1 of 5 | Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal star in “Hamnet,” in theaters Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Focus Features
Hamnet, in theaters Wednesday, brings new depth to William Shakespeare. The story tells a tragedy greater than any of Shakespeare’s plays, yet offers more hope.
Paul Mescal stars as Will, who woos Agnes (Jessie Buckley) with his stories and marries her against both families’ wishes. Will is a struggling playwright and often leaves to work in London for extended periods.
Will, of course, is William Shakespeare. The film states in its opening text that Hamnet is Hamlet, and the film concludes with the debut performance of the famous play, so it’s not a spoiler.
There are hints of Shakespeare’s work even before Will and Agnes welcome a son named Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). One such example is when Agnes mentions “undiscovered countries” to Will, which he eventually works into Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy. Later, their children put on plays while portraying three witches, like the ones in Macbeth.
The story of Hamnet is inspired by the real-life death of Shakespeare’s son. Maggie O’Farrell wrote a historical fiction novel about it and co-wrote the screenplay with Chloé Zhao, who directed the film.
The death of a child is unfathomable for any parent and trumps any fictional tragedy Will could ever write. Buckley and Mescal deliver overt displays of grief but also the subtle day-to-day struggles in the aftermath of their son’s death as Will and Agnes try to discuss the matter when there are no suitable words.
The child actors give natural, moving performances too. In addition to Jupe, there are Hamnet’s sisters Judith (Olivia Ltynes) and Susanna (Bodhi Rae Breathnach).
The premise of the book and film is that Hamlet was inspired by the loss of Hamnet. It certainly adds new context to Hamlet, one of the most studied works in history.
The suggestion that Hamlet is a metaphor for someone who isn’t even a character in the play is certainly not an interpretation commonly explored in high school literature classes.
English classes and centuries of performances have brought their own interpretations to the play. Trying to make sense of grief reduces the complicated themes to the basics, namely what happens to the living when loved ones die?
The second half of the film shows Will pouring his grief into the play. Will rehearses familiar dialogue with performers, like “get thee to a nunnery.”
In the film, Will casts Hamlet to let his son live again. Zhao literally cast Jupe’s older brother, Noah, as the actor playing Hamlet for the first time. It’s not to suggest that a fictional character can make up for a real child, but it shows they will never lose his memory, or energy.
It’s also interesting watching Will’s audience see Hamlet for the first time not knowing how it’s going to end. The crowd is in suspense and cheering on the plot twists.
Prior to Hamnet’s death, the film also touches on the struggles of balancing art and family. Agnes smothers Will while he’s writing, and his frustration wakes up the baby.
One need not be a writer to understand the struggle of focusing on a project, but real-life writers can certainly relate to creative blocks and a stop-start workflow.
The circumstances of Hamnet’s death are also complicated. In an era before penicillin, children often died young and their parents couldn’t always identify the cause with certainty. Not knowing contributes another painful layer to the grief.
Zhao directs an authentic period piece, with no CGI filling in historically accurate backgrounds. The locations are mainly forests and homes, which can be reproduced more easily than famous historical sites. They also constructed an accurate theater and filled it with an audience dressed in period-appropriate clothing.
Most of the light appears to be natural, either outdoors or by candlelight inside. It’s never dim. You can see the characters but it harkens back to classic costume dramas like Barry Lyndon.
Though it may require emotional fortitude, grief is a fruitful subject for drama. Like the subject it depicts, Hamnet funnels grief into art in constructive, cathartic ways.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
