Hamnet (2025) - A Beautiful, Raw, and Powerful Story

Will you be brave?

Hamnet is a 2025 film based on Maggie O’Farrell’s book. Agnes and William Shakespeare grapple with an unimaginable loss. Overcome with grief, William takes inspiration to write a play that helps quell the thoughts and emotions they’re experiencing.

Hamnet was a cinematic experience. I was expecting the film to be a romance, but it is so much more than that. Love, loss, and the power of theater are explored throughout the film. Grief is a devastating feeling, and this story shows how audiences can heal.

Jessie Buckley is a marvelous actress who achieves a remarkable emotional performance as Agnes Shakespeare. When Buckley read the script, she was moved by the material and was ready for a new challenge. Agnes is a loving mother who fights for her children. Buckley performs with raw and devastating sadness. The final scene is her best work.

Paul Mescal stars as Will, Agnes’s husband. I felt that he wasn’t in the story enough, with how he leaves his family for work and misses pivotal moments. Mascel’s signature scene happens in the climax. While filming the final scene, Mescal wanted to focus on how he portrayed his character’s grief differently.

Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet), Olivia Lynes (Judith), and Bodhi Rae Breathnach (Susanna), three excellent child actors, star as Shakespeare’s children. They are splendid in their performances, bringing remarkable strength to the film’s sensitive material.

Credits include Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, Justine Mitchell, David Wilmot, and Noah Jupe. Quiet Place fans will recognize Noah Jupe. His casting hit the mark, specifically with his younger brother, Jacobi Jupe.

Chloe Zhao, who won Best Director for Nomadland (2020), is a masterful filmmaker. She does an exceptional job of defining human aspects in stories. When first approached, Zhao turned down the directing opportunity until she read the novel and was overcome with the story’s powerful emotion.

Zhao embodies several subtle nuances in her direction from character direction, cinematography, and color schemes.

Hamnet is about grief. It’s a sad story, and some scenes are difficult to watch. It’s not an easy topic, but it’s relatable. We have all experienced grief with family members or friends. Grief is explored uniquely in this film through the power of theater. In the last few years, I have watched several films that have depicted a positive message on the impact of theater.

The final scene is amazing, from directing, acting, and the setup of it all. As Agnes watches the play of Hamlet unfold, themes address real-life emotions and situations. Zhao’s symbolic nature is profound.

I read Hamlet when I was in high school, but I never took the time to study the story behind it. This film reflects a positive depiction of Shakespeare’s works. Taking up Shakespeare is a unique challenge. It introduces audiences to the world of Shakespeare. Theater is a blessing in so many ways.

The ending was hard to come by. Zhao said she felt lost on the climax, until she listened to the song, ‘On the Nature of Daylight.’ It gave her a new meaning of love, realizing that one needs to reach past fears to overcome obstacles.

The final moment was spontaneous for all the actors involved. This ending was so beautiful. Once the credits rolled, I sat back in my seat, letting everything sink in. I haven’t felt that feeling in so long. That is the power of cinema.

Hamnet is my favorite of the Oscar nominees. This is a movie to experience in theaters. I highly recommend it for its powerful depiction of its themes.