H Is for Hawk (film)

H Is for Hawk chronicles Helen Macdonald’s experience of grief following the sudden death of their father and their decision to train a goshawk as a means of coping with that loss. The narrative interweaves two strands: Macdonald’s personal bereavement and the practical and psychological challenges of falconry.

After their father’s death, Macdonald retreats from their previous academic and social life and immerses in the demanding discipline of hawk training. They acquire a female goshawk, named Mabel, and devotes themself to the meticulous routines required to tame and hunt with the bird. The process is portrayed as both physically exhausting and emotionally consuming, drawing Macdonald into an intense, solitary relationship with the hawk and the wild instincts it embodies.

As Macdonald becomes increasingly absorbed in falconry, they describe a gradual withdrawal from ordinary human concerns, seeking refuge in the clarity and harshness of the natural world. This immersion brings moments of exhilaration and communion with nature, but also exposes the limits and dangers of attempting to escape grief by erasing one’s humanity.

While the book the movie is based on discusses Macdonald’s slow re-engagement with the human world, the film itself ends while they are still in a half-wild state. The director Phillipa Lowthorpe shows Macdonald up to the point at which they are going through a subtle shift where they stop trying to be a hawk and begins to inhabit their own skin again, even if they remain solitary still. The film focuses on the bruising realism of a person who has been changed by grief and nature, rather than a Hollywood-style return to normalcy.

• Claire Foy as Helen Macdonald^[6]
• Brendan Gleeson as Alisdair Macdonald, Helen's father^[6]
• Sam Spruell as Stuart^[6]
• Josh Dylan as James
• Denise Gough as Christina^[6]
• Emma Cunniffe as Mandy
• Arty Froushan as Amar
• Lindsay Duncan^[6] as Helen's mother

The film was announced in February 2024, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe and written by Emma Donoghue. Based on H is for Hawk, the 2014 memoir by Helen MacDonald, it stars Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson and has been developed with Film4, who executive produced and co-financed.^[7] The film was also produced by Plan B Entertainment, which had been attached to an adaptation of the book with Lena Headey in 2017.^[8][9] In November 2024, Lionsgate acquired UK and Irish distribution rights to the film from Protagonist Pictures.^[10]

Filming began in Cambridge in November 2024.^[11][12] Filming also took place in Wales and London.^[13]

In October 2025, Roadside Attractions acquired the North American distribution rights.^[6]

The film had its premiere at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival.^[14][15] The film also screened at the London Film Festival.^[16]

The film was released in the United States by Roadside Attractions in December 2025 for a one-week "awards-qualifying run", which was followed by a wide release on 23 January 2026.^[6][17] Lionsgate also released the film in the United Kingdom on 23 January.^[18]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 88 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Pairing Claire Foy's psychologically raw performance with lush, evocative imagery, H Is for Hawk approaches its tale of grief and acceptance with bruising realism and thoughtful candor."^[19] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[20]