Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

For Claire Foy; grief is more than a thing with feathers — it’s a hawk named Mabel.

Based on Helen Macdonald’s memoir of the same name, the film follows University professor Helen (played by Foy) who plunges into the hazardous and obsessive depths of falconry, instead of dealing with her father’s sudden death.

Another introspective film which seems to the trend of late. Here Foy gives a controlled bordering on emotionless performance in order to allow her world to manifest her grief: living in an unkempt house, forgetting important deadlines, and obsessing over Mabel’s eating habits instead of her own. In H is For Hawk, grief carries a lingering stench that permeates Helen’s every day.

Who could have foreseen that Foy’s subdued characterisation would be grossly overshadowed by her carnivorous co-star? It didn’t matter if Mabel was perched statuesque, if she was trying to escape, or if she was hunting free; her wildness made us sit up and pay attention and gave the film a much-needed taut energy.

Mabel was a brilliant metaphor for fragility and the unpredictability of dealing with grief. However, the film glosses over Mabel’s representation of class which is undoubtedly what makes this adapted memoir unique. Helen’s Cambridge setting allows for a kind of eccentric freedom: a woman walking through colleges and meadows with a hawk perched on her glove, met with curiosity rather than fear and suspicion.

Falconry is coded as quaint — the hobby of an academic afforded legitimacy by place and privilege. It brings to light how a level of exuberance when coping with grief is tolerated amongst a specific set. The movie attempts to contrast collegiate with council estate with Helen’s fellow hawk enthusiast, Sam Spruell. He partakes in a spot of falconry to the symphony of revving engines and boom boxes and yet it never quite rings true.

Death may be the subject of H is for Hawk, but even Foy’s more quietly compelling moments stray from relatability thanks to her beady eyed companion. There is a lot to unpack about projecting your grief, but there is so much more we learn about caring for a Goshawk.

As with The Thing with Feathers and Hamnet (two recent British films also exploring loss) H is for Hawk is less interested in healing and more concerned with endurance. That being said, it’s hard to know how many more iterations of ‘quiet suffering’ contemporary British cinema can take before it becomes woefully overdone.

TL;DR?
Check out my mini review over on TNBFC here.

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