Review: "Hamnet"

In the time of William Shakespeare, the names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable. The movie “Hamnet” is a largely fictional story based on a handful of facts about the life of William Shakespeare and the writing of one of his most famous plays, “Hamlet.”

Many of Shakespeare’s plays are tragedies, including “Romeo and Juliet,” “MacBeth,” and “Othello.” “Hamlet,” the play, and “Hamnet,” the movie, are no exceptions.

The screenplay, co-written and directed by Chloé Zhao, based on the best-selling novel written by Maggie O’Farrell, is about the early adult life of Shakespeare, his courtship of Anne Hathaway (known as Agnes in the film), the birth of their children and the loss of his young son Hamnet. He eventually turns that devastating loss into a towering literary triumph for the ages. 

Paul Mescal (of “Gladiator II” fame) plays Will Shakespeare. Jessie Buckley plays Agnes, who is the main character.

Director Chloé Zhao with actors Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley with on the set of their film HAMNET, a Focus Features release. Credit: Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC

A large portion of the first part of the film is devoted to developing characters and backstories. Jacobi Jupe plays Hamnet. He looks and acts like a young Orson Welles and delivers a performance the late Welles might have applauded.

The performances, all around, are beautifully orchestrated in the hands of Zhao, who won two Oscars (Best Picture and Best Director) for her 2020 film “Nomadland,” starring Francis McDormand. It brought the young, Chinese-born filmmaker a ton of notoriety, praise and respect.

Zhao is a director with her own unique vision. Her style here involves an unhurried pace and obsessive attention to detail. Nature plays large in the opening of “Hamnet” with beautiful imagery that takes us back in time to the English countryside 400 years ago.  While visually artistic, it could be argued that the approach gets in the way of story development which crawls along for the first hour of the film.

That said, Zhao’s time trip realistically recreates Shakespeare’s world, right down to the quills he trims as writing instruments. The legendary Globe Theater is faithfully reconstructed in the movie’s conclusion, complete with stage, costumes, props and colorful spectators.

The movie reminds of us the ugly side of life in the early 16^th Century, including the ravages of the plague which claimed the life of Shakespeare’s real-life son Hamnet. In Zhao’s movie, the terrible loss becomes the basis of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” which Zhao spins into a masterful, wrenching, emotional tale. Despite its flaws and shortcomings, “Hamnet” is a film that more than redeems itself in the end.

In some ways “Hamnet” is reminiscent of another imagined story about Shakespeare’s early years -- the 1998 Oscar winning film “Shakespeare in Love” starring Gwyneth Paltro and Joseph Fiennes. In it, the world’s greatest writer humorously struggled with writer’s block.  It was lively, romantic, hugely entertaining and highly successful.

Alternately, “Hamnet” takes a much darker approach to Shakespeare’s life and work.  It’s a movie about pain and suffering, both literally and artistically. 

While it might be assumed that contemporary mainstream audiences would dismiss Shakespeare as being dull and boring, the truth is that many movie adaptations over the years have done quite well. They date back to Lawrence Olivier’s 1948 “Hamlet” and Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” (1968) starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.  Interestingly, Zeffirelli also took a stab at “Hamlet” back in 1990 with his film version starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close.

There are dozens of movie adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays, some more successful than others. What is important to note is that his work continues to transcend time, to this day. His popularity never fades. Encouragingly, early reviews and buzz about “Hamnet” have called it the best movie of the year, hinting that it might be on track to earn a short list of Oscar nominations.

As to whether a fictional story about a real-life Shakespeare tragedy can be successful at the box-office in 2025, well, to quote Hamlet himself, “that, is the question.”