"Hot Milk" in cinemas | Rebecca Lenkiewicz: "Everyone carries their darkness within"

"Hot Milk" centers on Sofia (Emma Mackey) and her mother Rose (Fiona Shaw). Rose suffers from a mysterious illness, so they visit a faith healer (Vincent Perez) in Greece together. That sounds like a close mother-daughter relationship.

Their relationship is complex—not toxic, but they are dangerously close. Since the age of four, Sofia has been, in many ways, more like a mother to Rose. There is undoubtedly an unhealthy mutual dependency between them—and at the same time, a love that is not immediately apparent in the film. Rose clings to the past, and Sofia to Rose. She doesn't allow herself to let go. Sofia wishes Rose would overcome her inertia and finally act on her own initiative. Rose is afraid of leaving Sofia, or that Sofia will leave her.

How did you create distance and closeness between the two?

I like to trust my actors. Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw made suggestions. Their acting should feel authentic and real. In everyday life, people don't talk the way we do right now. Our situation is a little staged. We have to hear each other and we look at each other, but in life you drop a word here and there. You're here and there, but rarely in one place because you're doing something else at the same time. With Sofia and Rose, this dynamic carries over into the entire room. Even when the two are apart, they are connected. You can feel the invisible umbilical cord between them because there is always a certain tension between them - even at a distance.

There is also the great picture where they are not sitting opposite each other, but offset in the room with their backs to each other…

...and Rose lists who she hates, while Sofia wonders: Is that me? Sofia and Rose seem like an odd couple and are entertaining in their own way.

Then Sofia meets Ingrid (Vicky Krieps) on the beach, who, as a powerful modern Amazon, seems like a liberating blow to her .

Ingrid is like a spark that ignites Sofia's transformation. She's a free spirit who throws herself into everything she does with tremendous energy. But she isn't who she claims to be. She, too, is burdened with trauma. Sofia and Ingrid's relationship isn't easy, because love never is.

Why are the book and film titled “Hot Milk”?

The title has something primal about it: "Breast Milk." The heat of Spain permeates the book, the heat of Greece our film. Even Sofia's job as a barista in London, where she heats and froths milk, reflects this motif. In the novel, author Deborah Levy mentions the Milky Way. Moreover, "Hot Milk" is simply quite erotic.

You clearly separate day from night. During the day, you feel the scorching heat; at night, the film's artistic execution lends it a dreamlike, perhaps even nightmarish, quality. Why do you approach it so artificially?

Sofia's nightmarish vision and her memory-dream were meant to feel somewhat removed from reality. I wanted the people in "Hot Milk" to always feel real. Almost as if you were having an overwhelming out-of-body experience, but you yourself are real. The events develop their own dynamic, and this makes them seem more intense. The night has its own meaning and makes us feel everything more intensely.

The film is preceded by Louise Bourgeois' quote: "I have been to hell, and I tell you, it was glorious." What is the connection to Louise Bourgeois?

She is an artist I admire greatly, and who worked well into her 90s. The film is primarily about women trying to free themselves from societal constraints. That quote is beautiful because it shows that nothing stays as it seems. The film sometimes feels like a journey through hell that revolves around itself: the longing for love, and with it that first true love that doesn't work out, can feel hellish if you're stuck like our characters. Everyone carries their own darkness within them, and you have to explore that darkness. You can't deny that darkness. You can't get rid of it. It's part of your DNA the moment you enter this world.

The film is not only about life and death, but also about your personal experiences…

When I was describing Rose in the script, I often thought of my father because we shared similar moments. He was a brilliant man, but not an easy person. We were in an emotional place where love develops, but we weren't on easy terrain. My father ultimately chose death over life. Rose has echoes of my father, but not of my mother, because we have a very good relationship.

Should we also be able to determine our own death?

If you are chronically ill and there is no hope of improvement, and you want to end your life while you are still of sound mind and physically fit, then you should have that right. Of course, there would need to be clear rules, but ultimately, the choice should be left to each individual.

"Hot Milk," UK/Greece 2025. Directed and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Starring: Vicky Krieps, Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, and Vincent Perez. 92 minutes. Release: July 3.