Marie Kreutzer is an uncompromising filmmaker. There’s a purity to her work, including her latest, Gentle Monster. With the Léa Seydoux-led drama, she received a round of applause for her determination when she dropped this moviemaking advice:
“It was a very classic example of when I’m told at a very early stage, ‘We can’t do that. It’s not possible. We will not do that.’ But it’s in the script, so you don’t tell me it’s not possible. You tell me how we would do it.”
Which is an approach that probably best suited her latest, an original film that was inspired by a 2020 news article in the German newspaper Die Zeit. The article covering child sexual abuse that sickened the filmmaker. She also saw a film. She spoke with psychologists, police, and lawyers to tell the story of Gentle Monster.
It’s the story of a musician, played by Seydoux, whose husband is accused of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material.
It’s a brutal film about deception, trust, and loss.
After debuting at the Toronto Film Festival, Kreutzer spoke about the process behind assembling Gentle Monster. “I think that assembling the right people, bringing the right collaborators together in front of and behind the camera is such a big part of directing,” she said. “I always try to have a combination of people I know well and some people I’m just curious about and excited about and I want to work with. Maybe one of the most important parts of my job is to find the right collaborators, because then I sometimes get the question, ‘Did it turn out the way you expected it to be or wanted it to be?’ And I always say, ‘No, but that’s the point.’ It changes with every single person who works on it, I think. That’s the beauty of filmmaking, that we get to create something together and create it as we go, honestly.”
By creating it as she goes, she meant embracing spontaneity. Going in with a plan and letting it grow from there. “I love to bring some excitement for everyone because it was basically like shooting a documentary,” she added. “Feature film people are not used to that kind of unexpected situation. And so, there were two cameras. The police crew were partly real policemen, partly actors who were all taught exactly what to do when they would enter the house, but they had not seen the house before. So I tried to bring everyone back at least as close to the real situation as possible. And that was very nerve-wracking for everyone. But I love situations like that. It keeps us on our toes.”
Gentle Monster. (L to R) Léa Seydoux as Lucy Weiss and Jella Haase as Elsa Kühn in Gentle Monster. Cr. Frédéric Batier/Netflix ©2026
It’s a process born out of, although described as uncertainty, more out of curiosity. That open approach to filmmaking created one of the most striking scenes in Gentle Monster, in which Seydoux’s character comes face-to-face with the detective, played by Jella Haase. The two actors hadn’t met before shooting their introduction, in which an arrest and search will unfold.
“I did that once before, another film with a complex scene with many actors,” Kreutzer concluded. “That first time, to be honest, I did it because I didn’t really know how to direct that. I was like, ‘How would we shoot that?’ We didn’t have much time. So I just said, ‘Let’s just try that for once,’ and let’s try to have … the two actors who were the main intention not meet before. And that was such a great experience that I thought it would be exactly the right thing to do here.”
Following its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, the critical sentiment surrounding Gentle Monster has been somewhat divided, though virtually all audiences and critics agree on one thing: Léa Seydoux is spectacular. While many praised Kreutzer’s unflinching approach to such harrowing subject matter, some festival-goers noted that the film’s overall momentum is occasionally hindered by secondary storylines that pull focus away from Seydoux’s commanding lead.
In our own review for What’s on Netflix, Rendy Jones echoed these festival reactions, noting that the feature is “anchored by Léa Seydoux’s lived-in, visceral performance, reminding the masses of her immense abilities”. However, they also pointed out that despite being a phenomenal acting showcase, Kreutzer’s “dark domestic drama gets bogged down by unnecessary subplots and a surprisingly surface-level execution”. Ultimately, even if the film occasionally stumbles in its broader narrative ambitions, Seydoux’s tour de force ensures it remains a gripping, must-see watch.
Gentle Monster streams on Netflix in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand from November 18th, 2026.
