Hamnet film review: Emotionally resonant
Maggie O’Farrell co-scripts her own novel in this subtle and powerful love story
The brilliant, Oscar-winning director of Nomadland, Chloé Zhao returns to form in delightfully delicate, emotionally resonant fashion, following her foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the disappointing 2021 entry Eternals. Based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell (which the author has co-scripted), Hamnet focuses on the romance between William Shakespeare and Agnes (better known as Anne) Hathaway, building to the death of their young son whose name is interchangeable with the title of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
We meet young Will Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) as he falls for the older, free-spirited Agnes (Jessie Buckley). After Agnes becomes pregnant with Will’s child, they marry despite the disapproval of both families, inspiring the creation of Romeo And Juliet. Two children later (twins Judith and Hamnet, played by Olivia Lynes and Jacobi Jupe) and the couple settle into a less than ideal arrangement, with Will pursuing his playwriting dream in London and Agnes caring for their kids in the countryside. When the twins fall desperately ill, it ends in tragedy, with Will throwing himself back into his work in the aftermath.
The sheer force of this pair of immaculate, stunningly communicative lead performances papers over some of the script’s more on-the-nose moments. Screenwriters O’Farrell and Zhao speculate wildly, with little known of the real Agnes, and Buckley turns this to her advantage as she conjures a wonderfully witchy, force-of-nature character, one who is presented as Shakespeare’s equal in terms of confidence in her own skin. It’s a turn that places her at the forefront of the Best Actress Oscar race, and she shares sparkling chemistry with Mescal.
Shakespeare had an incomparable impact on the English language, but the Chinese-born, US-based Zhao is a divinely subtle, emphatically visual filmmaker whose own gift is for the deeply felt but unsaid. In her take on this love story, the most powerful moments are wordless.
Hamnet is in cinemas from Friday 9 January.