Elsinore LFF review: Andrew Scott’s career-best performance
Andrew Scott has been turning in incredible performances for years, but his work in Elsinore is undeniably brilliant and should land him an Oscar nomination (if it were up to me).
Set in 1989, Scott plays gay actor Ian Charleson, who has been struggling to find meaningful acting work after early screen success in Chariots of Fire and Gandhi. He is deeply jealous of Daniel Day-Lewis playing Hamlet at London’s National Theatre, so when Day-Lewis abandons the production mid-performance, Charleson jumps at the chance to fulfil his dream, despite the fact that he is suffering from AIDS and seriously ill.
This is Scott’s best performance yet, which is really saying something considering the performances we’ve seen from him so far. He is so perfectly suited to the part that it feels like he was born for this. Scott had valuable experience to bring to his portrayal – he famously played Hamlet on stage himself in 2017 and knows what it’s like to be a famous actor keeping their sexual orientation private (he came out as gay publicly in 2013). He really deserves an Oscar nomination for this, and I sure hope it’s coming!
Scott is surrounded by a who’s who of British actors, including Olivia Colman as his doctor Margaret Johnson (what a lady), Johnny Flynn as theatre director Richard Eyre, Billie Piper as his best friend Patsy and Luke Thompson, Joe Locke and David Dawson as his gay friends also affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis. Colman stands out as the doctor who butts heads with Charleson about his decision to star in Hamlet, a physically taxing endeavour that he’s not strong enough for. She wants to prolong his life, while he would rather die of Hamlet than AIDS (his words).
Elsinore – named after Hamlet’s castle – sounds like it might be all doom and gloom, but there’s actually plenty of humour and lightness, and I laughed more than expected. Obviously, there’s less comic relief towards the end, when Charleson is seriously putting his life on the line to play Hamlet, and director Simon Stone really drums up the drama with powerful montages cutting between the production and Charleson’s off-stage health.
The HIV/AIDS crisis in London has been depicted on-screen before, most recently in 2021’s It’s a Sin, but Elsinore tells it through a very specific lens – a character study – that makes it feel different enough. It’s a beautiful, moving film that brought a tear to my eye. Bravo to Scott!
Elsinore opened the 2026 edition of the London Film Festival. It will be released in January 2027.