You can hardly start a dementia drama more pointedly than Lance Hammer! In the very first scene of “Queen At Sea,” university professor Amanda (Juliette Binoche) surprises her elderly mother Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall) and her stepfather Martin (Tom Courtenay), who is about the same age, while having Viagra-assisted sexual intercourse. That alone wouldn't be so bad if her mother's family doctor hadn't recently discovered that his severely demented patient could no longer consciously consent to sexual acts. Martin then even promised not to have sex in the future, which is why Amanda now calls the police in a moment of overwhelm. Actually, she just wants to wake up her stepfather with the call so that he will stick to his promise in the future. But now that sexual abuse charges are out in the world, things are bound to take their course.
Martin is arrested and is officially not allowed back into the house after his release, while Leslie, who doesn't understand what's going on, has to undergo a forensic gynecological examination. At this point there are two paths that seem equally likely: Either “Queen At Sea” develops into a kind of Kafkaesque labyrinth in which the couple is ground down by the wheels of bureaucracy because every authority, from the police to the social welfare office, prefers to pass on responsibility instead of taking the initiative themselves. Or maybe it's one of those rather sweet, romanticized dementia films where the next generation just has to realize – like the audience has already done for a long time – that the loving parents of course belong together and not in the home. Puppy cake! Luckily, the “Ballast” director doesn’t make it that easy for himself in his second feature film.
Amanda (Juliette Binoche) and Martin (Tom Courtenay) both want the best for Leslie – but that's not easy to determine, especially when even the best solution is pretty bad.
Just a few hours later, Martin is back. Amanda half-heartedly tries to convince him that this is violating his probation, but when Leslie keeps getting out of bed throughout the night to walk down the steep stairs of her London townhouse to where Martin is sleeping on the sofa, she eventually gives up and lets it happen. Despite the potentially scandalous opening, there is no deeper hatred between the characters for one another. For Amanda, there is no question that Martin loves his wife unconditionally, and although Martin is both overwhelmed and frustrated by the situation, he also struggles to find objective arguments when he cites opposing psychological opinions, according to which sexual closeness can even provide security and reduce fears in people with dementia.
“Queen At Sea” is not a film in which the protagonists scream at each other in the exuberance of emotions. Instead, even in this absolutely exceptional situation, they strive to treat people as respectfully as possible. Even the swipes at the police, authorities and home management that are often thrown in in such films are largely avoided. Everyone behaves as correctly as they can when the situation no longer allows for a truly satisfactory solution. Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”) and Tom Courtenay (“45 Years”) harmonize brilliantly with each other – there is a huge sense of empathy between them, even when they disagree or are incredibly frustrated with each other. But the real event is the interaction between Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall (“Wuthering Heights”), who you immediately believe have been inseparable for almost 20 years – and yet you can't help but doubt how much Leslie really notices of her surroundings.
You immediately believe that Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall) and Martin have been inseparable for a long time.
When Leslie has to go to the home for at least a short time, she has sex with another man there – so is her longing for closeness “just” instinctive and has nothing to do with the couple's shared past? “Queen At Sea” at least leaves the door open to such a fatalistic reading that dispels all romanticized ideas about dementia. At the same time, it's not just a downer, but rather, despite the deeply tragic twists and turns, it leaves the audience on an optimistic note when Amanda's teenage daughter Sara (“Bridgerton” star Florence Hunt) comes into play again. Parallel to the events surrounding her grandmother, she experiences her first carefree love in London, which functions as a lightening counterpoint throughout the film. Only at the very end does Lance Hammer overdo it with the opposing parallelism of the two storylines.
Conclusion: Although the superbly acted “Queen At Sea” has a strikingly pointed premise for a dementia drama, the film is particularly convincing because it does not over-dramatize in the further course, but rather tells the story in a mature, honest and appropriately ambivalent manner about how the insidious disease can mercilessly overwhelm relatives, authorities and institutions despite unconditional love and the best intentions. A film without definitive answers, in which the author, director and editor Lance Hammer only allows himself to be tempted at the very end to give his audience the most harmonious conclusion possible – then the film suddenly seems noticeably “built” in the last few meters.
We saw “Queen At Sea” at the Berlinale 2026, where it celebrated its world premiere in the official competition.