Emma Mackey and Vicky Krieps Experience a Spanish Summer in First Trailer for Hot Milk

While Emma Mackey is gearing up for a major year with Julia Ducournau’s Cannes premiere Alpha and James L. Brook’s long-awaited return in the December-bound Ella McCay (not to mention future roles in the next films from J.J. Abrams and Greta Gerwig), she kicked the year off at Berlinale with Hot Milk, written and directed by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Ida, Disobedience) and co-starring Vicky Krieps, Fiona Shaw, Pasty Ferran, Yann Gael, Vangelis Mourikis, and Vincent Perez. IFC Films has now released the trailer ahead of a wide June 27 theatrical roll-out.

Here’s the synopsis: “Set in the scorching heat of a Spanish summer, the film follows Rose (Shaw) and her daughter Sofia (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 (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.”

Savina Petkova said in our Berlinale review, “Lenkiewicz, who felt very strongly about the source material when she was first approached to write the screenplay and wished to direct it as well, has an intuitive grasp on the dynamics and without a doubt found the perfect collaborators to bring this project from page to screen: cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt (frequent collaborator of Kelly Reichardt), Mark Towns (editor for Rose Glass), and the cast––Mackay, Shaw, and Vicky Krieps who portrays Sofia’s enigmatic love interest, Ingrid––fit like a glove. This adaptation places an emphasis on exteriorized emotions whose diffusion is felt throughout. They’re in the static long takes, the well-placed cuts that prevent the scene’s crescendo from spilling over, in the symphony of performances painting characters who otherwise wouldn’t fit naturally.”

See the trailer below.