This new film from writer/director Marie Kreutzer (Corsage) charts the tortuous predicament of Léa Seydoux’s Lucy Weiss, a musician whose marriage to filmmaker Philip (Laurence Rupp) is irrevocably shattered when he is taken into police custody under suspicion of possessing and distributing sexualised images of children. Before the visit from the police, Lucy and Philip were settling into their new lavish countryside manor. We first find the couple spending leisurely afternoons attempting to assemble a garden trampoline or singing ‘Yellow’ to their nine-year-old son Johnny (Malo Blanchet). Lucy cooks while Philip goes on early-morning runs – when he returns home he heads straight to the shower, only to emerge naked and dripping wet, running after Johnny and placing him firmly on his lap to ensure the boy brushes his teeth properly.
This is one of many unsettling but ultimately vapid scenes of provocation, with Kreutzer’s insistence on empty suggestion – coupled with a nagging seesawing of repeated set-ups with no proper payoff – turning Gentle Monster into a frustrating dissection of a taboo that demands more careful consideration. It is a shame this meta-drama-slash-thriller shows an almost unbelievable resistance to tug and pull at the tough knots of the shattering ripples of paraphilia. What remains in its place is a carcass of possible brilliance, too afraid to cross a line that had already been shredded from the start.
