‘Old age’, Bette Davis once reportedly remarked, ‘ain’t no place for sissies’ and neither is Queen at Sea. It’s a film that unflinchingly explores dementia, intimacy, consent, which is basically everything your average sissy wants to run a mile from. (I’m your average sissy and wanted to run a mile from just the synopsis.) But while it’s a tough watch, and a shattering watch, it’s also tender and affecting and the cast – Tom Courtenay, Anna Calder-Marshall, Juliette Binoche – are outstanding. It’s one of those films to file under: ‘Glad I’ve seen – never again.’

It’s directed by Lance Hammer, whose Ballast (2008) was an indie phenomenon but who then stayed quiet for 16 years. (Hollywood, he said, tried to manoeuvre him towards ‘bankable’ scripts while he chose to wait for a meaningful project that wasn’t all about the box office.) Here, Courtenay and Calder-Marshall play Martin and Leslie who have........

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