{"id":136436,"date":"2026-02-17T19:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136436\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T19:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:12:09","slug":"a-gentle-shattering-drama-about-dementia-and-autonomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/136436\/","title":{"rendered":"A Gentle, Shattering Drama About Dementia and Autonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cQueen at Sea<\/a>,\u201d Lance Hammer<\/a>\u2019s first feature in 18 years, is a work of shattering gentleness and harrowing ethical dilemmas. Navigating such thorny topics as consent and autonomy in the throes of dementia, the film is relentless in its exploration of impossible-to-answer questions, and uses, as its vessel, three sensational performers who make its drama both luminous and entirely devastating.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s delicate opening scenes, of an aged couple ascending a public staircase arm-in-arm, are quickly fractured by stark images that yank the story into a harsh, unforgiving reality. Middle-aged, newly single professor Amanda (Juliette Binoche<\/a>) brings her teenage daughter Sarah (Florence Hunt) along to a Victorian apartment in North London, where she finds her aged mother Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall) under the thrusting hips of her stepfather Martin (Tom Courtenay<\/a>). Leslie\u2019s expression appears to be one of great discomfort, and Amanda\u2019s exasperated response as she shoos Martin off her mother suggests this is a repeated offense. A conscientious daughter, she\u2019s had enough this time, and finally calls the police, informing them of her mother\u2019s dementia.<\/p>\n

\n\tWithin minutes, and using only a handful of words, Hammer and his actors paint a discomforting portrait of complicated lives in motion, introducing us to a story at its tipping point. Although Amanda makes it clear that Leslie can\u2019t consent (something her mother\u2019s doctor has also affirmed), Martin\u2019s actions stem from motives more complex than mere selfishness or lust. <\/p>\n

\n\tThat the film opens with a sexual assault is never in doubt, given its violent visual framing. However, it also avoids didacticism \u2014 first by centering Martin\u2019s claims of supposedly knowing his wife and recognizing her desires, and then by focusing on Amanda\u2019s immediate regret over getting the authorities involved, if it means potentially separating the aged couple. Martin loves Leslie deeply, and is her primary caregiver, while Amanda and her daughter have only moved temporarily from Newcastle to look after her.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film moves swiftly into procedural mode as Leslie is subjected to the ostensibly correct legal processes, including a rape kit. But her disease is advanced, so she\u2019s barely verbal, and has little idea of what she\u2019s experiencing. The investigation can\u2019t help but feel dehumanizing, despite Amanda comforting her while doctors examine her in carefully clinical ways. It\u2019s hard not to be thrown for a loop by these increasingly intricate emotional specifics, as though these characters \u2014 mere strangers just moments prior \u2014 have immediately become family. <\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re not only made observers to dramatic situations, but participants in the moral theatre of Hammer\u2019s Ken Loach-like social realism. Binaries of right and wrong aren\u2019t useful when there\u2019s so much else to consider, from lived histories to knotty dynamics and living situations. Amanda, despite her complaints, wants Martin to continue caring for Leslie, and the more we see them interact, the more we want this for her too.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s heart is in its naturalistic lead performances. Courtenay, as a caregiver with deeply sympathetic layers, exhibits frustration and compassion in equal measure, blending the obstinate protestations of a man in his twilight years with the lifelong tenderness and wisdom that often accompany them. Binoche, meanwhile, rests on a knife\u2019s edge, playing each scene with an undercurrent of exhausted helplessness, as she increasingly loses her grip on what\u2019s right for her mother and stepfather. <\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, it\u2019s Calder-Marshall who ends up pivotal to how \u201cQueen at Sea\u201d plays out, both thematically and tonally. She\u2019s tasked with stripping Leslie, a once-complete person, down to her most basic instincts in a manner that still reflects the light of who she used to be. One can easily imagine a different version of her role defined by wild nonverbal gesticulations and cloying desperation. But even more than her co-stars, she turns those instincts inward, resulting in a performance of surprising subtlety that still lucidly communicates each cloudy moment. Her vacant stares are laced with just enough recognizable humanity to make the camera question what, if anything, is going on behind her eyes \u2014 a mystery that looms over the entire story.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the film broaches questions of how this family ought to proceed, it frequently cuts to Sarah\u2019s seemingly unrelated coming-of-age drama, as a teen experiencing her own sexual awakening. That she seldom seems to care about her mother or grandmother is, for better or worse, true to where she is in life. While this may be frustrating to watch, it also makes for an intriguing narrative mirror. Her cutesy fling with a classmate is low-stakes, but when contrasted with the eventualities experienced by both older generations \u2014 a mother separated from her husband, and grandparents in need of constant care, who are close to being torn apart \u2014 it\u2019s something of a miracle that she\u2019s open to romance at all.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps there\u2019s some unseen optimism guiding Sarah, imbuing the film with a secretly uplifting quality, despite the gloomy subject matter. Most modern films about dementia \u2014 such as Michael Haneke\u2019s \u201cAmour\u201d or Florian Zeller\u2019s \u201cThe Father\u201d \u2014 tend to center the misery wrought by the disease. While this is true of \u201cQueen at Sea\u201d as well, where it stands apart is in its depiction of the enduring love that makes the loss of memory and function such a tragedy in the first place.<\/p>\n

\n\tThese thematic contours are carved with the utmost care, between Hammer\u2019s script drawing from detailed research on the topics at hand \u2014 which extends to casting experts on elder care and sexual assault in supporting roles \u2014 and tremendous visual sleight-of-hand from \u201cTrain Dreams\u201d DP Adolpho Veloso. The rich 35mm frames are captured with a stillness that emphasizes the haunting emptiness around the characters. Yet the camera injects a phantom urgency into proceedings through Veloso\u2019s use of a reduced shutter angle, which results in a jittery reduction in motion blur typical of action cinema. (You might recognize it from the Omaha Beach sequence in \u201cSaving Private Ryan\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tTo employ such a visceral technique in an otherwise restrained drama has the occasional effect of making Leslie\u2019s interactions with the outside world feel like startling impositions. But for the most part, your brain gets used to it despite associating the aesthetic with chaos and momentum. Applying this texture to lengthy scenes of stillness keeps you on edge in subtle, subconscious ways: You might even forget why you\u2019ve been anxious to begin with, or if there was something you were meant to be anticipating at all. It\u2019s like perpetually experiencing the sensation of walking into a room and losing all perception of why you\u2019re there. There are many films on the subject of dementia, but few embody the destabilizing effects of the disease with such precision.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s never a moment when the narrative ideas aren\u2019t crystal clear, so you remain emotionally tethered to everything that\u2019s going on. Yet you\u2019re still left adrift \u2014 not unlike Leslie, whose primal attachment to Martin is at once a comfort and a source of existential conflict. In perhaps the film\u2019s most striking move, this central drama won\u2019t just leave you in need of soothing, but will provide the necessary comfort too \u2014 not unlike the way Amanda slowly comes to view Martin as a vital piece of the puzzle that is, or once was, her mother.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cQueen at Sea,\u201d Lance Hammer\u2019s first feature in 18 years, is a work of shattering gentleness and harrowing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[56892,56894,56967,9,24,63,56968,122,124,123,56969],"class_list":{"0":"post-136436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-berlin-film-festival-2026","9":"tag-juliette-binoche","10":"tag-lance-hammer","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-queen-at-sea","15":"tag-queens","16":"tag-queens-headlines","17":"tag-queens-news","18":"tag-tom-courtenay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}