By Len Weiler
The long-awaited theatrical release of
Hamnet is finally upon us. Based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell - a best-seller as well as a critical favorite, winner of the coveted National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction that year -
Hamnet is a prestige film, helmed by director Chloé Zhao, whose
Nomadland won three major Oscars in 2021: best picture, best director and best actress. With a screenplay cowritten by Zhou and O’Farrell, the movie also features powerful acting from an esteemed cast, and particularly by the two leads: Jessie Buckley as Agnes (Anne) Hathaway and Paul Mescal as Will Shakespeare. Also excellent are Joe Alwyn as Agnes’s brother, Bartholomew, and Emily Watson as Will’s mother, Mary. The production is complemented by the rich, often moody cinematography by Lukasz Zal, a two-time Oscar nominee [for
Ida in 2015 and
Cold War in 2019) and a lovely score by composer Max Richter [
Arrival (2016)].
Hamnet has frequently been projected as a probable nominee and prize winner during the upcoming awards season. It has already been nominated in numerous categories - best dramatic film, best director, best actress, best supporting actor, and more for the upcoming Golden Globes in early January.
The film is currently in wide release.
So, what’s it about? And is this picture worth seeing?
As you’ve probably heard, and as the title suggests,
Hamnet has to do with William Shakespeare, the death of his beloved son Hamnet at age 11, and the profound effect that tragic event had on the creation of Shakespeare’s masterwork,
Hamlet. But as depicted by Zhou and company, the story portrayed in the movie is much larger and more profound than that scanty description suggests. Indeed, the historical record about Shakespeare’s family life, about Hamnet and about the sources of the play Hamlet is just about as scanty, maybe even more so, than that summary.
It is commonly posited that Hamlet’s poignant expressions of grief and his musings about mortality - for a famous example, in his “To be or not to be” speech - and, as well, the agonized brooding on death by his ghostly father are so deeply affecting that they must be the result of the Shakespeare’s recent personal experience, i.e. Hamnet’s untimely death. Yet, there is no direct evidence that this is so. In a lovely article in The Atlantic dated December 1, 2025, Columbia English professor James Shapiro writes
“That mourning has been restored to its central place in Shakespeare's inspiration is perhaps a good thing, though not necessarily a true one. We just don't know. What effects the death of his son - or other losses and loves - had upon his plays are secrets that Shakespeare carried with him to the grave.”
In fact, as Shapiro points out, we know virtually nothing about Hamnet’s death or the bard’s reaction to it and surprisingly little about Shakespeare’s family life in general. The cause of Hamnet death, for example, has long been ascribed to plague (referred to as “the pestilence” in the film
Hamnet), but his cause of death was not recorded, and statistical evidence indicates no local uptick in deaths generally at the time Hamnet died, which would be expected if an epidemic was about. Nor is there any evidence that Shakespeare came rushing home at the news that his children were ill, as depicted in the film. We just don’t know.
It seems to me that as we consider the current movie, the paucity of historical facts matters not. It is not, after all, meant to be a documentary. Rather, one of the cool things I like about about Hamnet is that it is almost entirely a product of the creative and ingenious imaginings of O’Farrell and Zhou. The result is a beautiful, affecting, soul-stirring, provocative and glorious film. And what’s wrong with that?
What follows is a brief synopsis of the plot of Hamnet which, because of its brevity, may seem very flat - which the film most certainly is not. The excellence of the film is in the expressive rendering of the story and its frankly stunning portrayal of the emotional response of the characters - not in the bare facts of the story. But if you want to avoid any plot ‘spoilers’ feel free to skip the three indented paragraphs that follow.
Hamnet covers a lot of ground in just over two hours - eighteen or nineteen years in the lives of Shakespeare and his wife Agnes (pronounced An-yes) from 1582 until approximately 1600 or 1601, when Will Shakespeare wrote and mounted the first production of
Hamlet. Over the course of that time, Will and Agnes meet, fall in love, and marry, and within six months of marriage start their family with the birth of their first child, Susanna. Two years later, Agnes is pregnant again. By mutual agreement, Will moves to London to pursue his writing aspirations; and in his absence, Agnes gives birth to twins, Judith and Hamnet.
It takes years for Shakespeare to get on his feet in London, but the film stays with Agnes and the kids in Stratford and does not follow Will to the city. He does return home occasionally, where he clearly enjoys being with the kids, although there are increasing tensions in the marriage due to his long absences. A major family tragedy descends in 1596, as Judith contracts plague and appears near death despite Agnes’ desperate ministrations. Will races to get home - a long arduous journey. Judith miraculously survives, but the disease has passed to Hamnet, who tragically succumbs. Agnes is beside herself with grief and furious that Will is not present to lend support. He arrives the next day, too late. He is devastated too, but his anguish is outwardly quieter, more reserved than his wife’s.
We jump forward a few years when Agnes, still in Stratford, learns that Shakespeare is readying a new play entitled Hamlet. At the time, the names 'Hamlet' and 'Hamnet' were interchangeable and, curious about what her husband has to say in a play she assumes to be about her dead son, Agnes goes to London with her brother to see it. She has never been to see a stage play in her life. The film ends with a phenomenal extended scene at the theater in which the play is performed and Agnes experiences an epiphany.
* * *
Hamnet is a film that shows us much about small town life in late 16th century England, and much more
about the human condition both then and now: about about overcoming family expectations and finding one’s own way in the world, about love and marriage, about parents’ love for their children. Chiefly however, like Shakespeare’s
Hamlet,
Hamnet is about grief and how we deal with it. This is depicted so well, it packs quite an emotional wallop. Some of this is quite raw – and the riveting performances may be a bit discomfiting to watch (albeit in a good way!). At the same time, the film celebrates the wonder of a creative process through which the desolate, agonizing emotions of heartbreak and loss can be transfigured into a deeply moving, transformative work of art.
It's doubtful that the movie would work without actors who are likable, credible and have great dynamic and emotional range - characteristics that surely fit 35-year-old Jessie Buckley. From Wild Rose (2015) to The Lost Daughter (2021) to Women Talking (2022) and Wicked Little Letters (2023), she’s established herself of one of the most talented, adaptable and formidable actresses of her generation. I should add watchable to that list, a quality which really comes to the fore in Hamnet – which features lots of screen-filling closeups, most dramatically in the moving final moments of the film as Agnes watches her husband’s masterwork unfold on the stage - first with rage, then confusion, then wonder and then I guess you could call it enlightenment. It's quite a moment, her best scene in a picture loaded with great ones. Her role as Agnes taken altogether may also be most bravura performance of her career.
This is not to downplay the lovely performance by Paul Mescal as Will Shakespeare, which is, as the work requires, more subdued. Mescal's work is special, too - again most particularly in the film’s closing moments.
As noted at the outset, Hamnet has been very well received by critics and the theater-going public. The film has received a critics score of 83 on MetaCritic.com indicating "near universal acclaim", as well as a high critical rating of 87% on RottenTomatoes. Audience reactions have been similar: the RottenTomatoes “Popcornmeter” score is 92% favorable, and IMDB readers give it a solid 8.1 (out of ten). Given the wide media coverage of Hamnet, I can’t do better in describing the response of most viewers of the film than to quote from other reviewers:
“What Hamnet leaves you with isn't sadness, but joy - at the human capacity to reckon with deaths implacability through art, or love, or just the basic act of carrying on. It blows you back onto the street on a gust of pure exhilaration.” - Robbie Collin [The Telegraph]
“
Buckley’s performance is ferocious and astounding, starting off strong and somehow picking up power
as the movie goes along. … Mescal also knocked me flat.” - Alissa Wilkinson [NY Times]
“Chloe Zhao’s new film landmark … bring[s] a raw, present-tense immediacy to a tale of love and grievous loss. Jessie Buckley is guttural, defiant and untamable in the performance of the year.” - Peter Travers
If you can see Hamnet in a theater, I recommend that you do. The movie is so powerful it deserves that big screen, stay-in-your-seat experience. If you watch at home – and that option might not be available for awhile – set aside the two hours, so you don’t need to leave the room, turn down the lights a bit and allow yourself to be enveloped. Oh, and have some tissues handy.
2 hours 5 minutes MPA rating: PG-13Grade: A
In wide release
