The 2026 Oscars haven’t even happened yet, but Amy Adams will likely be in the running next year for her towering performance in Kornél Mundruczó’s At the Sea (which premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday evening). Adams has already received six nominations across her career, for films ranging from David O Russell’s bombastic crime comedy American Hustle to the melancholy indie Junebug, but she’s surely never faced a role as demanding or rewarding as this.
Adams plays recovering alcoholic Laura, with the very first image of the film a huge close up of her sallow face. The camera gradually pulls back and we see that she is drumming with ferocious concentration. This is a musical exercise at a rehab centre – she’s been there for six months trying to get sober, after smashing up a car in a drunk driving incident.
