Hot Milk Review (BFI Flare 2025)
It’s one of, dare we say it, the hottest tickets at this year’s BFI Flare. Hot Milk arrives full of promise, thanks to the formidable threesome that is Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, and She Said and Disobedience) who makes her feature debut with the film and the reputation of Deborah Levy’s Booker-nominated novel. That’s a lot to live up to. But could it be too much?
Sofia (Mackey) has cared for her mother, Rose (Shaw), for as long as she can . She suffers from a condition that prevents her from walking and is constantly in a wheelchair so, although Sofia has studies to pursue, her life is dominated by her mother. In search of a diagnosis, mother and daughter travel to a Spanish seaside town to consult an unconventional doctor, and while their sessions take place, Sofia comes under the spell of the enigmatic Ingrid (Krieps), who gives her a first taste of love and, more importantly, freedom. But, as she takes her first steps towards a life that is truly her own, it also drives a wedge between her and her mother.
Those few sentences raise so many questions, and that’s one of the dilemmas for a film that, while it has moments of sun-soaked intensity, never comes close to really catching fire. What was the cause of Rose’s condition, and is it genuine or something closer to a self-serving ruse to keep Sofia under her control? Are Ingrid’s feelings for Sofia genuine, or is this yet another summer fling for the free-spirited woman? We’re in no doubt about how Sofia feels: even though her hair-trigger jealousy is inevitably immature, it’s for real, and she hurts easily. As Hot Milk continues, the questions pile up while answers are in short supply, leading to a finale that leaves the audience stranded in mid-air.
Despite the unanswered questions surrounding it, the best scenes all emanate from the mother/daughter relationship and especially from the spellbinding combination of Mackey and Shaw. The legendary Irish actress commands the screen, fusing needs and demands into a chain that keeps her daughter exactly where she wants her. And when she’s not constantly a voice in Sofia’s ear – either physically or on the mobile phone – she contemplates her own demise, wondering how she might look if she fell to her doom. Mackey is all pent-up frustration whose life is such an emotional desert that it only takes a morsel of attention from Ingrid to light the spark. She shines in depicting a struggle to break free, even when the script hampers her by giving her a possible escape route based on a moment that is open to misinterpretation. Another of those unanswered questions.
By comparison, Krieps’ Ingrid is more of a vacuum than a person, flitting from one person to another, constantly acting on impulse, which, while it appeals hugely to the repressed Sofia, is something of a red flag to anybody watching. It’s sad to see such a fine actress struggling to find any depth in such a shallow character. While the three actors at the heart of Hot Milk are certainly its biggest attraction, the unreliable script only allows two of them to unleash their talents, leaving the audience feeling unsatisfied and more than a little baffled. Sadly, it’s more tepid than hot.
★★ 1/2
Playing at BFI Flare on March 25th, 27th, and 29th: in UK cinemas from July 4th. / Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, Vicky Krieps / Dir: Rebecca Lenkiewicz / MUBI / 15
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