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I saw Hot Milk in the grip of a heatwave, which may have been an advantage. The movie takes place in a swelter, and felt that much more immersive as summer London grew uncomfortable. Still, whatever the temperature, it would be an off-kilter pleasure. Built around two daredevil performances from Fiona Shaw and Emma Mackey, it is jagged and dreamlike at once, the story of a mother and daughter locked in codependence.
Here the heat is Spanish, the location the country’s south-east coast. The older woman is Rose (Shaw), the younger Sofia (Mackey). The latter is the film’s focus, even though, in the way of certain parents, Rose still really dictates what happens.
A few plot particulars are offered early, before more are teased out — or sometimes not. Rose is in a wheelchair, seemingly unable to walk, and racked by mysterious pain. She has come to Spain for experimental treatment, which she grandly frames as her last roll of the dice. At 25, Sofia has dropped out of a PhD to take care of her.
The sea is turquoise, the sky blue. The mood has the unreal loll of a summer holiday. But this is no holiday at all. In a clever, telling shot, Sofia stands awkwardly on the beach, with only stones beneath her feet.
The movie too will not co-operate with expectations. The source material is Deborah Levy’s 2016 novel, adapted by playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz, who also makes her debut as a director. Gifted writers are not always good directors, and film isn’t theatre. But Lenkiewicz makes actual cinema, bold and spare, bright and scratchy.
Scenes are short, with their own inner logic, and the rhythm of snapshots. Sometimes they seem mostly designed to nip at the senses. Jellyfish sting; dogs bark. But, all the time, drama is simmering, fuelled by the same frazzled energy. While Rose visits her doctor and subtly resists an actual diagnosis, Sofia gets mixed up with a wafty, free-loving local boho (Vicky Krieps). Later, she briefly makes a break for Athens and her estranged father.
But for the most part, this deft and enigmatic film makes one thing very clear — that wherever you travel, you can still be stuck in place, gone haywire in the sun.
★★★★☆
In UK cinemas from July 4
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