Acclaimed concert pianist Lucy moves with her husband Philip and their young son to the countryside, hoping the change will help Philip recover from burnout. The family gradually settles into a quieter rhythm - until the police arrive one morning to arrest Philip and confiscate his computer. What Lucy subsequently discovers shatters everything she thought she knew about the man she loves and the father of her child. Caught between the instinct to protect her son and feelings for Philip that have not simply disappeared, she must find a way to live with a reality she could never have imagined. Kreutzer began developing the film after reading a news report, but the subject later took on an unsettling personal dimension when an actor in her previous film, Corsage, was convicted of possessing and producing child sexual abuse material. Gentle Monster shifts the focus away from the perpetrator and towards the women left to carry the emotional burden of crimes committed by those closest to them.
