Lance Hammer's new film Queen at Sea, his first in 18 years, tackles the fraught subject of dementia and sexual consent through the story of an elderly couple, Martin and Leslie, played by Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall. When Leslie's daughter Amanda, played by Juliette Binoche, discovers the pair having sex and calls the police because her mother's dementia raises questions about her capacity to consent, the film forces viewers to hold two conflicting truths at once: that nonconsensual sex is unacceptable, yet institutional intervention devastates the couple's remaining companionship. Hammer, an architect-turned-art-director making his directorial return, says the film deliberately avoids taking a moral stance, instead presenting the dilemma's complexity for audiences to wrestle with themselves.

Hammer, 59, discussed the project in London en route to the Edinburgh International Film Festival, describing his role as an artist to question rather than resolve difficult issues. He voiced sympathy for both Amanda's decision to involve the authorities and Martin's position, suggesting the latter may not fully grasp how far Leslie's mental decline has eroded her capacity for consent. Courtenay and Calder-Marshall's performances, portraying the couple's decades-long bond and Leslie's dementia-driven confusion, earned them a joint Silver Bear at this year's Berlinale film festival.