Frank & Louis, directed by Petra Biondina Volpe, tells a story of redemption and humanity amid loss of identity.
Frank (Kingsley Ben-Adir) is serving a life prison sentence for a crime slowly revealed during the film. He joins a program to care for prisoners who have Alzheimer’s and dementia—some younger than expected (highlighting a real-life crisis of early-onset dementia in prisons).
After all, Frank has a parole hearing coming up, and the job may help him make his case.
Frank begins looking after Louis (Rob Morgan). At first untrusting, we see Louis, a once highly feared inmate, become frightened, timid and even caring throughout the film. A scene where Louis has a moment of realization over his mental decline hits particularly hard.
As Louis’s behavior becomes more difficult to predict, Frank must also confront his own regret.
The film never leaves the prison setting, but it covers both men’s lives outside. As the two men grow closer, viewers grow more familiar with their humanity despite their pasts. Then, there’s the question of memory: What is the role of punishment when you no longer remember where you are or what you did?
With their characters, Ben-Adir and Morgan convey loss of identity with incredible force—whether as a prisoner or dementia patient—and deserve all the accolades that will likely follow the festival.
Volpe, who also co-wrote the film, previously wrote Late Shift, which was selected as Switzerland’s entry for the 2026 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Frank & Louis is her first English-language film. During the film’s Q&A session, she said the Gold Coat program operated out of a California state prison inspired the story. Through a visit to the program, she learned it helped inmates “feel human again.”
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