Léa Seydoux Eyes Cannes Best Actress With 2 Films at 40

7 articles · Updated · IndieWire · May 22

Two Cannes competition films have put Léa Seydoux back in the Best Actress conversation: Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown” and Marie Kreutzer’s “Gentle Monster.”
In “The Unknown,” Seydoux plays a man trapped in a woman’s body and performs in French, English and German; in “Gentle Monster,” she portrays a pop singer confronting her husband’s suspected abuse of children.
At 40, Seydoux said the roles reflect a more mature phase of her career, with both characters carrying shame and secrecy, and she called “The Unknown” a chance to show her postpartum body without glamour or objectification.
The Cannes push extends a 20-year festival relationship that broke open with 2013 Palme d’Or winner “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” after which Seydoux said she insisted on approval over scenes showing her body.
Beyond Cannes, Seydoux said she is moving into two American indies next, including “The Masque of the Red Death” and the Zellner brothers’ sci-fi comedy “Alpha Gang.”

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