Netflix is nearing a deal to acquire Marie Kreutzer‘s “Gentle Monster,” following the harrowing family drama’s Cannes debut, which sparked early awards buzz for star Léa Seydoux. The streamer already emerged victorious in the bidding war for the hot sales title, “La Bola Negra,” earlier Saturday, so a second acquisition would be a boon.
Seydoux’s Cannes legend began in 2013, with her breakthrough performance in the Palme d’Or-winning “Blue Is the Warmest Colour.” She returned to the festival this year, starring in not one, but two films in competition: “Gentle Monster” and Arthur Harari’s science-fiction film “The Unknown.”
In the former, Seydoux plays Lucy, an avant-garde musician who’s just moved into a country house near Munich with her husband Philip (Laurence Rupp) and son. “One morning, their lives are turned upside down when the police arrive at their home to arrest Philip and seize his computers,” the film’s synopsis reads. “Devastated, Lucy searches for the truth about her husband. Who is he really? Should she keep him away from her son?”
Jella Haase and Catherine Deneuve also star in the film, which earned a prolonged ovation following its Cannes premiere on May 15. Variety’s review praised the Parisian actress for ably embodying the anguish caused by the shocking revelation at her husband’s involvement in a child pornography ring and her rising suspicion that he may have abused their child, too. “Seydoux is particularly strong in conveying Lucy’s willful, occasionally self-deluding desire to, as she says, ‘make this all not have happened,’” the review notes.
“Gentle Monster” also requires Seydoux to sing, tapping into a lost passion.
“When I was a young kid singing, it was my only way of expression,” Seydoux told Variety’s Daniel D’Addario in a recent cover story. She once aspired to sing professionally, but she was isolated and bullied in school, eventually growing so withdrawn that she stopped altogether.
Thus, Kreutzer‘s film allowed her to reclaim her voice. “When you act in films, you can hide yourself. You can transform. You have layers — the screen and the camera is a layer between you and people. But to sing — you are very vulnerable when you sing,” Seydoux said, explaining how she reassured herself it’d be worth it. “I will have to sing, and it’s OK,” she recalled thinking. “I think I can do it. It really defines Lucy.”
MK2 Films is representing the filmmakers. Deadline first reported news of the negotiations.
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