“H for Habicht” is based on the multi-award-winning memoir (here on Amazon*) the English university professor Helen Macdonald. Director Philippa Lowthorpe (“The Miss Election”) has now processed the literary original into an extraordinary and authentic look at grief work and self-therapy. Despite the heavy subject matter, “H for Habicht” also has considerable entertainment value – thanks to occasional moments of laughter, atmospheric landscape shots and one of the most original support animals in cinema history. It starts in 2007: Helen Macdonald (Claire Foy) is a lecturer at the elite University of Cambridge. She hasn’t had much success with romantic relationships so far. Nevertheless, she is not unhappy, after all, she has her brother James (Josh Dylan) and his small family.
On top of that, she has a particularly close relationship with her father, the photojournalist Alisdair (Brendan Gleeson). However, when he dies unexpectedly, Helen’s previously regulated world collapses. In response, she withdraws almost completely from her social environment. In order to get back on her feet, Helen looks for a task: Inspired by her childhood fascination with falconry, she sets her mind on taming and training a hawk – one of the most notorious birds of prey that nature has to offer. She buys such an animal from a dealer friend (Sam Spruell), brings it home and names it Mabel. Working with the bird quickly becomes much more than a hobby. In order to cope with her own inner chaos, she has to face Mabel’s seemingly uncontrollable wildness head-on…
Helen Macdonald (Claire Foy) slowly finds her way back to life thanks to her hawk.
Lovers of the harsh nature of Eastern England, often presented here in shimmering gold light, will get their money’s worth with “H for Habicht” as well as fans of Claire Foy. The actress, who became world-famous as the young Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix hit series “The Crown,” cuts a convincing figure here, and not just as she desperately trudges through the beautiful fields and moors. She is also always believable when dealing with the bird, which first sails majestically through the air and then suddenly becomes completely unpredictable – despite its razor-sharp claws and equally powerful beak. Some lighter moments are provided by Foy’s very natural interaction with “Star Wars: Andor” antagonist Denise Gough, who as best friend Christina cleverly tries to put a stop to Helen’s increasing depravity.
“See Bruges… and die?” veteran Brendan Gleeson quickly emerges as another central trump card. The charismatic Irishman is always at least good in his performances, and usually even excellent. Nevertheless, it is surprising and absolutely astonishing how much warmth, kindness, humor, but also intelligence and determination Gleeson radiates over the course of his comparatively short screen time this time. So it’s no wonder that the protagonist’s memories of her dad, presented in the form of flashbacks, form the emotional heart of the drama.
Pain becomes teamwork
Helen has a lot of pain to deal with. Nevertheless, neither the script nor Claire Foy’s precise performance slide towards clumsy melancholy. The main character may make some poorly thought-out decisions – such as when she spontaneously asks a bemused one-night stander (Arty Froushan) if he will move with her to Berlin, where she has been offered a job. Nevertheless, even in these moments she always seems dignified and not pitiful or even ridiculous.
So, despite her closed, latently self-destructive and sometimes very harsh nature, we always keep our fingers crossed for Helen on her journey out of the mental darkness. This inner struggle is mirrored by the external struggle with the stubborn bird – although these scenes in particular always have something touching about them, despite the physical exertion and the present danger. This even becomes increasingly sublime as the two fiercely independent characters begin to merge into a team.
Helen’s friend Stuart (Sam Spruell) is initially skeptical as to whether this with her and the hawk is really such a good idea.
Anyone who expects a classic Hollywood finale where everything is wonderful once the credits roll is still in the wrong film. “H for Habicht” does indicate a light at the end of Helen’s mental tunnel. But this is far from being achieved with the first crew names flickering across the screen. Philippa Lowthorpe consistently focuses on showing, in a brutally realistic and therefore enormously satisfying way, how a drastic loss can change a person and their world and how each of us has to find our own way to deal with such experiences.
Conclusion: Claire Foy is great as the emotionally unhinged professor. The wonderfully harsh nature of Eastern England and a more than idiosyncratic bird of prey help her to quickly draw us into the true (!) story of this extraordinary woman.