Poster
Description: Agnes and Will sit with their heads
together in a forest. Agnes (Jessie Buckley) has long auburn hair in a plait
and wears a red dress. She reaches for a medicinal plant, and her expression is
soft and grim. Will (Paul Mescal) sits so we can only see his profile; he has
dark, curly hair and stubble, wearing a high-collared teal coat. Hamnet
is written in white capital letters between them with the cast and crew on the
ground. The film’s tagline is, Keep your heart open.
Five years ago, I had the pleasure of reading Hamnet with my book club. Maggie O’Farrell moved us with her prose; she magnificently filled in the gaps in William Shakespeare’s life, all through the eyes of his wife and children. Indeed, the bard isn’t even named at all. I recall thinking how powerful it would be to have a film adaptation. Well, Steven Spielberg and Chloé Zhao thought the same thing, because here we are! My book club friends joined me for this screening, and we were all excited and eager to see it for ourselves.
A glover’s son (Paul Mescal, Gladiator 2) falls in
love with Agnes, a woman of nature (Jessie Buckley, Wicked Little Letters).
They soon have three children to support, but the plague is still rife in
England.
There’s something so intimate about Hamnet. It’s Will
and Agnes’s relationship we watch flourish at a distance; their flirting, and
the choice to keep the camera up high during their love scene made it feel
shockingly intrusive.
Then, expanding into parenthood (in Agnes’ case, quite
literally), we see the difference between Will and Agnes’ upbringing. When her
time to give birth draws near, Agnes is compelled to go to the foot of a giant
tree; she is thwarted, however, during the second birth, due to the worsening
weather. At the same time, Will travels to London by boat, which brings a whole
new kind of fear to the situation. As Agnes catastrophises – which, given the
mortality rate in the 17th century, is natural – the camera angles are brutally
close; there’s no escaping the real, visceral terror that hangs over the women
like the growing storm. Flashbacks tell us of Agnes’ childhood trauma of losing
her mother, and it’s now her turn to put her fate in someone else’s hands. Will
the babies live? Will Agnes survive? Jessie Buckley and Emily Watson hold you
still in your seat throughout. You’ll be surprised how often you forget to
breathe in these mighty, small moments throughout the film. When tragedy
strikes later, the guttural wail of grief from Buckley will haunt you for the
rest of the run time and weeks afterwards. Oh, yeah, that Golden Globe and
Oscar nomination are fully justified,
Likewise, Paul Mescal plays the great Bard as restrained but
frustrated by his lot in life. It’s Agnes’ word to her brother that gets Will
out of the country and into the throes of London life…to the detriment of their
family. Remember the name Jacobi Jupe. For such a young boy, the talent there
is clear to see already, in his grounded performance as Hamnet.
Bring tissues if you watch Hamnet at the cinema –
you’re going to need them. Come the end of the film, I didn’t know whether to
cry (again) or applaud. The audience was silent, spellbound by the emotional
journey we had just travelled from. You don’t need to be a fan of Shakespeare
to get drawn in, and it won’t let you go until the credits roll. It’s too early
to say if Hamnet is the best film of 2026, but it’s already a powerful
contender.
My Rating: 5 STARS OUT OF 5
My Sources:
Hamnet poster – https://www.hamnetmovie.ca/home/
Paul Mescal’s filmography - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8958770/?ref_=tt_ov_3_2
Jessie Buckley’s
filmography - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2976580/?ref_=tt_ov_3_1
Who plays Will’s mother? - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14905854/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_2_nm_5_in_0_q_hamne
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