TIFF REVIEW: BY KURT MORRISON

SEPTEMBER 21, 2026

4.5 OUT OF 5 STARS

Elsinore sees Andrew Scott take on the role of a lifetime as Ian Charleson and give the year’s best performance, while Stephen Beresford’s screenplay exploring Charleson’s final months infuses Simon Stone’s latest film with laughter, life and tragedy that delivers a deeply moving and profound biopic that will move audiences to tears.

The global HIV/AIDS epidemic claimed the lives of millions of people and has been the subject of countless films and miniseries. Audiences are no strangers to these dramas about these stories, with notable films like Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, and Dallas Buyers Club starring Matthew McConaughey, but the majority of these films focus on the fight against HIV/AIDs, the treatment of those with HIV/AIDs and their decline in health. What sets Simon Stone’s latest film Elsinore apart from the rest of these dramas is that it is focused on being alive and living life to the fullest despite dying of HIV/AIDs. Telling the story of British actor Ian Charleson, Best known for his role as Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, Elsinore follows Charleson in his final months alive as he prepares for the one of the greatest acting honours of any actor's career: to perform as Hamlet at London’s National Theatre. Stone and screenwriter Stephen Beresford build the film around Charleson’s desire to be alive despite his illness and to create art, and with an outstanding Andrew Scott at the heart of the film giving the performance of a lifetime, Elsinore becomes both a moving tribute to Charleson and a compassionate exploration of illness, life, art, and being alive.

“To be, or not to be, that is the question” is arguably the most widely known line in the history of the arts, but it also forms the central question of Beresford’s screenplay for Elsinore. While many infected individuals grappled with their HIV/AIDS diagnosis in the late 1980s, trying anything to extend their life and slow the effects of the disease, Beresford explores being alive through the final months of Charleson as he prepares for his performance as Hamlet at London’s National Theatre. Instead of fighting to prolong his life to live, Charleson chose to be alive and fight to continue his performance, as being given the opportunity to play Hamlet at the National Theatre is one of the greatest honours that could be bestowed upon any actor. It’s with this spirit that Beresford explores what it truly means to be alive, as surviving is not simply that, using Charleson’s need to perform and achieve the highest honour of his career as his definition of living.

The film features multiple montages showing Charleson rehearse and perform in Hamlet, ensuring that the demanding physicality and immense work of every department behind the scenes in the theatre is not lost while giving Scott the time to revel in the legendary words of Shakespeare, but it also shines a great focus on the lives of those living with HIV/AIDs. Showing the hardships faced by those with HIV/AIDs during treatment, the effect on their bodies and family, as well as the conflict between the pressure of closeted men of notoriety to go public with their diagnosis to raise awareness and the fear of being only known for their diagnosis with the subplot with Charleson and his former director Derek Jarman, there is also great joy spent focusing on the lives of the individuals lost to HIV/AIDs. The vibrant personalities, talents and joy of these men is never ignored in the film, ensuring that Elsinore is not defined by its central themes of death but its discussions of life. While the audience knows that tragedy is awaiting them and Charleson at the film’s end, and despite the subject matter of Hamlet being about death and mortality, Beresford and Stone bring laughter, humanity, grace and love that creates a deeply moving film and portrayal of the last months of Charleson’s life that ensures there won’t be a dry eye in the cinema by the film’s conclusion.

There are some performances that absolutely blow you away that you won’t ever forget, and Scott gives one of those performances as Charleson. The vulnerability he brings to Charleson as he grapples with his AIDs diagnosis is devastating and raw, immediately piercing the audience’s heart and primes them for the what is about to happen, but also makes the joy he brings to life in Charleson infectious as he chooses to live and rehearse for Hamlet and the athleticism of performing the theatre exudes the courage Charleson showed in the final months of his life. When it comes to the Hamlet scenes, Scott is doing a double layered performance having to be Charleson playing Hamlet, distinguishing from his previous performance as Hamlet, but he does so with a captivating ease as he gives a taste of how Charleson’s performance became legendary that is all underscored by the courageous and exhausting efforts by him to perform the role. It’s a truly heartbreaking, tour de force performance that is bursting with life, wit and compassion, that is not only the best performance of the entire year but of a calibre that actors dream of giving once in their lifetime. Needless to say, whatever accolades come Scott’s way for Elsinore, they are incredibly well deserved!

While Scott’s presence towers over the entirety of the film, there is no shortage of great supporting performances in Elsinore. There are wonderful smaller performances from actors such as Monica Dolan as Linda Tolhurst, the stage-door supervisor at the National Theatre who brings great laughter to the film as she carefully guards the door and her actors with tough love; Juliet Stevenson as the veteran actress Sylvia Sims who stars alongside Charleson in Hamlet whose observant eye and care for her fellow theatre troop helps to highlight the community of the theatre, and Luke Thompson as Georgie, one of Charleson’s close friends who is also dying of HIV/AIDs as Thompson echoes’ the joy of living of Scott’s Charleson but slowly erodes it as the disease claims his life. 

But it is Olivia Colman and Billie Piper who stand out in the supporting cast as Dr. Margaret Johnson and Patsy Pollock respectively. As Dr. Johnson, Colman is the film’s practical voice of reason advocating for surviving as she passionately cares for her patients as she tries to prolong their lives as much as humanely possible. Colman plays it with a pragmatic warmth, coming from a scientific perspective, which clashes with Scott’s Charleson desire to be alive, helping to fuel the film’s central discussion of surviving versus being alive, delivering another formidable and wonderful performance as audiences have come to expect from her. As Patsy, Charleson’s best friend, Piper is a delightful bundle of energy and love as she supports Charleson throughout his sickness, fighting alongside him and against him at times to ensure that he not only lives long enough to perform as Hamlet, but survives as long as he possibly can with his diagnosis. She is a formidable force in the film alongside Scott as Piper brings a boundless love as Patsy would do anything for her friend and is by his side every step of the way, advocating for his desire to be alive all while grappling with the sadness that she is losing her best friend.

Though the performances and story need no help in ensuring that Elsinore hits every emotional note it sets out to, there is some great craftsmanship on display in the film. Mike Eley’s cinematography and Valerio Bonelli’s editing bring to life the theatrical sequences with a spirited energy and give a dynamic view to Charleson rehearsing and performing Hamlet, transporting the audience to the National Theatre and helping to bring to life the eloquent words of the Bard himself. Giving the film an intimate feeling is Stefan Gregory’s musical score which features a solo piano heavily throughout, saving the grand orchestral moments for the film’s most powerful moments, instead allowing the piano to channel Charleson’s voice and desire to be alive and create. The result is a deeply moving musical score that accents Charleson’s emotional story at every turn and elevates the entirety of the film to match the legendary performance Charleson gave as Hamlet at the National Theatre.

Joining a special subset of films that explore texts of William Shakespeare and their profound effects in real life that emphasizes the longevity and undeniable genius of the ideas his plays explored, Elsinore truly defines what it means “to be.” There is no shortage of great performances from the talented cast led by the breathtaking work of Andrew Scott as Ian Charleson, allowing Simon Stone and Stephen Beresford to create a moving film in Elsinore that explores what it means to be alive that champions the importance of the arts with their immense power to heal body, mind and soul. With Andrew Scott eloquently giving the defining performance of his career as Ian Charleson with an immense vulnerability and vibrant liveliness that won’t leave a dry eye in the audience, Elsinore becomes a heart breaking and life affirming exploration of the need to be alive and desire to create art while paying tribute to a formidable actor giving the performance of his career in a poignant biopic that will be remembered for giving cinema the year’s greatest performance!