Film Pick of the Week: H is for Hawk - review by Yvette Huddleston

After the sudden death of her much-loved father, grieving Cambridge University academic Helen Macdonald (Claire Foy) decides to begin training a goshawk. Her love of nature and wildlife had grown out of many trips with her father, the award-winning photojournalist Alisdair (played by Brendan Gleeson), having spent hours together tramping through the countryside, observing the wonders of the natural world. The grief and the sense of loss hit her very hard and she becomes remote and preoccupied. She focuses her attention on acquiring a goshawk, with the help of her knowledgeable friend Stuart (Sam Spruell) who is experienced in training and looking after birds of prey. Goshawks are not the easiest birds he explains and he tries to persuade her to perhaps try a marlin instead, but she is adamant that a goshawk is what she wants.

A goshawk is duly located and with concerned colleague Christina (Denise Gough), she goes to collect it from a seller at an allotted time and place. Helen names the goshawk Mabel and patiently, with the help of Stuart, begins to train her. Helen is frequently seen walking around Cambridge with Mabel on her arm and her whole life begins to revolve around Mabel’s needs and the rigours of the training programme. Her mother (Lindsay Duncan) and brother James (Josh Dylan) become concerned about her when her work begins to suffer – she misses lectures and appointments with students. And as her contract is coming to an end, and the accommodation with it, she should be looking for both another academic post, and somewhere else to live. Neither of which she is engaging with. The house is a mess and while Helen is looking after Mabel, she doesn’t appear to be looking after herself.

Foy gives an intense, authentic and raw performance as Helen and she is clearly doing all the scenes with Mabel for real. The flashback sequences with Gleeson are lovely and the sense of the profound connection between father and daughter is beautifully played by both actors. The narrative doesn’t feature a neat ending, which is to its credit and the shots of woman and bird communing out in nature on a rough patch of farmland are invigorating.