I would say that it’s unusual for a somber set-in-the-UK drama based on a memoir (yes, it’s all true) to be released three weeks into the new year, well past awards noms deadline, but further research has revealed that this did get a one-week run in a US theater last month to be considered for the accolades. And so far, bupkis (we’ll see early Thursday morning). Of course, that’s no reflection on this film’s quality or merits. Still, its title suggests a whimsical “nature-bonding” story ala THE PENGUIN LESSONS or countless canine sagas. Now, that species connection factors in, but the heart of the story is a woman’s emotional journey in H IS FOR HAWK.
The woman at this story’s center is a research (mostly science history) fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge named Helen Macdonald (Claire Foy). On a blustery day in 2007, she’s birdwatching in the nearby countryside. As she heads home, she phones her photojournalist father Alisdair (Brendan Gleeson) with news that she spotted a pair of goshawks (a rare sighting). Dad cuts the call short as he must head to a London assignment. That evening, at her on-campus housing home, Helen meets another academic, Christina (Denise Gough) for dinner. On the way out, Helen gets a phone call that changes everything: her adored papa succumbed to a fatal heart attack in the city. Helen’s life goes into a tailspin, indecisive about pursuing a three-year position in Germany, which squelches her new romance. She then has an epiphany and knocks on the door of an old friend named Stu (Sam Spruell). Years before, both had been ardent members of a falconry society. He’s still involved (his bird is perched in his kitchen), so Helen asks him for intel on getting back in. But she doesn’t want a falcon. Instead, Helen wants to train the more difficult, spirited goshawk. Stu hooks her up with a seller, and soon the bird she names Mabel is taking up her every spare moment. Quickly the bond between the two becomes so intense that Helen is neglecting her classes and ignoring calls and visits from friends. And then the school administrators tell her that this type of “pet” isn’t allowed in college quarters. Can Helen continue to train and hunt with Mabel? And could this be a way for Helen to escape her grief rather than facing it and moving forward with her life?
This exploration into the art and skill of falconry becomes a compelling showcase for the gifted Foy. We’ve seen her excellent supporting work in films like FIRST MAN and WOMEN TALKING, but we’ve really not seen her carry the emotional weight of a film’s lead performance (though I’m told she was excellent as Queen Elizabeth II in the streaming series, “The Crown”). Foy shows us the vibrant, engaged Helen in the early scenes of her birdwatching and lecturing her class, but with her loss we see the light in her eyes suddenly dim. Not even a romantic online fling brings that spark back, until Mabel literally swoops in. Then Foy shows us another side of Helen, with an overriding obsession that almost seals her off from the world. It’s a tricky balancing act as Helen elicits our sympathy while often frustrating us, and Foy is more than up to the complex challenges. Happily we’re treated to several flashbacks of her opposite the always engaging Gleeson as her lovably gruff, but warm and encouraging papa, perhaps a near perfect “girl dad”. It’s quite a contrast to Helen’s maternal connections with her mum, played with subtle restraint and grace by Lindsay Duncan. We see that the loss of her soulmate has drained her, though she also yearns to share the grief with her increasingly distant daughter. Spruell is strong as Helen’s her birding buddy Stu as he tries to help train Mabel while attempting to calm the always anxious Helen. Speaking of pals, Gough (so wonderful on another streaming show, “Andor”) is also very effective as co-worker confidant Christina, who wants to be a “lifeline” to her floundering chum as she tries to understand her increasing withdrawl into mania.
The impressive ensemble is guided by director Phillipa Lowthrope, working from Emma Donoghue’s screenplay adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s acclaimed memoir. Lowthrope keeps us engaged, as the backdrops suddenly switch from ancient academia to the glories of the countryside. And those scenes of Helen working (she insists that they’re partners in the hunts) with the gorgeous, intense (her glare) Mabel truly soar. A sequence in the deep woods of Mabel swooping in on a very unlucky rabbit is haunting (there’s a drone crew in the credits that were really “on their toes”). While these scenes are worthy of any lauded nature docuseries, it’s the very human drama at the center of the story that’s truly compelling. This is such a well-crafted exploration of the impact of mourning on someone grieving, though it offers no easy fixes. In less works, the introduction of an “animal partner” would be the needed “remedy”, but here we see how the distracting fixation can cut a person out of the human (rat) race. Some viewers may be a bit put off by the rather open-ended finale, but life can’t always be “wrapped up in a bow” to facilitate a desired “happy ending”. That idea and the winning performance of Foy really enables H IS FOR HAWK to spread its wings and take flight.
3 Out of 4
H IS FOR HAWK opens in select theatres on Friday, January 23, 2026
