Rent H Is for Hawk (2025)

Solid British Drama - H Is for Hawk review by GI

Claire Foy gives a very committed and genuine performance in this story, adapted from a true story, of a woman bereft and depressed following the sudden death of her father. It's a drama about grief and depression where Helen, a Cambridge history don, falls into despair when she loses her Dad, Alistair (Brendan Gleeson), a famous photographer. Their bond especially in relation to his love of nature, is so strong that Helen, with little else in her life, feels hopelessly lost. Her unusual solution is to buy a Goshawk and train it. Goshawk's are apparently notoriously difficult to train and extremely ruthless, the film presents the Hawk as quite malevolent at times! In her attempts to train and bond with the bird, which she names Mabel, Helen ignores everything else in her life much to the worry of her mother (Lindsay Duncan) and her best friend (Denise Gough). The film is grounded and watchable by seeing Foy interact with Mabel, you can see the genuine angst on her face when Mabel gets frisky or the joy when she response to her training. Overall though the film leaves the plight of Helen unresolved and perhaps that's a real symptom of such a life story, but it doesn't full grip the connection of the Hawk with her Dad even when Helen attempts to answer critical questions from her students on the relationship between a bird of prey and a human. It's a moving story though and is a solid addition to similar stories of humans navigating the trials of their lives by bonding with a wild animal.