Emma Mackey on Starring with Fiona Shaw in 'Hot Milk': “It Becomes Almost Unbearable”

Emma Mackey is stepping into one of her most emotionally layered roles yet in Hot Milk, a drama film adapted from Deborah Levy’s novel. She plays Sofia, a lost and frustrated anthropology student stuck in a suffocating bond with her chronically ill mother, Rose (Fiona Shaw). In a recent Q&A with The Arts Desk, Mackey described the mother-daughter dynamic as “that constant push and pull between the two characters,” adding, “They’re bound together because of Rose’s physical condition, but the situation becomes almost unbearable for Sofia.”

Mackey emphasized that both characters are in pain—“Rose might be the obvious patient, but Sofia is equally in need of healing.” She views their journey as a messy fight for freedom and identity, noting, “What unites them beyond their family tie is that they both want to live.”

Describing the film’s intensity, Mackey said, “It certainly has a theatrical feel to it, like something you can find in Greek tragedy, especially the ending.”

Hot Milk is out now in theaters.