Movie Review: Hamnet

Movies, like the rest of popular culture, are often a reflection of our times, and this year’s slate of highly topical fare certainly bares that out. But for how helpful it can be to work through our modern concerns via art, there will always remain a need to contend with more universal themes from time to time as well. In Hamnet, director Chloé Zhao—working from Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel and co-writing the script with her—shifts from the timely social critique of Nomadland to a more timeless exploration: grief, love, and the healing power of art.

We meet William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) as he is tutoring some students on Latin. When he spies Agnes (Jessie Buckley) outside the window, he is instantly taken with her and abandons his task to try and court her. She initially tries to resist his charms but quickly succumbs and soon the pair are madly in love. When she becomes pregnant, their families have little choice but to agree to their marriage and so begins their happy life together, which also sees the birth of their daughter Susanna (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) and then a few years later their twins Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe) and Judith (Olivia Lynes).

Life is of course not all sunshine and rainbows. William is increasingly frustrated with his writing which leads Agnes to suggest that he relocate to London, leaving her to raise the children with the aid of his family and her brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn). While he is on one of his stays in the city, Judith and then Hamnet become sick with the plague, with the latter ultimately succumbing to the disease in Agnes’ arms. Overcome with grief, she struggles to understand the ways in which William copes with the loss (or doesn’t), putting a heavy strain on their relationship.

This is a movie that is intent on emotionally devastating the audience and it is hugely successful. No secret is made of the great tragedy that awaits William and Agnes, which means even the joyously beautiful first half of the story is suffused with an underlying sense of heartache.

Buckley and Mescal give masterful performances, fully selling viewers on the reality that they are these characters and they care deeply for each other and their young family. The children shine as well, with Jupe’s Hamnet radiating such charm and vitality that his death feels unbearable, a wound the audience shares. Even imagining it now as I write this review causes tears to well up in my eyes anew.

Is it baldly manipulative with our emotions? Maybe. But who really cares when it works so well and feels so cathartic to experience. With Fiona Crombie’s beautiful production design, Łukasz Żal’s gorgeous cinematography that sometimes evokes the feel of a Renaissance painting, and Max Richter’s pitch perfect score, everything about this picture is executed flawlessly and helps transport us into the characters’ world and their pain. The premiere performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Globe Theater, with Jacobi’s older brother Noah in the title role, will completely transform the way you view the work going forward, underscoring the film’s thesis that art is our most profound means of survival. For anyone who has endured great loss—or fears its inevitability—Hamnet is a shattering, transcendent experience. Seriously, if you aren’t reduced to tears by about the halfway mark, I’m not sure we can be friends. ★★★★★