How ‘Fleabag’s’ Hot Priest Just Upended the Best Actor Oscar Race

Anthony Dickenson / Courtesy of TIFF Hope you didn’t get sick of hearing about Hamlet last year, because Andrew Scott just arrived like lightning for his latest film, Elsinore .

Set at the end of the 1980s, the film follows Scott as actor Ian Charleson, juggling the fame he earned for Chariots of Fire with the strain of being closeted from the general public.

Charleson is suddenly faced with two insurmountable feats: the chance to play Hamlet for the National Theatre (after the storied departure of Daniel Day-Lewis) and a devastating AIDS diagnosis.

In the weeks that followed, Charleson faced both challenges head-on, warned by doctors and loved ones about the risk of taking on such a physically demanding role as his body fails him.

As with most genius-artist biopics we’ve seen, he stays narrowly focused on his artistic achievement and the material’s unique resonance in his days.

“I’d rather die of Hamlet than AIDS,” he rebuffs.

As Charleson, Scott is an actor possessed, turning in what will be one of his major calling cards after the hot priest of Fleabag and the queer grief drama All of Us Strangers .

Scott is gifted at being vulnerable onscreen, but his penchant for raw emotion is here elevated by a visceral connection to the film’s themes of mortality.

It’s fiery, gravitational work fueled by an untold history of gay life hidden by the public spotlight, which naturally thrusts him to the center of an awards conversation.

The film itself isn’t quite on Scott’s level and doesn’t fully escape the whiff of a vanity project (Scott also produced it).

The process of mounting the production and Charleson’s encroaching illness are recounted in a series of montages throughout that keep the audience at arm’s length rather than immersing them in Charleson’s psyche.

It doesn’t escape the expected trappings and clichés of great artist biopics or other mainstream depictions of AIDS, either.

But in depicting the AIDS era, the film captures more uncommon flourishes.

It’s exceedingly rare to see so much queer affection—both physical and emotional—in a film meant for such a wide audience.