Latest news with #EmmaMackey
Vogue
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Black Sun, White Heat: Dark Cinema for the Summer Season
In the new film Hot Milk, the sensual but diffident 20-something Sofia (Emma Mackey) travels with her invalid mother, Rose (Fiona Shaw), to the Mediterranean shores of Spain in search of an experimental cure for the latter's (possibly hypochondriac) illness. But the sun-scorched resort town also supplies an opportunity for Sofia to swim and sunbathe alongside a fellow German tourist, Ingrid (Vicky Krieps), whose permissive lifestyle clashes sharply with Rose's. Soon, the pouty Sofia—a near-doppelgänger for Jane Birkin, circa 1969—embraces the erotic languor she experiences in her mother's absence. Yet what sounds like the start of a frothy tale of sexual awakening turns blackly suspenseful as Sofia's simmering resentments and desire for liberation pit her against Rose in a battle for familial control. Based on the 2016 novel by Deborah Levy—whose previous work Swimming Home, from 2011, also makes use of the villa holiday to probe themes of sexual longing and family ties—Hot Milk's blend of summery climate and dark eroticism fits into a distinctive cinematic legacy. Instead of the twilit settings and bleak, urban climes that define classical film noir, the summer noir—or, perhaps, 'vacation thriller'—highlights characters suffering from the corrupting dangers of too much sunlight, a Victorian phobia for the combination of environmental heat and recreative estrangement that can breed a kind of morbid, hothouse atmosphere of moral lassitude. European cinema helped to produce much of summer noir's lexicon of themes, settings, and archetypes: Its fascination with the storied decadence of the leisure class—and the profligate rituals of the seasonal tourist—appeared in earlier film satires by Jean Renoir and Jacques Tati. But summer noir's focus on the images of sun-soaked flesh and seething nihilism dovetailed most closely with the post-'60s era, which had pushed moral and aesthetic regimes to new extremes. On the occasion of Hot Milk's release, Vogue has put together a list of some of summer noir's best entries. Whether it is Alain Delon wasting away in the canyons of the Cote d'Azur or Mimsy Farmer shooting heroin on the beaches of Ibiza, these films reveal that too much daylight has its own kind of darkness—and that the pleasures of seasonal debauchery can often lead to the tragedy of a permanent vacation. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
New York Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Hot Milk' Review: Mommy Issues
Under a forgiving light, 'Hot Milk' plays like a surrealist comedy about a 25-year-old British woman who is too depressed to finish her thesis. Sofia (Emma Mackey) lives with her mother, Rose (Fiona Shaw), in southern Spain. Groups of girls practice flamenco near the rocky beach where Sofia broods in solitude, and the neighbor's dog, which is chained up to the roof, never stops barking. And one day Ingrid (Vicky Krieps), a bisexual manic-pixie-horse-girl from Germany, enters Sofia's life and quickly breaks down her defenses with an annoyingly whimsical flirtation style. How are we supposed to react when, for instance, the two women enjoy a moody moonlit tryst and Ingrid breathily declares that she once killed someone? Baffling choices like these make 'Hot Milk,' the directorial debut of the playwright and screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz, hard to take seriously. The film, adapted from the novel by Deborah Levy of the same name, is a tonal scramble, which makes the story's intended throughline — Sofia's toxic, codependent relationship with Rose — feel unexpected once it finally takes control of the narrative. The mother and daughter are in Spain indefinitely to meet with the renowned Doctor Gómez (Vincent Perez). Mysteriously, Rose is unable to walk, but as her treatment with the doctor continues, her disability seems to be linked to stranger psychological issues — and, perhaps, a desire to control Sofia. Shaw, at the very least, is a hypnotizing and treacherous presence, her seemingly guileless prattle masking deep trauma and cruelty. Mackey, despite flashes of ferocity, feels miscast. Beautiful and angsty, her Sofia doesn't carry the story's psychological layers about manipulation and masochism. The film eventually finds its footing, but the journey there might convince you not to care. Hot MilkRated R for sex, nudity, and psychological trauma. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Hot Milk: A heated affair, an overbearing Fiona Shaw and some shameful Irish sexuality
Rebecca Lenkiewicz is renowned for her compelling, deep-dive portrayals of marginalised women and her commitment to social justice. Her play The Invisible, from 2015, follows a solicitor struggling to help vulnerable clients – immigrants, the poor and victims of domestic abuse – against a backdrop of austerity-driven cuts to legal aid. Shoreditch Madonna, from a decade earlier, chronicles gentrification and predatory gender and power imbalances in east London . Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern, inspired by one of the last women in England to be convicted of witchcraft, excavates patriarchal power structures and the fear of female autonomy. [ Witchipedia: Ireland's most famous witches Opens in new window ] 'I am very interested in outsiders,' Lenkiewicz says. 'I suppose I feel like I'm an outsider, although I lead a pretty settled life. I do feel like I'm looking in from somewhere. It's not a problem. I enjoy it. And I've always relished either re-creating women who have been forgotten or have been silenced. Or investigating women who are really complex.' READ MORE Having written for and alongside such forces as Steve McQueen , for the Small Axe film sequence, and Damien Chazelle , for the TV series The Eddy, the British playwright and screenwriter makes her feature directorial debut with Hot Milk, which she adapted from the novel by Deborah Levy . The story follows Sofia Papastergiadis (played with heat and flintiness by Emma Mackey ), a twenty-something anthropology graduate who accompanies her mother, Rose ( Fiona Shaw ), to Almería in Spain, seeking treatment for Rose's mysterious paralysis. The clinic, run by the enigmatic Dr Gómez (Vincent Perez), offers unconventional therapies that blur the lines between medical practice and psychological confrontation. The sweltering location amplifies Sofia's erotic fixation on the free-spirited Ingrid ( Vicky Krieps ) and the simmering domestic tensions between the resentful Sofia and her overbearing mother. Ingrid and Sofia's heated affair is a distraction from the drudgery of Rose's therapy until, suddenly, both worlds collide in an unexpected way. Lenkiewicz had agreed to adapt Levy's book if she could also direct it. 'I felt very territorial about it,' she says. 'I didn't want girls in bikinis on a beach. I wanted the sensuality and the mystery and the heat on the skin to feel very female and not seen through the male gaze. 'I found that my writing of it became very flat initially. I was being quite practical. I had to rewrite and think – just pretend I'm not directing it and give the director lots of problems.' The blazingly sunny film was shot in the Greek region of Attica. 'We always want the landscape to feel quite edgy, not picture postcard. We wanted rocks and flint. We didn't need any help with the sun. On some days we weren't allowed to work; it was illegal because it was too hot.' Since Hot Milk premiered at Berlin International Film Festival in February, Shaw's performance has attracted huge praise. Slight spoiler alert: her cantankerous character's paralysis is ultimately rooted in the darker aspects of Ireland's theocratic past. 'The Irish thread in the film is not in the book,' the director says. 'It was simply because of Fiona Shaw's casting. What could we use in terms of trauma? And also the whole feeling of women and shame, that our sexuality should carry some shame, carried into the themes of the story.' [ Fiona Shaw on Ireland: 'It is one of the most successful countries in the world. It wasn't when I left it' Opens in new window ] It's not the first time that Lenkiewicz has expressed an interest in Ireland. Her play The Night Season, set in Sligo, premiered at the British National Theatre, in London, in 2004. It follows the chaotic Kennedy family, whose lives are unsettled by the arrival of an actor playing WB Yeats . Lenkiewicz hadn't visited the town before writing the play. 'My father's real name was Christopher Kennedy,' Lenkiewicz says. 'And there was a notion that he was brought over on a boat by a young Irish mother. We don't know if that's true, but I've certainly always felt that there was some Irish blood in me. I don't feel spectacularly English.' The boat story is one chapter in a romantic-sounding personal history. Born in 1968 in Plymouth, in southwestern England, Rebecca is the daughter of Celia Mills and Peter Quint, a playwright. Her stepfather is the artist Robert Lenkiewicz, who was known for his controversial public art and social projects in the English naval city. 'We were the reverse of most families, as in, if you said you wanted to be a doctor or work in a bank, there was outrage,' Lenkiewicz, who has four siblings, says. 'You had to be an artist. It was kind of a pressure. To this day, I still think, Am I doing this under duress, because it was expected of me or it was a way of impressing one's parent? 'Not my mum. She would have been happy with whatever I did. But my father was very much of the opinion that if you're not an artist then who are you? I don't believe that in any way, but these things go into your skin as a child.' Lenkiewicz has acted at both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. That experience certainly tells in Hot Milk, an emotionally fraught film that is easily identified as the work of an actor's director. 'I trusted the actors implicitly, and they trusted me,' she says. 'I think, having acted, I know how much it takes for actors. It's not about telling them what to do; it's about giving them a space. 'That wasn't just down to me. We had an amazing cinematographer in Christopher Blauvelt. He was so helpful, especially for those intimate scenes. It's about creating an environment where actors feel safe, so that they can be as dangerous or bold as they want to be. 'I suppose, because I have experience of the acting process myself, I can recognise if someone feels scared or stuck. But none of my cast did seem to get scared or stuck. They were all just flying even before the camera started rolling.' Lenkiewicz began her writing career in the early 2000s. Her debut play, Soho: A Tale of Table Dancers, inspired by her own brief time as a table dancer, won a Fringe First award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2000. Her Naked Skin, from 2008, about suffragettes in the early 20th century, became the first original play by a living woman writer to be produced on the Olivier stage, in the largest of the three auditoriums at the National Theatre. 'I'm very proud of it, and I had a great time doing it,' Lenkiewicz says. 'But the National waved it like a flag. And I thought, That is something you'd want to put under a carpet: for 40 years there hasn't been a female writer on the Olivier stage with an original play; that's absolutely despicable. 'Thankfully, things have shifted a lot in the theatre. But there's still redressing to be done, in theatre and film, in terms of female directors and writers.' As a screenwriter, Lenkiewicz wrote the 2013 film Ida with Pawl Pawlikowski, which won the Oscar for best foreign language film. She also worked with Sebastián Lelio on Disobedience, from 2017, and with Wash Westmoreland on Colette, from the following year, contributing sharp dialogue and emotional depth. Those collaborations make for quite the film school. 'Ida was my first film. I remember Pawel saying, 'Keep it simple.' I've remembered that ever since. I've had brilliant input from the directors I have worked with. But I think in the end you're on your own with everything you have absorbed, from your family upbringing to conversations you've had.' Hot Milk is in cinemas from Friday, July 4th
News18
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Fiona Shaw & Emma Mackey On Their On-Screen Mother-Daughter Chemistry In 'Hot Milk'
Ahead of the release of the family drama Hot Milk, leading ladies Fiona Shaw and Emma Mackey opened up about their heartfelt on-screen mother-daughter bond and what makes it so special. Don't miss their full interview here. bollywood news | entertainment news live | latest bollywood news | bollywood | news18 | n18oc_moviesLiked the video? Please press the thumbs up icon and leave a comment. Subscribe to Showsha YouTube channel and never miss a video: Showsha on Instagram: Showsha on Facebook: Showsha on X: Showsha on Snapchat: entertainment and lifestyle news and updates on:
Daily Record
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Netflix 'eerie' biopic about iconic British author leaves fans 'breathless'
The 2022 British biographical period drama Emily offers a part-fictional glimpse into the life of Emily Brontë, the literary icon The 2022 British biographical period drama Emily offers a fictionalised insight into the life of the celebrated author Emily Brontë. Emma Mackey takes on the role of the renowned writer in the film, which marks Frances O'Connor's directorial debut, having also written the screenplay. The movie explores a romantic relationship between the English novelist and a clergyman named William Weightman. Boasting a talented cast, including Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead, Amelia Gething, Alexandra Dowling, Gemma Jones, and Adrian Dunbar, Emily premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. The film, available on Netflix, earned Emma Mackey the 2023 BAFTA Rising Star award for her portrayal of the titular character. Speaking to Harper's Bazaar in 2023, Emma noted: "If you wanna watch a documentary about the Brontës, there are loads and they're great. But this is a story and an interpretation. You just kind of have to roll with it." Reflecting on her collaboration with Frances O'Connor on her directorial debut, the Sex Education star discussed her experience: "It's great. This story meant a lot to her. She was very involved in everything and is very sensitive to a lot of things. It was really great to have her live the film with you. We had all this rehearsal time before, which I thought was really rare.", reports the Mirror US. "We don't usually get that on films, so to have those two weeks in the run-up to the actual shooting of the film was kind of a luxury. And it meant that we all had time to bond as well. The castmates all lived in a house together, so they were kind of holding me together in the end 'cause I needed them for support. They were just so brilliant. Everyone was banding together." With an 87 per cent Rotten Tomatoes score, Emily has garnered widespread praise from critics and audiences alike. One critic said: "A film that doesn't want to be bound - much like its central character - to one genre or one overall conceit. And that lifts Emily far above other recent, more staid and comfortable biopics." Another lauded the director's work, saying: "Frances O'Connor makes a striking directorial debut with a provocatively revisionist biography of Emily Brontë." Emma Mackey's portrayal was singled out by a reviewer who said: "Emma Mackey is utterly magnetic." Indeed, the cinematic depiction of Emily Brontë's life has been met with enthusiasm from both critics and fans, particularly Emma Mackey's performance. One critic extolled the film as "a bold and audacious retelling of Emily Brontë's life starring an uncommonly compelling Emma Mackey," while another described it as "A well-researched and atmospheric speculative biopic of Emily Brontë with the exquisite Emma Mackey in the title role. There's certainly an eerie gothic touch that's in line with Wuthering Heights." Mirroring the critics, the film's reception from audiences was equally enthusiastic. One viewer expressed a rekindled affection for English literary classics: "Wonderful film. Used to love these old English literary classic kind of films in my teens/early 20s but thought I grew out of them. This has definitely reignited the love. In my early 30s now and this was just brilliant." Another audience member heaped praise on the cinematic piece: "This is a beautifully imagined portrait of Emily Bronte. It is apparently a fictionalized account designed to illustrate and explain a genius who lived far from the cultural and literary centres of England, but who nonetheless succeeded in writing one of the most epic and well-read English novels. I found this characterization enchanting and captivating. The script, acting, and cinematography are outstanding. I found the movie beautiful and fascinating!". For others, the film was an awe-inspiring encounter, with one viewer exclaiming: "All I can say is... Wow!".
