Published on April 7, 2026
No sooner have we been applauding one movie that tackles grief, another comes along and blows you away. Just like ‘Hamnet,’ Philippa Lowthorpe’s ‘H is for Hawk’ is a gripping watch.
An adaptation of naturalist Helen MacDonald’s prizewinning 2014 memoir about how training a goshawk helped her process the shocking death of her father, it is a piercingly honest meditation on life and loss and the wonder of nature. Adapted for the screen Emma Donoghue, it stars Claire Foy as the Cambridge academic whose love of birds was instilled at an early age , played .
Plunged into grief when her father dies from a heart attack at the age of 71, Helen rapidly becomes obsessed with the idea of raising a goshawk, despite never having trained a bird of that size. With the help of Sam Spruell’s falconer Stuart, she sources a bird and drives to Stranraer with her Australian friend, portrayed , to purchase one from Sean Kearns’ gruff Northern Irish breeder.
As she trains her bird, Mabel, Helen’s friend Christina and her family become increasingly concerned about her disconnection from the rest of her life. Her home is a mess, filled with unwashed plates and rotting raw meat in the kitchen. She misses lectures and sails perilously close to becoming a recluse.
As the film progresses, it poses the question: is Helen’s obsession with Mabel a help or a hindrance? ‘H is for Hawk’ is a sensitively written, subtly directed, and superbly acted movie that honestly portrays the messiness of life. Helen is upended death of a father she idolised and flounders in the face of grief.
Lowthorpe and Donoghue excel at capturing how grief can creep up on you in the months following a loss, showing how it can envelop an individual. The film captures those sudden flashes of memories that surface while conjuring images that convey a profound sense of emptiness.
Claire Foy is more than capable of depicting Helen’s grief, delivering a performance that is as impressive and insightful as Jessie Buckley’s in ‘Hamnet,’ albeit more subdued. Her father, played the flashbacks, offers a warm and generous presence. Spruell and Gough effectively portray friends trying to help Foy’s character come to terms with her loss, while Lindsay Duncan and Josh Dylan shine as Helen’s mum and brother, respectively, who become increasingly worried about her eccentric, reclusive behavior.
Danish cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christiansen’s unobtrusive approach strikes the perfect tone for a film benefiting from the assured pace set editor Nico Leunen.
All of this makes ‘H is for Hawk’ a wonderful winter’s watch. In fact, it is so good that viewers leave the cinema thinking it would make a fantastic double bill with Ken Loach’s classic ‘Kes.’
‘H is for Hawk’ serves as an excellent example of how Film 4 has significantly contributed to British cinema, delivering mature films that understand the medium and never underestimate their audience’s intelligence. Long may Film 4 continue to enrich the cinematic landscape and fund movies that truly matter.
‘H is for Hawk’ opened in UK and Irish cinemas on January 23, 2026.
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