Hamnet is by far the least idealized screen rendering of William Shakespeare’s life that I’ve ever seen. It’s the kind of film that rips your heart out and puts it back in. In its unflinching look at the death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet (based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel of the same name), it lands as beautifully, simply, and resoundingly as any good delivery of Shakespeare dialogue.
Director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, The Rider) makes a triumphant return with this masterwork, which blends the delicate and the brutal and remains true to both tones. We find William (Paul Mescal) and Agnes (Jessie Buckley — the character is called Agnes due to scholarly disputes over her real name, but is the woman known as Anne Shakespeare) at the very beginning of their whirlwind romance, in which they discover that they are truly kindred spirits in every sense of the phrase. Agnes is out of place in her own home, commonly seen as some sort of witch due to her late mother’s influence. William earns very little respect in his home as well, with seemingly very few skills or job prospects. He spots Agnes in her element: spending time feeding a hawk in the forest instead of doing her chores. Bored to tears teaching Latin, he follows her, and soon the two are swooning for each other.
Their families intensely disapprove of their union, but this film happily treats its audience with respect as we see time elapse in both their marriage and William’s iconic career as a playwright. However, he spends most of his time in London at the Globe Theatre working on his productions, and this obviously takes a toll on Agnes. When she gives birth to twins (their second and third children overall), it’s a harrowing scene for so many reasons, — the girl seems unlikely to survive and no one knew beforehand that Agnes was carrying twins due to the limited medical knowledge of the time — but the pallor over it all is that William is not there to help. Although both babies survive, a resentment between the couple starts to grow.
As the film tells it, perhaps the most joyous time in the Shakespeares’ lives was when all three children were growing up together and William was writing hit after hit. However, during this time, a sickness grips the twins, and the outcome is beyond tragic and heartbreaking. There was hardly a dry eye at the Hi-Pointe as the midpoint of Hamnet played out, and for good reason. Buckley’s Oscar moment is searingly painful, and I’m shocked that young Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet isn’t getting more awards attention.
For as phenomenal as that centerpiece sequence is, the thing that’s winning over audiences across the world and is sure to win over many more is Hamnet’s ending. The whole film is working towards William’s completion of his masterpiece Hamlet, and the film finds a way to stay accurate to the traditions of the Globe while centering itself within a very modern conversation about the healing power of art. At a time when so much in our culture tells us that empathy is a sign of weakness, Hamnet finds its utmost strength in collective catharsis. | George Napper
The 34th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival runs Nov. 6-16, 2025 at various locations around St. Louis. Further information is available from the Cinema St. Louis web site.
