster” Kreutzer makes the viewer immediately invested in her film, and you cannot take your eyes away from the screen despite how painful a watch it is. What makes it such a hard watch is because you really feel for Lucy and everything that she is going through and trying to process. This is the man that she loves and is the father of her son, and until the police knock on their front door, she does not think anything is wrong with her little family, with perhaps the move out to the country being a slight cause for friction. You understand why she keeps believing Philip's lies because she wants him to be innocent and for her life to go back to normal. It is easier to believe that he has been falsely accused than to picture him being involved in something so heinous. Philip, being a filmmaker, tells his lawyer that he had access to the child abuse material because he was doing research for a documentary on the subject, and didn't realise this was a crime. However, when Lucy confronts Philip about the documentary, asking him how he could be so stupid, he comes clean to her telling her that there is no documentary, and that he was distributing the material for the money, so they could move from the city to the countryside like they agreed on. This is incredibly manipulative as Philip uses the old “I did it all for you” argument, which Lucy believes despite being disgusted by her husband's actions. A fortuitous meeting with Elsa (the police detective in charge of the case) occurs at IKEA of all places, and Lucy explains that while she doesn't agree with what her husband did, and believes he should pay for his crimes, at least he only downloaded the material to re-sell it at a profit, he only did it for the money. When Elsa gets back to the police station and recounts the meeting with a fellow officer, his response of “what money?”, just makes our stomach drop as we know that Lucy has fallen for another one of Philip's lies, as we wonder how she will react when she finds out the truth.
I absolutely felt so sorry for Lea Seydoux, who plays Lucy in “Gentle Monster”, because to be in the emotional register she would have had to have been in for the entire shooting of the film must have been so exhausting and disturbing for her. She is so damn good in the role though, as you feel everything she does, and this poor woman goes through it all. Shock, denial, anger, embarrassment, disgust, fear and love are just some of the emotions Seydoux has to navigate through, but she commits 100% to it all, that you fully believe in everything Lucy is feeling in any given moment. It is so unfair that Philip is the cause of everything, but it is up to Lucy to hold it all together and to continue to power through life for the sake of her son. In lesser hands, the character of Lucy could have been in tears throughout the whole film, but Seydoux gives a more nuanced portrayal than that, although of course there are scenes when it all becomes too much for the poor woman and she breaks down in tears, with the brief scene after one of her music performances being a great example. Seydoux must also navigate three different languages in her performance too as she needs to speak French, German and English depending on her she is talking to. Laurence Rapp is also very good in his role of Philip, in what also had to be a very difficult role too, but unlike with Seydoux, you do not give this a thought because of the horrible and disgusting things his character is accused of. In other words, this is a role that will see no glory for Rapp himself, despite how good he is in it, but he must give himself over to the film wholeheartedly for “Gentle Monster” to work as well as it does.
There are two very graphic sex scenes between Lucy and Philip within “Gentle Monster” that some may find a little gratuitous in a movie about child pornography, however these are actually very important in regards to the truth of paedophiles Most people assume that paedophiles only want to sleep with children, when in actuality the majority of them have normal, healthy adult sex lives too, which is explained to us via one of the doctor characters in “Gentle Monster”. The point is just because Lucy has regular passionate sex with Philip, it does not discount him as being the paedophile which he is accused of being. For some paedophiles it is less about sex, and more about power, and a child is easier to placate than an adult.
Despite the horrific story in “Gentle Monster”, the film contains a number of complex shots and really impressive cinematography highlighting the countryside beauty. Judith Kaufmann has crafted a slick and classy looking film showcasing the magnificence of the German and Austrian locations (the scenes set in Austria are stunning!), hiding the darkness that exists just below it's pristine surfaces. The fact of the matter is that I doubt most viewers would really notice any of the camera work or cinematography, due to how wrapped up in the film's story they would be. When it comes to Marie Kreutzer's direction, I am happy to say that it is very sensitively handled, and she never over-sensationalised any moments to create false emotion or to highlight any scene. I think she is well aware of how powerful the story within “Gentle Monster” is so she does not need to get in it's way with any unneeded directorial touches. She does use the gimmick of flashback a couple of times, where we go back a couple of years prior, to moments where Lucy missed pivotal clues as to what could really be going on with her husband. Importantly, there is no child pornography recreated within the film, nor any scenes involving children in danger. That said the film is so hard to watch at times, with some scenes almost sickening by “what could be” rather than anything you actually see, and I am primarily thinking of a scene when Lucy plugs in a USB she finds in Philip's hoodie. There is so much suspense in this moment because, like Lucy, we have no idea what is on the device, and thanks to Seydoux's performance in this moment, we understand how painful a moment this is, but also that it is something she has to know for herself.
I briefly want to mention the ending of “Gentle Monster”, or rather what happened when the credits began at my screening. Normally at a film festival, we are rushing from film to film, so when the credits begin we bolt out of our chairs to head to the next cinema, or we need to catch public transport home so need to leave quickly for that too. Also someone will begin clapping which sees the whole cinema clap the film too. When “Gentle Monster” finally finished there was complete silence and no one moved a muscle. The film was such a harrowing experience for us all, it was like we all needed a moment to stop and breathe before we could move on. This is my 31st year coming to MIFF and this is the first time I can remember a reaction like this after a film. Myself, I had a train to catch home, but I just could not move. I had to sit there in the darkness for a while longer. Eventually someone started to clap which broke the trance, but it was an incredible collective moment I wont ever forget.
Overall, I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of “Gentle Monster” and what makes it such a great movie. It is an incredibly difficult topic, so I can understand some people being hesitant at watching such a film and while director Marie Kreutzer has attacked the topic head-on and truthfully, she has also done so in a sensitive fashion so nothing of a sordid nature is part of her film. The lead performance from Lea Seydoux is heartbreaking, but so impressive, and you have to applaud her for having the courage in taking the difficult role of Lucy. Again, I stress, that I found watching “Gentle Monster” to be a harrowing experience, which left me very emotional when the film ended, and because of this it is hard to say that it was a film that I loved, but “Gentle Monster” was definitely the best and most important film I saw at MIFF this year, that has only gotten stronger in my mind days after seeing it.
4.5 Stars.
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