H IS FOR HAWK****

H IS FOR HAWK is a deceptively simple, desperately moving, but never manipulative, film about a middle-aged woman coming to terms with the death of her father. Its success rests on a typically brilliant central performance by The Crown's Claire Foy as the protagonist, Helen. We spend so much time with her, trying to parse her feelings as she hides away from her grief, her family, her colleagues and her friends. Her distraction mechanism is caring for a goshawk called Mabel - a beautiful and fiersome creature of epic strength, who ties our protagonist back to her father's love of nature. At the peak of her depression, Helen literally hides away in a large cardboard box, and we are alone with her and Emma Levienaise-Farrouch's string-heavy ethereal score. This is a film that has the courage to allow grief its appropriate space, and to depict it in all its oppressive power. It takes quite the actor to take on this kind of role, and quite the director to understand what this kind of story needs.

The film is directed by Philippa Lowthorpe and is based on a tremendously successful book by Helen MacDonald.  Lowthorpe, who previously adapted THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL, adapted the book alongside screenwriter Emma Donoghue, who worked on the Oscar-winning ROOM. I wonder if there's something in the fact that a lot of the behind-the-lens talent is female, because this film is a rare depiction of how vital and at times life-saving true female friendship can be.  We should all wish for the kind of friendship that Helen has with Christine (Andor's Denise Gough).  In that respect, this film reminded be of Eva Victor's SORRY BABY, insofar as it showed how sometimes friendship is all about persistance.

H IS FOR HAWK has a running time of 119 minutes and is rated PG-13. It played Telluride and London 2025 and is released in the USA and UK today.