Chloé Zhao's speculative historical drama, Hamnet, arrives in cinemas as a major awards contender, already sparking fervent debate. Adapted from Maggie O'Farrell's acclaimed novel, the film imagines the profound personal grief behind William Shakespeare's creation of Hamlet, following the death of his young son.
A Cathartic Vision of Art and Loss
The film builds towards a powerful depiction of one of Hamlet's first performances. Zhao, who co-wrote the screenplay with O'Farrell, creates an immaculate sense of a 16th-century audience collectively grappling with loss. With London repeatedly struck by the bubonic plague, the film suggests the play served as a vital act of catharsis for a society intimately acquainted with death.
It centres on the historical fact that Shakespeare and his wife, Anne (often recorded as Agnes), lost their only son, Hamnet, in 1596. The fluidity of names at the time—where Hamnet was often written as Hamlet—forms the core of the story's speculation. Paul Mescal plays the Bard, rendered inarticulate in life but fluent on the page, while Jessie Buckley portrays Agnes, a herbalist rumoured to have a witch's lineage.
Performances of Unfathomable Depth
Jessie Buckley, already the frontrunner for the Best Actress Oscar, delivers a remarkable performance. She expresses a grief that feels ancestral, wailing with the pain of generations. Her Agnes seeks prophecy, defining her life by a vision, while William seeks certainty through imagination. Buckley and Mescal are perfectly matched, with Mescal excelling in portraying a man whose words fail him everywhere but in his writing.
The supporting cast, including Emily Watson as Shakespeare's mother and Joe Alwyn, adds further gravitas. The film has been criticised for a wilful desire to elicit tears, particularly in its use of Max Richter's ubiquitous 'On the Nature of Daylight' and a scene where Shakespeare contemplates the Thames while reciting 'to be or not to be'.
A Contemplative Cinematic Experience
However, to label the film merely manipulative overlooks its profound contemplative nature. Cinematographer Łukasz Żal crafts a world of candlelit shadows reminiscent of Dutch Masters, with the camera often focusing on empty spaces, moving as slowly as theatre curtains. It is a film that scours life for meaning in the shadow of mortality, asking how we grieve and how art can quietly tether strangers together across history.
Hamnet is a 12A-rated feature with a runtime of 126 minutes. Directed by Chloé Zhao, it was released in UK cinemas on 9 January 2026. Far from a simple period piece, it stands as a deeply moving meditation on the origins of great art and the universal search for a hand to hold in the dark.
