Rebecca Lenkiewicz is best remembered as the writer behin notable British co-productions such as Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski, 2013), Disobedience (Sebastian Lelio, 2018), and Colette (Wash Westmoreland, 2018). On the director’s seat for the first time, the 57-year-old artist doubles down as both the helmer and the scribe. The outcome is a multithreaded study of female allegiance and endurance.
Twenty-something, exceedingly beautiful Sofia (Emma Mackey) and her wheelchair-bound, capricious mother Rose (Fiona Shaw) travel from London to Southern Spain in order to treat the latter’s chronic pain. A mysterious disease has afflicted the old woman, and prevented her from walking ever since her only child was aged just four. There’s something very peculiar about her condition: her legs look perfectly healthy, and she is occasionally able to walk. The fact that her disability set in at the same time as Sofia’s father Christos returned to his native Greece suggests that her malaise might have psychological roots. Devoted therapist Gomez (Vincent Perez) and his daughter Julieta (Patsy Ferran) are determined to help their patient, however Rose questions every step of the treatment. Maybe she wants to sabotage her own cure. Maybe she finds pleasure in pain.
Sofia becomes romantically involved with Ingrid, a charming German artist of around her age (played the Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps). One day, she makes a very intimate confession to Sofia, about a family tragedy. Our protagonist decides to help her lover to overcome the trauma associated to the event. Simultaneously, she has to grapple with some very dark family secrets of her own. Multiple events of the past continue to cripple Rose (both literally and metaphorically), yet she refuses to share the truth with her daughter. The quiet and determined woman is thus unable to help her parent.
The action takes place in the sunny town of Almeria, a coastal town of Andalusia. The landscape is dotted with ugly roads and crumbling buildings – not necessarily the picture-perfect holiday destination. This is a pan-European city where people from all countries meet: Rose is Irish, Sofia is British, Ingrid is German, Gomez is French, Julieta is Spanish, and the beachgoers speak Portuguese. Oh, and Rose and Sofia’s surname is Greek. For some strange reason, the divorcee retained her former partner’s foreign and barely pronounceable acolade. This is a meeting point for various nationalities and generations. And also their fighting arena.
Sofia is tasked with helping Rose and Ingrid, two women in desperate need of catharsis and liberation. The problem is that both have become accustomed to their suffering. Sofia sets out to prove that life should be embraced (instead of merely endured). Ultimately, this is a movie about female complicity and compassion.
Lenkiewicz provides viewers with more questions than answers, leaving us to speculate the details of the events that left the two women scarred. There are no flashbacks. The movie is firmly grounded in the present, with all of its magnificent incoherences. The camera is mostly still, instilling a sense of irrevocability into the story. Occasionally, the film slips into unwarranted crypticism. This 95-minute drama boasts a punch-in-the-face tending, not entirely dissimilar to the unforgettable denouement of Ida. This is what happens when women have to make a very unexpected decision. Fiona Shaw’s expression of shock is guaranteed to haunt you for some time.
Hot Milk premiered in the Official Competition of the 75th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. Also showing in the 3rd edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival, in Malta. In cinemas on Friday, July 4th. On VoD on Tuesday, August 19th.
