Hot Milk

An unsettling mother/daughter story set over a sultry Spanish summer, this sexy and mysterious star-studded drama beautifully adapts Deborah Levy’s acclaimed novel. Sofia (Emma Mackey) has long been the caretaker of her demanding wheelchair-bound mother, Rose (Fiona Shaw), but a trip to Spain to seek out the latest potential cure might just give the budding young adult the chance to break out of her confines amid the sun and sand. Drawn to a free-spirited German seamstress (Vicky Krieps) staying nearby, Sofia has her first taste of erotic pleasure, but she has to contend with a neighbor’s chained-up dog, the beach’s stinging jellyfish, and her meddlesome mom on the way to her own self-realization. Screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Ida) in her directing debut explores these interpersonal relationships with a taut tension as Sofia’s summer of awakening takes on darker shades.