Hamnet understands that for a story to be truly tragic, it must first show us the beauty of life. Chloé Zhao’s gut-wrenching film, which she adapted with novelist Maggie O’Farrell, makes us fall in love with the people at the center. We then grieve for these people, as if we know them. In a way, we do, as the family patriarch is none other than William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal). While he’s referred to as “Will,” the name “Shakespeare” doesn’t come up. It would’ve been easy to wink at the camera with several in-jokes about Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare in Love this is not, however.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy that film, too, despite the Harvey Weinstein of it all. Where Shakespeare in Love was a grand comedy, Hamnet is an intimate tragedy. One that provides a window into Shakespeare’s soul, presenting his most famous work in a whole new light. Historians may call its accuracy into question, although it’s not like Shakespeare was opposed to taking dramatic license with his own material. In any case, one thing is for certain. Shakespeare had a wife and three children, whom we don’t know much about. Reading his plays, though, we can sense how they shaped his voice.
While Mescal gives a devastating performance, Shakespeare isn’t the film’s central figure. The head of the household is his wife, Agnes Shakespeare, played by Jessie Buckley in a performance that just might win her the Best Actress Oscar. The early scenes between Agnes and William are romantic without feeling overly romanticized. Although they fall in love, there’s a distance between Agnes and her husband. She gives birth to their first child alone in the woods. Agnes is home when she delivers twins, but Will still isn’t present. Will spends months away, producing his plays. When Will is home, he’ll spend his nights hunched over paper, searching for his muse. During the day, though, Will adores nothing more than spending time with his wife and three children: Susanna (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), Judith (Olivia Lynes), and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).
Without giving away too much, it’s not a coincidence that Shakespeare’s only son was one letter away from Hamlet. Even those who’ve never seen a production of Hamlet likely know that it doesn’t have a happy ending. It goes without saying that tragedy inevitably befalls the Shakespeare household. When it does, we see all of Agnes’ agony in painstaking detail. Equally heartbreaking is Will’s reaction, which encompasses shock, disbelief, and sorrow. Yet, there’s also a slight smile on his face, struggling to process that someone who brought him such joy is gone forever. Yet, there’s another way Shakespeare can immortalize this person, giving them the life they never had.
Hamnet builds to what might be the best final act of any movie this year. It’s the Hamlet we know, and yet, unlike any version of the story we’ve ever seen. We aren’t merely watching the play or what might’ve happened behind the scenes. We’re watching the line between fact and fiction dissipate, seeing layers to this already iconic story that we didn’t realize were always there. The fact that Hamlet is portrayed by Noah Jupe, Jacobi Jupe’s older brother, is poetic on another level. The ending also serves as a reminder that theater, and by extension film, is a communal experience. You may not share the artist’s grief going in, but if the storyteller does their job well, you’ll be reaching out to comfort them by the final curtain. For people who live in their art, it may be their only way to connect.