Hamnet (2025) Focus/Drama RT: 126 minutes Rated PG-13 (thematic content, some strong sexuality, partial nudity) Director: Chloe Zhao Screenplay: Chloe Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell Music: Max Richter Cinematography: Lukasz Zal Release date: November 26, 2025 (US, limited)/December 5, 2025 (US, wide) Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, Jacobi Jupe, David Wilmot, Olivia Lynes, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Freya Hannan-Mills, Dainton Anderson, Elliot Baxter, Noah Jupe.
Rating: ** ½
I took a course on Shakespeare while attending community college in the 80s. Up to that point, my experiences with the writings of the Bard weren’t positive. Like a lot of my peers, I had a hard time understanding his words. That all changed when I took Professor George Spillane’s class. He was a Shakespeare enthusiast. He helped me to understand and ultimately appreciate the playwright’s work. By semester’s end, I was a fan too. I would go on to read some of his plays on my own.
Hamlet is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. It’s a ghost story, a detective mystery and a revenge drama all rolled into one. I’ve enjoyed most of the cinematic iterations I’ve seen of it. I really wanted to love Hamnet, a historical drama about the origins of the play. That is, what inspired Shakespeare to write it? I thought it would make for compelling drama. Alas, it does not. This beautifully mounted production, the work of Chloe Zhao (Nomadland), is a bore. I struggled to stay awake and I wasn’t even tired that day.
It starts off as a love story. William Shakespeare (Mescal, Gladiator II), not yet famous, becomes smitten with Agnes (Buckley, Wild Rose), a free-spirited woman said to be the daughter of a forest witch. She spends a lot of time in the forest being one with nature. He’s intrigued and before long, they’re married and expecting their first child.
They’re pretty happy for the most part. Agnes encourages Will to move to London to pursue a career in theater. She stays in Stratford to raise the children, oldest daughter Susanna (Breathnach) and twins Judith (Lynes) and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). Tragedy strikes when 11YO Hamnet dies of the plague. It has an effect on their marriage. It also inspires him to write a new tragedy. Can you guess what that might be?
Before you all come after me with pitchforks and torches, let me just say I haven’t dropped any spoilers. Hamnet is based on a true story. Everybody knows Shakespeare lost a child. The exact circumstances aren’t known as causes of death weren’t recorded in the 16th century. It’s speculated he died of the plague that was ravaging the English countryside at the time. Scholars believe the boy’s death had a profound effect on the Bard’s output. They see connections between it and Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet. I can’t speak to any of that with certainty, but I don’t dismiss it either. It’s definitely possible.
Taking into consideration what I said in the previous paragraph, Hamnet should have been a hell of a lot better. It makes for compelling drama. Instead, the film drags along at a snail’s pace. It’s slow and uninvolving. It’s a shame that’s the case because it has a lot of good qualities. Zhao has this amazing ability to effectively convey the transcendent wild beauty of nature. It’s a common thread among her films. It’s on great display here. The opening shot of Agnes lying in a fetal position on the forest floor says more about her character than any amount of expository dialogue. Nature plays as important a role as any of the human characters. Zhao, aided by Polish cinematographer Lukasz Zal (The Zone of Interest), imbues Hamnet with a gorgeous visual palette. It helps that the sets and costume, all period perfect, are right on point.
The acting isn’t a problem either. In fact, it’s quite great. Buckley, playing the stand-in for real-life Mrs. Shakespeare Anne Hathaway, perfectly captures Agnes’ feral nature. That is to say, she’s not the typical docile 16th century woman. She has a mind of her own and doesn’t care what others think of her. It could even be argued Anne inspired The Taming of the Shrew. Mescal does a fine job as Shakespeare, an artist dealing with grief while trying to create. He has this one powerful scene where he intensely instructs his actors on how to add passion to their performances. Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves) has some good scenes as Shakespeare’s mother, not the most pleasant woman in the world.
Hamnet is a family affair of sorts. Jacobi Jupe plays Hamnet while older brother Noah (of the Quiet Place movies) plays the actor who plays Hamlet in the play at the end. That, by the way, is the best part of the film. It’s the premiere and Agnes in on hand to witness it. It’s a well-done scene that turns the theater into a living, breathing organism.
I wanted to love Hamnet, but it just didn’t pull me in emotionally. I wanted to feel the parents’ grief, but I only felt boredom. It didn’t pick up until the end, but by then I no longer cared that much. I know my colleagues see it differently than me. Maybe I need to see it again? I really don’t know. All I can say right now is that I didn’t care for Hamnet. I wonder what Professor Spillane would have thought of it.
