MOVIE REVIEW: Hamnet

Coming into Hamnet without knowing anything about it left me for a loop. I hadn’t even seen the trailer, so coming in blind left me unprepared for the emotional onslaught of Chloe Zhao’s incredible direction, her moving screenplay (co-written with Maggie O’Farrell, based on her novel), and the breathtakingly brilliant Jessie Buckley in the lead role as Agnes. This is a love story, but it’s not a romantic film. It’s about a mother’s love, and how grief can tear us apart, and the healing power of art.

Agnes is known in town as a witch. Her mother taught her incantations and the power of herbs, and she possesses what seems like a supernatural gift. She’s of marrying age, but everyone is afraid of her except for her sibling’s tutor, William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal), who finds her absolutely fascinating. He courts her, they fall in love, and they have three children. She raises them while William heads to London to make a name for himself as a playwright. When tragedy strikes, grief tears the couple apart. The love that was once so strong at the beginning has been turned into resentment as grief speaks for her. What is William to do but write a play in the hope that he can find some measure of peace.

Zhao is unafraid to bring us so close to her actor’s being, using a lot of handheld shots to capture every inch, every nuance of Buckley’s and Mescal’s faces, as well as those of their three children (played by Olivia Lynes, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, and the magnificent Jacobi Jupe). We bear witness to all their joy and sadness, their fears and hopes. Their entire being seems to be in full view for us to see. This amplifies the love story that brought Agnes and William together and to start a family, but it also shows us the way that grief can destroy us as well.

But then Zhao and cinematographer Lukasz Zal also zoom out to show us the immensity of the woods, where Agnes feels most at home. There’s a sense of place and time that really impresses upon us the ways by which Agnes is a force of nature, and that her love for her husband and children has tempered her. The countryside landscape is lush and gorgeous, while London is dark, dirty, and cramped. The world William lives in away from his family is almost always devoid of light, though it is where he has found his fortune.

Mescal is good, but he’s merely playing supporting role to Buckley’s Agnes. As mentioned earlier, she’s a force of nature, and we see all of her, from a raw, and unfettered scene of her giving birth to calm and peaceful moments of teaching her children the secrets of the woods. We watch her fall in love with a man who is unafraid of her, the entirety of her, and we watch her crumble and break under the greatest loss one can endure. I was so sure Renate Reinsve of Sentimental Value would win the Best Actress at this year’s Oscar, but now I understand why Buckley is the frontrunner for that category. 

As the film’s title suggests – and as a written prologue at the start of the film makes clear – we are shown an interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. The way that it is used in this film, with the added layers of this story, creates a whole new texture for the play and adds a powerful emotional punch that had me in tears by the end of the film, aided by Max Richter’s indelible musical score. 

This is a powerhouse of a movie, and not one I would imagine would be best for Valentine’s Day or the month of hearts. But it does show the power of love and art in being able to deal with grief and loss. It’s a film that will leave you looking for someone to embrace afterward. Once again, it’s a showcase for Chloe Zhao’s wonderful direction and Jessie Buckley’s onscreen magnetism. We are going to see much more of her in the years to come.

My Rating: 5 Stars

Step into a world of love, grief, and unforgettable storytelling, watch Hamnet in theaters and experience Jessie Buckley’s powerhouse performance and Chloe Zhao’s breathtaking direction firsthand. Check showtimes here.