Emma Mackey & Fiona Shaw Will Bring 'Hot Milk' to Theaters in May
Emma Mackey as Sofia and Vicky Krieps as Ingrid in 'Hot Milk'
Mubi
On the heels of Jessie Buckley's critically acclaimed turn in The Lost Daughter in 2021, where she played opposite Olivia Colman, it was announced she'd be teaming up with another British actor heading for Dame-hood, Fiona Shaw, in a new film called Hot Milk. The picture was picked up later that spring at the Cannes Market by IFC Films and the international distributor Mubi; however, even before that deal was signed, Buckley was already reported to have exited the film, with Sex Education's Emma Mackey coming aboard to take over her role. Three years on, the film finally debuts at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival and has set a U.S. premiere date.
The film is based on British novelist Deborah Levy’s best-selling novel, also titled Hot Milk, which focuses on Rose and Sofia, a mother and daughter with a deeply dysfunctional relationship. Rose suffers from a mysterious ailment, which has left her wheelchair-bound; the story begins when she convinces Sofia to accompany her to a specialty clinic in Spain, hoping it will provide a cure. Instead, Sofia finds an independence she never knew she needed when she falls in love for the first time with an itinerant artist who happens to be passing through the waterfront town named Ingrid.
Shaw stars as Rose, and Buckley was initially cast as her adult daughter, Sofia, a role now played by Mackey. Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) rounds out the leading trio as Ingrid. Check out the trailer.
Here's the film's official synopsis:
Rose and her daughter Sofia travel to a seaside resort in Spain to consult with the shamanic Dr Gomez, a physician who could hold the cure to Rose’s mystery illness, which has left her bound to a wheelchair. But in the sultry atmosphere of this sun-bleached town, Sofia, who has been trapped by her mother’s illness all her life, finally starts to shed her inhibitions, enticed by the persuasive charms of enigmatic traveler Ingrid. Sofia’s increased freedom becomes too much for her controlling mother. As the hot sun beats down, their relationship simmers with pent-up resentments and bitterness, threatening to tear the fragile threads that hold them together and leading them to a dramatic conclusion.
Shaw, Mackey, and Krieps lead a cast that also includes Swiss actor Vincent Perez (Shantaram) as Dr Gomez. French-Cameroonian actor Yann Gael (Gladiator II) and Spanish-British actor Patsy Ferran (Miss Austen) round out the roster.
Writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Small Axe) adapted the screenplay from Deborah Levy's book; this is her first time directing. Christine Langan, Kate Glover, and Giorgos Karnavas produce. Richard Mansell, Ellie Wood, and Konstantinos Kontovrakis executive produce with Farhana Bhula, Ollie Madden & Daniel Battsek for Film4. The film was developed by Bonnie Productions together with Film4.
Hot Milk will debut in theaters on Friday, May 30, 2025.
