“But let it be. Horatio, I am dead; Thou livest; report me and my cause aright to the unsatisfied… Things standing thus unknown, shall I leave behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, absent thee from felicity awhile. And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, to tell my story. The rest is silence.”
The works of William Shakespeare are some of the most well trodden and famous stories in all of English literature, yet much of the stories about his life have faded through the cracks over the years. Only a half dozen of his signatures survive, and there is also much doubt over whether his wife’s first name was written down as either Anne or Agnes. However, this doesn’t matter, as ultimately his plays have become greater than himself.
This has not stopped several people from trying to tell their own stories about the bard, such as John Madden’s 1998 Best Picture winner “Shakespeare in Love,” and the subject of this review: “Hamnet.” Originally published as a novel in 2020 by Maggie O’Farrell, she adapted her book into this film with director Chloé Zhào. The result is one of the best films of the year.
The plot follows Agnes (played by Jessie Buckley, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s 2021 film “The Lost Daughter,”) a young peasant girl who falls in love with and marries a young tutor and leather worker named Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal, who was previously nominated for the Academy award for Best Actor for Charlotte Wells’, 2022 film “Aftersun.”) Agnes has received visions throughout her life where she will only have two of her children by her at her death bed, so when her second pregnancy results in her giving birth to twins she becomes distraught and obsessed with protecting all of them from death.
So when their 11 year old son, Hamnet (played by Jacobi Jupe), suddenly falls ill from an illness and dies, the entire family is left devastated. Agnes is distraught, and Shakespeare channels his grief into his newest play, titled “Hamlet.”
The final scene of the film, which I will not spoil, is one of the best endings I have seen to a movie in years. It truly shows the healing power of art. For being one of the most heartbreaking movies I have seen, it leaves you with a note of hope. It is so uplifting and deeply, deeply moving. I saw this in a room full of critics and industry professionals, and there was not a dry eye in sight. This is a film that will destroy you emotionally, have you sob your eyes out and make you feel whole again.
Zhào previously won the Academy Award for Best Director for the 2020 Best Picture winner “Nomadland,” and she followed that up in 2021 with the Marvel film “Eternals,” which was less critically acclaimed. Her work in “Hamnet” is the best of her career, and I do not doubt that she will once again be in contention for the Oscars for this movie.
The rest of the cast also gives good performances, including Joe Alwyn (star of Brady Corbet’s 2024 film “The Brutalist”) as Bartholomew Hathaway and Emily Watson (star of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2002 film “Punch Drunk Love”) as Mary Shakespeare. All the acting in the film is simply outstanding, especially Buckley, who gives the best and most powerful performance that I have seen all year.
The cinematography by Łukasz Żal is also beautiful to look at. His previous works as a Director of Photography include Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and the 2017 animated film “Loving Vincent.” The way he frames both close ups and lush landscapes is simply stunning.
The score composed by Max Richter it’s also very effective in setting the tone for the entire film. Richter first came to prominence with his work on the 2008 Israeli animated documentary “Waltz With Bashir,” and some of his music was previously used in the score for Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” (2016).
I saw this film during its Minnesota premiere on the opening night of the 16th annual edition of the Twin Cities Film Festival (TCFF), which has been held in St. Louis Park for the last few years. The screening began with a dancing flash mob performing songs from “KPop Demon Hunters,” and was introduced by the festival’s Executive Director Jatin Setia and by Nadia Mohamed, the mayor of St. Louis Park.
“You and your team have done a wonderful job. Another wonderful year of films and storytelling. I want to wish you a happy sweet 16… But thank you for having us and thank you for being here. I will say, I think movies are one of the ways that we get to be part of worlds and see things that we don’t necessarily see or experience things that we don’t necessarily get to experience in our day-to-day,” Mohamed said.
My final rating for “Hamnet” is a moving 9/10. When the film gets released in theaters on November 27, I highly recommend that you all check it out.
