Hot Milk (United Kingdom, 2025)
Original title: Hot Milk
Director: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Screenplay: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the book by Deborah Levy
Main cast: Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps, Vincent Perez, Yan Gael, Patsy Ferran and Korina Gougouli
Running time: 93 minutes
Rebecca Lenkiewicz is a successful screenwriter, having written scripts such as Disobedience (2017) and Colette (2018), but this is her first time directing a film. This is an adaptation of the 2016 novel Hot Milk, which tells the story of Sofia (Emma Mackey) and her mother Rose (Fiona Shaw) when they take a vacation in Spain in search of a new alternative treatment for a mysterious illness that has affected the mother and severely hampered her mobility, leaving her confined to a wheelchair.
There are several hidden layers in the drama’s details, such as the codependent relationship between mother and daughter, the sexual awakening of queer people and the very necessary moment of understanding the limits of family relationships for the sake of one’s own well-being. At the same time, we deal with the mystery surrounding Rose’s illness and her always negative attitude towards her daughter, the girl who stopped living her own life in order to take care of her mother. Between the treatment that seems to involve both more physical issues and those of psychosomatic origin, psychoanalysis becomes frequent in the mother’s life. Meanwhile, the daughter meets Ingrid (Vicky Krieps), an enigmatic and sensual figure who intrigues her.
Despite having several visually and narratively striking scenes, perhaps the problem with the film is the lack of better articulation between its parts. All the movements in the work happen very abruptly, which may make sense when talking about passion, but not in the development of the relationship between mother and daughter, or even in the daughter’s search for her origins, which generates an episode that doesn’t seem to be part of the same work. Even understanding that this is an adaptation of a book, and I have not read the original work, this situation creates an interruption in the plot and a disconnection with the rest of the events.
There are some elements used that manage to convey physical sensations that connect us to the work, such as the use of the sound of a frequent barking and several flies that hover around people throughout the day. This, combined with a cinematography that highlights the Spanish sun, increases the immersion in that environment, but the lack of more convincing characters still makes the experience more empty.
There are very enigmatic moments, such as Ingrid’s initial arrival on a horse at the beach, which harks back to fairy tales. This is combined with very strong performances by all the female characters, who, despite the lack of context, are at least archetypically stimulating. The feeling of never reaching the proposed potential is worse than not having any promise at all.
Although it isn’t a truly bad film, the work never seems to achieve what it was preparing for, and when it reaches the end, it has such an abrupt resolution that it doesn’t justify all the preparation. Even between the heat of the beach and the romance, we feel stuck in a wheelchair without being able to react.
