Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet is an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name. It dramatises the story of the death of William Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, and his wife Anne (Agnes in this adaptation). The film is an emotional tour-de-force, with a phenomenal performance from Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare.
Agnes is the daughter of a ‘forest witch’, a herbalist who teaches her children different plants’ healing properties. She marries Shakespeare after he gets her pregnant, and they have their first child, Susanna. As Shakespeare grows restless and volatile, she encourages him to go to London for the theatre, and she becomes pregnant with twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet later dies from the bubonic plague, and Shakespeare writes Hamlet in honour of his son.
The most profound element of the film is Jessie Buckley’s acting. She is both tender and fierce, and the intensity of her grief is heart-wrenching. Buckley portrays Agnes’ devotion to her children with a single-minded poignancy, winning her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama. Jacobi Jupe also gave an excellent performance as the titular Hamnet, whose youthful adoration of his family culminates in his heart-wrenching death scene.
The most profound element of the film is Jessie Buckley’s acting. She is both tender and fierce, and the intensity of her grief is heart-wrenching.
Furthermore, the cinematography of Hamnet is gorgeously vivid, and the characters were styled with great attention to detail. Agnes is always seen in red, representing the earth, while Shakespeare is in blue, which Zhao associates with the sky, signifying the imminent ruptures in their relationship. The film’s score is equally striking, composed by Max Richter who blended elements of Elizabethan composition with the story’s “psychological and emotional colour.”
What is most interesting about the adaptation though is the fusion of a romanticised family with the actual history. Shakespeare is not actually a named character until the very last scene of the film, as it shines a light on Agnes instead in the vein of a feminist retelling. O’Farrell’s novel and Zhao’s adaptation both invent a complex fictional Agnes for audiences to discover. The truth of the story, however, does not actually make a difference. What matters is the deeply impactful narrative of love and loss, woven together by excellent performances and the strength of Zhao’s vision.
