H is for Hawk
Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson star in this exquisite adaptation of Helen Macdonald's bestselling memoir about channeling grief over her father's death into training a falcon.
As a kid Helen Macdonald (Claire Foy, The Crown) was determined to become a falconer. When her father (Brendan Gleeson) dies and she is knocked sideways by grief, she becomes obsessed with the idea of making her childhood dream a reality. She buys Mabel for £800 on a Scottish quayside and takes her home to Cambridge, embarking on the long, strange business of trying to train this wild and marvelous creature.
Though the relationship between woman and bird of prey flourishes, it can't erase Helen's grief. The bird turns out to be an avatar of death as well as life. Director Philippa Lowthorpe, working with Emma Donoghue to adapt Helen Macdonald's bestselling memoir, combines lyrical elegance with the tough-mindedness of a Robert Frost poem. Premiering at the Telluride Film Festival, this beautiful film soars, thanks to mesmerizing performances by Foy and her goshawk costar.
D: Philippa Lowthorpe, UK, 2025, 1h59m, Closed Captions
Note: MacDonald has come out as nonbinary since the book's publication; the film uses she/her pronouns for the character of Helen.
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