H Is for Hawk
A Cambridge academic adopts a hawk following the death of her beloved father.
The nature of things: Claire Foy
Image courtesy of Lionsgate.
by JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Helen Macdonald’s misery memoir was a surprise bestseller to say the least. Even more surprising is that it has been adapted into a theatrical feature film. It’s one thing to follow the mental deterioration of the author over a series of consummately crafted chapters, another to engage with her breakdown for almost two hours of screen time. Claire Foy is one of the finest British actresses of her generation and every nuance of her character’s grief is etched into her features, unforgivingly captured in DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen’s stark close-ups. In fact, the film is all about close-ups, as well as sweeping vistas of the natural world as Helen introduces her new constant companion, Mabel, to their environment. The job of the director, Philippa Lowthorpe, is to replace the author’s lyrical turn of phrase with a visual lyricism to match. To a degree, Lowthorpe succeeds, although she is no Terrence Malick. So what we have is a ruminative character study, backed up by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch’s plaintive score, and a central performance for the ages. However, depending on one’s passion for raptors and Claire Foy, the film is not entirely a gripping cinematic experience.
The book was as much a panegyric for Helen’s father as it was an account of her own spiralling depression. A successful photojournalist and endlessly curious man, Alisdair Macdonald (Brendan Gleeson) was a doting father to Helen and something of a human dynamo. And so, following his unexpected death from a heart attack, he left behind a substantial void. One of his many overriding interests was ornithology, a zeal he shared with Helen, so that after his death she decided to adopt a Eurasian goshawk.
The author’s memoir, which took home the Samuel Johnson Prize and Costa Book Award, was an intricate fabric of grief, natural history, T.H. White biography and falconry, dipping in and out of parallel literary genres. Obviously, this is a hard act to translate to the screen, but there is much biographical colour here as Helen waxes lyrical about Rosalind Franklin – Helen was a Cambridge academic – while dashing from one appointment to the next, smoking furiously. Her schedule at Cambridge is airtight, but she’s an ace at multi-tasking – until the death of her father dismantles her world. As the latter, seen largely in flashback, Brendan Gleeson brings enormous mischievous heft to his role, while there are splendid character sketches, too, from Denise Gough as Helen’s best friend and Lindsay Duncan as her mother. But there are also longueurs, which some shrewd subplots might have alleviated, providing the proceedings with at least some narrative momentum. It’s a thoughtful, lovingly crafted drama, which might be enough for some viewers, but it does rather coast in limbo for much of its running time, in search of a meatier storyline.
Cast: Claire Foy, Brendan Gleeson, Denise Gough, Sam Spruell, Lindsay Duncan, Josh Dylan, Emma Cunniffe, Arty Froushan, Claudius Peters, Garry Cooper, Naomi Wirthner.
Dir Philippa Lowthorpe, Pro Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Screenplay Emma Donoghue and Philippa Lowthorpe, from the memoir by Helen Macdonald, Ph Charlotte Bruus Christensen, Pro Des Sarah Finlay, Ed Nico Leunen, Music Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Costumes Amy Roberts and Sidonie Roberts, Sound Niv Adiri, Dialect coach Helen Simmons.
Film4/Saturnia/Plan B Entertainment-Lionsgate.
115 mins. UK/USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 23 January 2026. 2025. Cert. 12A.
