🦅 H Is For Hawk (2025) — Claire Foy Takes Flight in a Poetic Tale of Grief, Nature, and Healing

“To train a hawk, you must first face your own wildness.”

Get ready for one of 2025’s most hauntingly beautiful films. H Is For Hawk, starring Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson, is a deeply emotional story about loss, love, and the fragile connection between humanity and the natural world.

Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe (The Crown, Misbehaviour) and based on Helen Macdonald’s award-winning memoir, the film soars between grief and grace, exploring how one woman’s attempt to train a fierce goshawk becomes an act of spiritual rebirth.

🌿 A Story Rooted in Grief and Growth

When Helen Macdonald’s beloved father (Brendan Gleeson) dies suddenly, her world collapses. Lost in sorrow, the Cambridge scholar withdraws from her friends and studies — until she brings home Mabel, a wild goshawk.

As Helen fills her freezer with hawk food and cuts off contact from the world, she begins a demanding, intimate relationship with this unpredictable creature. What starts as an escape from grief becomes a meditation on control, chaos, and connection.

“It’s not just a story about a bird — it’s about what it means to be human again after you’ve been broken.”

🎬 Cast & Performances

Actor	Role	Description
Claire Foy	Helen Macdonald	A grieving academic who seeks solace in training a goshawk.
Brendan Gleeson	Alisdair Macdonald	Helen’s late father, whose memory anchors her emotional journey.
Sam Spruell	Stuart	A fellow falconer who becomes Helen’s wary confidant.
Josh Dylan	James	A friend from Cambridge who watches Helen unravel.
Denise Gough	Christina	A colleague trying to reach Helen through her grief.
Lindsay Duncan	Mandy	A quiet mentor who understands the hawk’s untamable spirit.

Claire Foy delivers one of the most powerful performances of her career. Known for her regal poise in The Crown, here she’s raw, untethered, and magnetic — embodying both the fragility and ferocity of a woman wrestling with nature and herself.

And Brendan Gleeson — in limited screen time — imbues Helen’s father with warmth and wisdom. His presence lingers in flashbacks and memory sequences that ground the film in emotional truth.

🎥 Direction & Cinematography

Directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, H Is For Hawk is a visual and emotional masterpiece. Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (A Quiet Place, Molly’s Game) captures the damp, poetic beauty of the English countryside — forests cloaked in mist, skies streaked with melancholy light, and the razor-edged beauty of flight.

The film’s score, composed by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, blends nature’s silence with aching strings and haunting flute tones. It’s immersive, intimate, and spiritual — like the world breathing in rhythm with grief.

🦢 The Symbolism: Taming the Wild Within

Every frame of H Is For Hawk mirrors the delicate balance between control and surrender.Mabel — the goshawk — becomes both Helen’s mirror and her metaphor: fierce, beautiful, and completely untamable.

As Helen learns to understand the bird’s instincts, she begins to confront her own — fear, anger, and longing for connection. The process of “taming” the hawk becomes her way of healing herself.

“The hawk doesn’t want to be loved. It wants to be understood. And maybe that’s what Helen needed too.”

🌍 From Telluride to Theaters — Release Dates & Where to Watch

🎞️ World Premiere: Telluride Film Festival, August 29, 2025

🎟️ Festival Circuit: London Film Festival (October 2025)

📅 U.S. Release: December 2025 (Roadside Attractions)🇬🇧 UK Release: January 23, 2026 (Lionsgate)

💡 H Is For Hawk will be available in select theaters worldwide before expanding to streaming platforms in mid-2026.

🕰️ Runtime: 130 minutes

🎭 Genre: Biographical Drama

🌐 Languages: English

🎬 Production Companies: Film4, Plan B Entertainment, Good Gate Media, Saturnia

💬 Early Buzz & Reviews

Following its premiere at Telluride 2025, early audiences have praised H Is For Hawk as one of the year’s most emotionally powerful and visually poetic dramas.

⭐ Claire Foy delivers a performance of breathtaking depth — still, graceful, and raw in its vulnerability.

⭐ A poetic meditation on grief, power, and the untamable wild, told with empathy and restraint.

⭐ Director Philippa Lowthorpe crafts a film that soars with heart, precision, and visual beauty — a story that lingers long after the credits roll.

The film is already generating strong awards season buzz for its screenplay, cinematography, and Foy’s transformative lead performance — positioning it as a major contender in 2025’s prestige lineup.

💔 Themes That Resonate

✨ Grief & Healing: How we confront loss and find meaning beyond it.

✨ Nature as Mirror: The wild becomes a teacher — reflecting what we hide from ourselves.

✨ Human vs. Instinct: The fight between control and acceptance.

If you loved meditative dramas like Nomadland or The Power of the Dog, H Is For Hawk will speak to you.

📺 Related Films to Explore

If H Is For Hawk’s themes of grief, rediscovery, and connection resonate with you, don’t miss these recent emotional standouts:

• 🕊️ Rental Family (2025) — Brendan Fraser finds purpose in Tokyo through empathy and unexpected bonds.

• 🌈 Good Fortune (2025) — Keanu Reeves stars as an angel learning the limits of hope and humanity.

• 🎭 The Artist (2025) — A historical mystery where art, fame, and tragedy collide.

Each of these stories, like H Is For Hawk, explores how love, loss, and purpose intertwine in the most unexpected ways.

❓ H Is For Hawk — FAQ

Q1. What is H Is For Hawk about?

It’s a biographical drama following author Helen Macdonald as she trains a goshawk while grieving the loss of her father.

Q2. Who stars in the movie?

Claire Foy plays Helen Macdonald, alongside Brendan Gleeson, Denise Gough, and Sam Spruell.

Q3. Who directed the film?

The movie is directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, with a screenplay co-written by Emma Donoghue (Room).

Q4. When does it release?

The film premieres in the U.S. in December 2025, and in the UK on January 23, 2026.

Q5. Where can I watch it?

Initially in select theaters, followed by a digital and streaming release via Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions in 2026.

🦅 Final Thoughts — A Soaring Meditation on Loss and Love

H Is For Hawk isn’t just another grief drama — it’s a cinematic elegy. It invites viewers to sit in silence, face the wilderness within, and find light in the darkest corners of love.

With Claire Foy at her career best and Philippa Lowthorpe’s patient, poetic direction, this is one of those rare films that lingers — like the shadow of a bird across your heart.

⭐ Verdict: ★★★★☆ (9/10)💬 A tender, transformative film that takes grief and lets it fly.

📅 In theaters this December (US) and January 2026 (UK).