QUEEN AT SEA

Thankfully, Hammer is a responsible filmmaker. Having shaken the audience, he painstakingly begins to fill in the narrative gaps, probing the moral fabric of the difficult events unfolding within Amanda’s (Juliette Binoche) family.

Amanda regularly visits her mother Leslie (Anna Calder-Marshall), who is living with advanced dementia. However, she is not the only person caring for her. Leslie’s second husband, Martin (Tom Courtenay), is equally devoted to looking after her. One day, Amanda makes a discovery that drives a wedge between her and her stepfather. They must face a significant moral dilemma without easy answers.

On the surface, QUEEN AT SEA is a restrained, coolly observed film steeped in the gloom of its London setting, captured in Adolpho Veloso’s superb cinematography (TRAIN DREAMS). Beneath that visual austerity, however, lies a desperate search for some way of grappling with an unimaginably cruel illness. Having carried out extensive research into the experiences of families affected by dementia, Hammer chooses to remain a non-judgemental observer rather than impose a categorical position of his own. He recognises the complexity of interpreting the needs of people who have lost the ability to communicate their feelings and boundaries, while also understanding the human need for closeness and for expressing love towards someone who is ill.

Thanks to the supporting performances of Courtenay and Calder-Marshall, both of whom received the Silver Bear at the Berlinale, this reflection gains ever greater emotional force before our eyes.

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Text: Michał Sołtysek