Dir/co-Wri: Chloe Zhao | Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Joe Alwyn, Zac Wishart, Emily Watson | UK Drama 125′. 2025
This imagined drama about how Shakespeare and his wife came to terms with tragedy stars Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley and sees Chloe Zhao at the top of her directing career.
Adapted from the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell, who also co-writes, Hamnet is seen through the eyes of Agnes (Buckley), a visionary country girl who sleeps in the woods. Attuned to the animal kingdom she is considered a witch by the locals, setting the tone for an intuitive and intriguing love story where Agnes meets William (Mescal), also a loner and at odds with his domineering father. Despite the 16th century setting there are relatable elements to this couple’s story.
In the verdant vales of Warwickshire, where William is the local tutor, a tentative romance soon catches fire, and the two marry and have three children: Eliza, the eldest, and twins Judith and Hamnet, a boy. Judith is the weaker one, and being the 16th century, Agnes fears for her survival. But while Agnes keeps the home fires burning, William is creatively ambitious and drawn to the big city hoping to make his name and fortune – and we all know how that turned out.
But these frequent trips to London put pressure on family life, and although Agnes has support from her brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn), what happens next will really test the strength of their marriage, William seeking solace in writing his play Hamlet.
England has never been so beautiful as depicted in this sumptuous modern classic, its evocative scenes of village life and the bosky surrounding countryside. DoP Łukasz Żal takes his time to picture it all in vibrant colours capturing every detail of the couple’s happiness, abject sorrow and tumultuous anger. The children are also outstanding considering their relative inexperience.
And when the story moves from Stratford to the city of London we finally realise the magnitude of it all and get a real sense of what it must have been like back in 1600 to experience the bard’s works on the stage of the Globe theatre, and how art is very much a vital part of life, and not just a distraction. @Meredith Taylor
IN UK CINEMAS SOON