Hot Milk Review: A Drama Of Empty Promises

Hot Milk sets up a captivating story about sacrifice, passion, and isolation but fails to deliver on any of its thematic potential.

It’s often said that the journey is more important than the destination, but in the case of Hot Milk, the journey merely leaves you asking where we’re going and the destination turns out to be nowhere.

At the heart of Hot Milk’s muddled narrative are Rose (Fiona Shaw, of If) and Sofia (Emma Mackey, of Sex Education), an unconventional mother-and-daughter duo whose bond is gradually beginning to fray at the edges. Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s sun-soaked movie opens with the pair visiting a private medical practice in Spain in search of a cure for Rose’s chronic pain and inability to walk, and as the doctor promises Rose that she will use her legs again, the insecure mother becomes obsessed with getting her old life back. Meanwhile, Sofia strikes up an illicit romance with another young woman from the city, whose multiple boyfriends stir up feelings of deep-rooted isolation and betrayal.

For the first half hour, Hot Milk displays a clear artistic vision that works excellently. From the flashy editing to the contemporary visuals, everything about Lenkiewicz’s direction feels fresh and exciting. The film moves at such a fast pace, displaying a sharp sense of humor that allows the audience to connect with these characters on a deeper level than expected, letting us into their minds as they navigate the complexities of their relationship from totally different perspectives. Both Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw provide two of their strongest performances to date (with the latter shining in her supporting role), and their on-screen dynamic is constantly engaging whenever they’re together.

Unfortunately, the disjointed drama doesn’t maintain this momentum for very long. The charisma between Mackey and Shaw only carries the project for a short while, and it ultimately becomes clear that Hot Milk lacks the thematic depth to carry out the emotional payoffs that it promises. Every subplot quickly starts to run dry, lacking the bite and energy that makes the first act so engaging. The screenplay asks the same questions over and over again, without giving the audience any reason to truly care about what’s at stake. Emma Mackey does her best with a fairly bland role, but ultimately, Sofia is a weak protagonist who undergoes almost no development in a film that’s all about change and realization. Rose’s character work is slightly stronger, but the journey still feels predictable and familiar.

Key narrative threads like Rose’s condition, Sofia’s convoluted love triangle, and the fractured relationship between mother and daughter all go unanswered by the film’s jarring conclusion, which feels like it comes half an hour too early. It’s a major cop-out that refuses to reward the viewer’s engagement by writing everything off as “ambiguous”, offering a loose ending that really just dodges any questions thrown at it. By the time everything is over, you’re almost left expecting a “next time on Hot Milk” title instead of the end credits. The whole story feels more like a TV pilot than an entire feature-length movie; it doesn’t just skip over certain details, but it actively asks questions that will never be answered. At the moment the audience should be feeling the most fulfilled, they’re left with nothing but confusion and frustration.

This is a huge shame, because Hot Milk really starts off on the right track. The characters are interesting, the performances are captivating, and the visuals are perfectly atmospheric enough to make the viewer feel truly immersed in this sunkissed landscape. It verges on having real thematic depth too, offering glimpses of dreamlike sequences that drift into surreal waters, using visual metaphors to usher the audience into the depths of the characters’ minds. But these never go anywhere, and bear almost no influence over the rest of the narrative. A bold and ambitious swing, but one that lacks the conviction to carry itself over the finish line.

Hot Milk premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 14, 2025.