Hamnet

Emotionally stirring and powerfully moving, but a deeply fulfilling journey, Chloe Zhao’s historical drama Hamnet holds a deep emotional resonance long after the credits roll. Based on the 2020 novel of the same name by Maggie Farrell, who also co-writes the adaptation with Zhao, some detractors are saying the film is “grief porn,” when that is a gross overstatement. Sure, the film is about grief, but it never becomes histrionic or takes melodramatic detours. If anything, it offers a deep catharsis on grief and trauma that’s wholeheartedly sincere.

The film begins with a written prologue stating that in Stratford, Renaissance England, “Hamnet” and “Hamlet” were considered the same name. We are introduced to Agnes (Jessie Buckley) relaxing in the woods in a red dress; she is looking up at the trees and the sky, and the composition is on a high angle that echoes a composition right out of a Terrence Malick or Lars von Trier film. She walks back home, and we cut to William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) dismissing himself from lecturing his students. He ends up meeting Agnes at her barn, where they discuss how to summon a hawk to land on a falconry glove. The two hold hands and have a very gentle kiss that ignites a strong bond and attraction between the two. Word gets back to William’s mother, Mary Shakespeare, that Agnes is the daughter of a forest witch, all because Agnes uses herbal lore to heal cuts, including a cut on William’s forehead.

Agnes ends up challenging William; she can sense that he gets very socially awkward around her, and she hears how talented of a playwright he is, but he struggles with words when he’s around her. She ends up requesting William to recount a story, in which he recounts the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, which ends up swooning Agnes even more once he tells the story with a commanding confidence that lives up to the reputation that he holds. The two end up having a passionate romance, and in no time she becomes pregnant. Agnes’s parents end up disowning her from their home. William’s family is not thrilled about the relationship either, but they plow through the family’s obstinacy and get married. Agnes has her first child, Susanna, alone in the woods, where William and his stepbrother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn) find her fatigued from labor.

Courtesy Focus Features

William also has tension with his father, John Shakespeare (David Wilmot), who has often muscled William alone and bullies him not to leave the house, where he eventually physically abuses William, which leads William to counter and push his dad against a wall after he resists his father’s abuse. Meanwhile, Agnes gets pregnant again, and she gives birth to twins, one a boy, Hamnet, and the other a girl, Judith Shakespeare. We see young Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe), Hamnet, and Judith (Olivia Lynes) grow up over the years; they have a close bond. William, feeling creatively in limbo, travels to London to direct in their thriving theater community. There is a bees’ nest forming near the house, and Agnes even suggests to Bartholomew that they need to take the kids away. It’s a metaphor for the impending doom on the horizon as Hamnet tragically dies from bubonic plague, and Agnes is left devastated from the death of her child. To deepen the emotional wounds, Agnes holds deep animosity toward William for not being present during this.

We have seen William Shakespeare’s work adapted numerous times before—from Hamlet to Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. We have also seen fictional recounting before as well with Shakespeare in Love. Fans of Shakespeare should certainly rejoice here, even though it’s more of Agnes’s story, and Buckley’s performance is quite emotionally charged. The film’s third act, which I will not spoil, features quite a mesmeric ending that will forever haunt me as Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight plays over the images. Some have pointed out that this composition is overused, as it was featured in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival in 2016 and Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island in 2010, but Richter did compose this, and the piece works pitch-perfect for the formidable imagery on display.

Zhao’s fifth feature, her first period piece, also holds her visual signatures of blending naturalism with humanism with a free-floating visual and editing style (she also co-directs) as she uses more high-angle shots in this film to capture their heightened vulnerabilities. The cinematography by Łukasz Zal is absolutely luminous, using slow-moving push-ins, high angle wide shots, and natural lighting that expertly heighten the setting and atmosphere of the film. The film offers a strong, melancholic tone and continuous forward momentum to it as it bounces between heartbreak and joy, where I felt the euphoric energy in the theater with the audience in just how emotionally immersed everyone was in the screening that I attended.

Courtesy Focus Features

This is a staggering portrait of grief and of the redemptive power of art filled with joy and sadness, and it’s undeniably shattering. It will be difficult for any parent to watch this film, but it’s not an exercise in despair. The film focuses on Shakespeare’s inspiration and the execution of his renowned play Hamlet. Most importantly, it’s his tribute to his lost son, where he aims to seek atonement with Agnes as their marriage is in crisis from the recent tragedy. Hamnet is a tale of marriage, love, and loss, and like Sentimental Value, it shows how personal experiences can lead to great art that can attempt to recompense trauma. A soul-crushing and emotionally stirring portrait of the redemptive power of art. Like Nomadland, this is a touchstone in modern American cinema.

HAMNET IS NOW SHOWING IN LIMITED THEATERS. IT EXPANDS WIDER ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5th, 2025