Film Review: Believe the hype, Hamnet is a 5-star Oscar winner!

Hamnet, in cinemas, Jan 9, cert 12a, *****

There are countless occasions when a film is hyped by PR people, producers, or insiders who may have been on set or watched an early cut during the edit.

Hype is nothing new. It has been part of the film industry since year one. Sometimes, it is warranted; Hamnet is a rare example of a film that surpasses it.

Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet weaves a haunting tale around the loss of William Shakespeare’s 11-year-old son, Hamnet, a heartbreak that ripples through his family and creative legacy.

This powerful story now comes to life on screen under the direction of Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao, with Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal as her husband, the Bard William.

The film has six Golden Globe nominations and looks set to be a big Oscar contender, where Buckley should, if there is any justice, become the first Irish woman to win for Best Actress.

The film places Agnes and the couple’s children front and centre, a place usually reserved in literature and film for the Bard himself.

We first meet William when he is working as a Latin tutor. The students aren’t particularly studious or interested in Latin. Will would much rather be working on his own writing, but his father insists that he keep teaching.

We first see Agnes in the woods. She is so connected to nature that it is in every fibre of her being.

She comes across as a wood fairy, radiating nature, and for this reason, most people are wary of her. There are rumours about Agnes, but she doesn’t care. Her love of nature comes from her mother, who died when she was young, and she will not give it up, no matter what anyone says.

When Will first sees Agnes, coming from the woods she loves so much, he is instantly drawn to her. There is an undeniable pull between the two. He pays little attention to rumours that she might be a witch; all he sees is the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

His parents object. His mother, Mary (Emily Watson), will not have her son attached to some nutter with an unnatural attachment to nature. Agnes’s brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn) does not want his sister lumbered with a useless scholar.

Neither Agnes nor Will care what their families think. When they announce that Agnes is pregnant, both families have no choice but to accept their relationship.

When Agnes goes into labour, she heads away from the house. She gives birth to their first child, Susanna, alone in the woods, in the same place where she was born and where her mother before her was born.

Will doesn’t have the same pull of the earth, but he doesn’t try to stop Agnes from being who she is any more than she tries to stop him.

Not long after, they are joined by twins, Judith and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).

As his career takes off, Will begins to spend more time in London. He knows Agnes will never live there, and she understands his career is in the city.

Try as they might to manage a long-distance marriage, cracks begin to appear.

When Judith falls ill, Agnes desperately tries to save her child. In a devastating turn of events, Hamnet dies of a fever, while Judith recovers.

Agnes’s grief pours from every facet of her body, while Will, unable to verbalise how he feels, picks up his quill, his grief strewn across the pages of a new script.

Agnes cannot fathom why Will wants to make a play of their pain, and he cannot explain how this play will keep Hamnet alive forever.

Can their love survive their loss and what she views as his betrayal?

From Lukasz Zal’s exquisite cinematography to Max Richter’s ethereal soundtrack, every frame of Hamnet radiates cinematic beauty. You don’t need to have read the book or be a Shakespeare enthusiast to be moved by the film.

Zhao and O’Farrell, who co-adapted the script, craft a simple yet profound story of love and loss, allowing it to breathe through their actors.

Mescal is perfectly cast as Shakespeare. He is jovial in the lighter moments with Agnes, and later, the way he channels his grief into stunned silence, holding the agony in his body, is remarkable.

As for Buckley, her performance is on another level. I have never seen a performance like it. Her grief is staggering, ripped from her very soul. It is a raw, visceral performance: one to be watched, admired, and studied.

A devastatingly beautiful 5-star film, 2026’s cinematic standard has just been set.