Friends, you know me. I always admit my biases, and I think I’m biased about Elsinore.

I remember reading about this movie when it was announced, and I wanted to see it nooooowwwwwwww. (Please feel free to read that in the intended Veruca Salt voice). Add in Andrew Scott, Billie Piper, and Olivia Colman? I was ready. We’re talking camp out in front of the movie theater, ready.

Andrew Scott IS my Moriarty. I may still get a little “misty” when I watch Doctor Who fan videos featuring “10” and Rose. I will always “ship” those two. I have a long history in 2010s-era fandom. Heck, I even remember noticing Olivia Colman one of the first times I watched Hot Fuzz back in the olden, golden days when it was in theaters.

Getting back to the topic at hand… Elsinore tells the story of Ian Charleson, an actor best known to film fans thanks to his work in the 1981 period drama Chariots of Fire. Right when he scores his dream role (playing Hamlet at the National Theatre), he’s diagnosed with AIDS.

This cast. This little cast. Andrew Scott. Billie Piper. Olivia Colman. This doesn’t even mention names like Luke Thompson (our favorite second Bridgerton son), Johnny Flynn, Matthew Beard, and David Dawson, the man I’ve been trying to hype since My Policeman came out way back in 2022. If you haven’t seen his work on Year of the Rabbit, you’re sorely missing out.

If I’m being honest, I’ve been dreading the very act of writing this piece. Rest assured, not for any reason related to the film’s quality. Rather, as I came out of the theater, Elsinore felt special to me. I’d even go as far as to call myself “precious” about it. Sometimes I want to spend all my energy diving into a film’s discourse and read all the opinions. This time though, I want to stay away and keep everything in the bubble of my feelings. I’m not sure I want to know what other people think. Sorry, but I don’t think I’m sorry.

Elsinore is certainly an awards-season “weepie.” To the girl sitting next to me who was borderline inconsolable from about the halfway mark in the film, I see you. At times, the sobs echoing around the theater reminded me of Coco.

Make sure you bring your tissues.

Elsinore created a world, and I wanted so much more. This, though, is not a bad problem to have.

I felt this deeply when the film works with the supporting characters, namely Thompson as Georgie and Dawson as filmmaker Derek Jarman. This is certainly Scott’s film (and I wouldn’t have it any other way!), but I wanted to learn more about these men, not only their lives together, but also their stories.

Thompson’s take on Georgie is beautiful in its simplicity. We’re only granted snippets of his life around Ian, but as their story takes shape, Scott and Thompson’s chemistry shimmers on the screen. Their scenes together are personal and beautiful, and even in the quietest moments, they say so much. Both actors show an intimacy that the relatively breezy hour-and-fifty-minute runtime shouldn’t allow.

While I’m always grateful for a runtime under two hours… Elsinore could have been at least 20 minutes longer.

Jarman and Charleson’s relationship, meanwhile, grows throughout the movie. We know these men are connected, and it’s easy to see the weight (and ambivalence) of their past. They’re keeping each other at arm’s length. As the story develops, though, both find a comfort and an emotionality. They have so many thoughts. So many feelings. There’s so much they’re going through. There’s a moment later in the film where Charleson embraces Jarman. In a moment with no dialogue, I immediately knew how they felt about each other. Kids… I cried.

Through everything, you can feel Andrew Scott’s soul through this portrayal. He understands Charleson. Scott’s history playing Hamlet (he’s been playing the role since at least 2017) brings Elsinore a depth that wouldn’t be possible in the hands of a different actor. He knows this world, and this is a story he needs to tell.

Elsinore shows us the power of art to heal, change, and transform. It also says something about artists, even in the darkest of times. The right part, the right role, even the right work shines like a beacon. It helps you find the strength you didn’t know you had, even when things are at their darkest. Keep creating.

Now can we please give Andrew Scott a damn Oscar?