“Hot Milk”, interview with director Rebecca Lenkiewicz and actress Vicky Krieps

February 21, 2025

Renowned screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz chooses the film adaptation of the 2016 novel Hot Milk by Deborah Levy for her directorial debut

“Hot Milk”, interview with director Rebecca Lenkiewicz and actress Vicky Krieps Chiara Nicoletti

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Rebecca Lenkiewicz presents her directorial debut, “Hot Milk“, in competition at the 75th Berlinale.

The film is an adaptation of the 2016 novel by Deborah Levy and it stars Fiona Shaw and Emma Mackey as mother and daughter in a difficult co-dependent relationship.

When asked to write the script for this screen adaptation, Lenkiewicz thought this was the right project to finally make the big step of becoming a director. She told film producers Christine Langan and Kate Glover: “I won’t be able to let this one go, I will adapt it only if I can direct it”.

In the role of Ingrid, the fascinating independent woman, Mackey’s character Sofia falls for, German actress Vicky Krieps.

Lenkiewicz and Krieps talk about the project being a women’s story, a project where th most important things are the ones being told without being spelled out.

Hot Milk will be distributed by Mubi worldwide.

Plot

Set in the scorching heat of a Spanish summer, the film follows Rose (Fiona Shaw) and her daughter Sofia (Emma Mackey) as they travel to the seaside town of Almería to consult Gómez (Vincent Perez), an enigmatic healer who may hold the key to Rose’s mysterious illness, which has led her to now use a wheelchair. But in the sun-drenched town, Sofia, trapped till now by her mother’s condition, begins to shed her inhibitions as she is drawn to the magnetic charms of a free spirited traveler, Ingrid (Vicky Krieps).
Sofia’s increased freedom becomes too much for her controlling mother, and 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.

Written by: Chiara Nicoletti

Christine Langan Kate Glover Mubi

Guest

Lenkiewicz Vicky Krieps

Film

Hot Milk

Festival

Berlinale

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