Queen at Sea

Lance Hammer’s film begins with a shock: Amanda (Juliette Binoche) walks in on her elderly mother having sex with her husband, Martin, Amanda’s step-father (Tom Courtenay). Distraught, Amanda calls the police, triggering an investigation. You see, Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall) suffers from dementia and can no longer give consent. But the investigation itself is traumatic to Leslie, and Martin angrily dismisses the suggestion that he should withhold physical affection from his wife — who, he says, often initiates the act.

In his long-awaited second feature, writer-director Lance Hammer (Ballast) drops us into another intimate, slow-burn character study, while unsettling compositions from DOP Adolpho Veloso (Train Dreams) masterfully reflect the subjects’ loss of bearings. Anchored by this powerhouse cast (and a sterling turn by Florence Hunt as Amanda’s teenage daughter), Queen at Sea asks tough questions about a difficult subject, but it’s also a very moving family drama.

The film is sober and sensitive, sometimes literally excruciating. It is also propulsive as a thriller.

Danny Leigh, Financial Times

A film with a tragic, wintry candour.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Unforgettable.

Ryan Lattanzio, Indiewire