Review of “Hamnet”

Hamnet is the award winning film adaptation of Maggie O’Farell’s novel by the same name, directed by Chloe Zhao and starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes Hathaway. It´s the film that made cry at 11 a.m on a friday and all the way home from the cinema.

A young William Shakespeare works as a tutor to a rich family to pay off his fathers debts, when he meets a young woman with a falcon named Agnes. He soon finds out that the young woman is the eldest daughter of the family he is indebted to, and feelings soon grow between the pair. Agnes soon becomes pregnant, and the two have to marry despite the objections of their respective families. Agnes gives birth to a girl named Susanna followed by a pair of twins, Judith and Hamnet a few years later. 

The film is more mystical than historical, it is important to make it clear that this is not a biopic about William Shakespeare (if anything it is a story about Agnes Hathaway). The story of Hamnet and Hamlet only serves as a backdrop for the actual story which is an intimate family drama about grief and the death of a child. 

There are a few things that I wish the film would explore further: The relationship between William Shakspeare and his father (who is portrayed as being physically abusive), the relationship between Agnes and William. The film also unfortunately falls into a few cliches, especially with the character of Agnes. She is portrayed as the ever patient wife who stays back and supports her husband. She is also rumoured to be the daughter of a witch, something neither she nor the film denies by repeatedly showing her having some form of supernatural abilities. 

At the end of the day, I can’t say that it hinders my viewing experience in any monumental way. The film is visually stunning, the acting is phenomenal and it all comes together in a surprisingly mundane but emotionally delicate package.