H Is for Hawk, 2025.
Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe.
Starring Claire Foy, Brendan Gleeson, Angus Cooper, Sam Spruell, Josh Dylan, Eden Hamilton, Denise Gough, Lindsay Duncan, Arty Froushan, Emma Cunniffe, Imogen Dufty, and Sean Kearns.
SYNOPSIS:
After losing her beloved father, Helen finds herself saved by an unlikely friendship with a stubborn hawk named Mabel. Through the bond, Helen rediscovers the beauty of being alive.
In what is presumably intended to be a slightly subversive take on the niche subgenre of grieving through adopting animals, with director Philippa Lowthorpe’s H Is for Hawk, Clare Foy’s Helen Macdonald (the film is based on her memoir with its screenplay by Emma Donoghue) attempts to handle the sudden death of her father (Brendan Gleeson) through caring for the unlikeliest of pets in an aggressive, murderous hawk. The other point of note is that, while it is helping her grieve to a degree, it’s also serving as a distraction from confronting that reality and other unfulfilling areas of her personal life, such as an educating gig where none of the students take much interest in her literary wisdom.
It’s also worth noting immediately that, while Brendan Gleeson’s Alisdair kicks the bucket within the first ten minutes, this isn’t a glorified cameo; the revered actor routinely pops up in flashbacks as quietly endearing as his character, generally meant to mirror or offer perspective on Helen’s emotions. They had a close relationship, even if she never quite always understood her father’s choices, such as choosing to remain employed as a photojournalist instead of retiring and living out some luxurious final days with his daughter and wife (played by Lindsay Duncan). He was also a knowledgeable, perceptive, and observant man with an interest in everything from why books sometimes have a whiff of vanilla to birds, mainly hawks (which are different from falcons in that they hunt their prey lower to the ground, like an Apache gunship).
Uncertain about applying for and accepting an offer to study abroad in Germany, while at a crossroads in her personal life and professional career, Helen impulsively decides to meet up with a friend and complete the paperwork to adopt a goshawk. And while people attempt to grieve in all sorts of unexpected ways, part of this also comes across as an effort to understand her father’s laid-back, peaceful mindset, curious about anything and everything in the world. Of course, there is also the cliché that her bonding with this creature, incapable of affection, is also meant to stir life from within her depression.
However, goshawks are finicky creatures difficult to nurture and care for, which is demonstrated here in painstaking detail that doesn’t necessarily do much for the story or Helen as a character. That’s one way of saying H Is for Hawk is tediously dull, as it becomes clear that this decision is having mixed results for Helen, who is burying her head in the sand, ignoring all of her responsibilities. Again, what is meant to be a benefactor for the grieving process has turned into a deflection from that reality, so much so that she procrastinates writing a eulogy speech for a prolonged period of time. Unsurprisingly, Helen’s family and friends become increasingly worried about this closed-off, emotionally distant behavior.
The dynamic between Helen and her father is sweet, with a real gentle touch in those flashbacks that isn’t so much suggesting a perfect relationship as an affectionate one with someone she deeply looked up to and has always wanted to understand better. As for the rest of H Is for Hawk, it is a chore that is intermittently engaging due to Clare Foy’s bird co-star, while dragging out its story without ever entirely making good on the slightly different angle to this material. It’s not insightful or sappy; it just elicits indifference as it slogs along.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
