‘Queen at Sea’ movie review: a formless and relentlessly bleak stirring of the pot

*Queen at Sea* centres on Amanda, played by Juliette Binoche, who calls the police after finding her mother, who has severe dementia, having sex with her stepfather. The film explores the fraught question of intimacy and consent when someone has cognitive impairment, but the review argues that its bleak, provocative approach raises difficult issues without giving them enough context or depth.

The review praises Binoche’s sincere performance and Florence Hunt’s work as Amanda’s teenage daughter, Sara, whose story considers independence and sexuality. It criticises the thin characterisation, the limited exploration of care and consent, and a plot that shifts towards sympathy for Martin after Leslie’s health worsens. The result, it says, is a relentlessly bleak drama whose ambitions are undermined by its lack of substance.