Marie Kreutzer's "Gentle Monster" Confronts Toxic Masculinity Through Léa Seydoux's Pianist

Marie Kreutzer's new film "Gentle Monster" centers on a woman whose husband faces charges of possessing child pornography, raising the question of whether she could have known — a question Kreutzer herself confronted in the Teichtmeister case. The Austrian filmmaker continues the strategy of appropriating songs written by men that she employed in "Corsage," where a young woman played the Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By" on harp before Elisabeth of Austria, called Sisi, and her ladies-in-waiting, using the 1960s rock ballad to comment on a 19th-century woman's emotions. In "Gentle Monster," pianist Lucy, played by Léa Seydoux, fills concert halls with cover versions of hits including Charles & Eddie's "Would I Lie To You." She transfers familiar pop melodies into a high-culture framework while deconstructing the male gaze.