Gentle Monster: Léa Seydoux Faces a Shattering Family Secret in Netflix’s New Drama

Netflix has unveiled the official trailer for Gentle Monster, the upcoming drama from Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer, whose previous film Corsage was Austria’s submission for the 95th Academy Awards.

Starring Léa Seydoux, Laurence Rupp, Jella Haase and Academy Award nominee Catherine Deneuve, the film follows a woman whose seemingly secure family life collapses after a police operation exposes a disturbing secret involving her husband.

Gentle Monster is rated R for sexuality, graphic nudity and some language. It will open in select theaters on October 30, 2026, before arriving on Netflix on November 18.

A Family Life Turned Upside Down

Seydoux plays Lucy, a concert pianist who moves with her husband Philip and their young son to a country house, hoping the change of surroundings will help Philip recover from severe burnout.

Their fresh start lasts barely long enough to begin settling in.

One morning, police arrive at the house to arrest Philip and seize his computers. Suddenly, Lucy is forced to confront the possibility that the man she loves may have been hiding a side of himself she never knew.

With her family’s safety at stake, Lucy must search for the truth while trying to protect her son and make sense of what is happening around her. The official Cannes synopsis similarly places Lucy between her love for Philip and her fear of what he may have done.

Léa Seydoux Leads a Troubled Ensemble

Seydoux takes the central role as Lucy, with Laurence Rupp playing Philip and Jella Haase appearing as Elsa.

Catherine Deneuve plays Eloise, while the supporting cast includes Malo Blanchet, Anton Rubtsov, Nils Strunk, Sylvester Groth, Patrycja Ziółkowska and Regina Fritsch.

The film brings Seydoux and Deneuve together on screen for the first time.

Rather than presenting the story primarily from the perspective of the accused man, Kreutzer centers Lucy and the emotional fallout surrounding someone who suddenly has to question everything she believed about her family.

Inspired by a Real Case

The story grew out of a real-life case that shocked Kreutzer after she read about it in the German weekly Die Zeit in 2020.

The filmmaker was particularly interested in the shock and helplessness experienced by people confronted with the discovery that someone close to them had been involved in deeply disturbing crimes. The film uses that starting point to examine what happens when trust within a family suddenly collapses.

The subject matter also gives Gentle Monster a darker dimension than a conventional family drama, with the story focused on the questions raised by Lucy’s discovery rather than offering easy answers.

From Cannes to Netflix

Gentle Monster had its world premiere in the main competition of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2026. The film is an Austria-Germany-France co-production and runs for approximately 114 minutes.

Kreutzer wrote and directed the film, with Alexander Glehr and Johanna Scherz among the producers. The music was composed by Camille, while Judith Kaufmann handled cinematography and Ulrike Kofler edited the film.

Following its festival run, the film is now heading toward its wider release, with select U.S. theaters scheduled for October 30 before its Netflix debut on November 18 in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

With Seydoux at the center of a story built around secrecy, trust and the terrifying possibility that a loved one may be completely different from who they appeared to be, Gentle Monster brings an unsettling family drama to Netflix this November.