‘Hamnet’ Review
Stars: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, Jacobi Jupe | Written by Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell | Directed by Chloé Zhao
Hamnet is a historical drama based on the acclaimed novel of the same name, which looks at the impact of William Shakespeare’s family on the playwright.
William Shakespeare (Paul Mensal) is a young scholar and a Latin tutor who becomes infatuated with Agnes Hathaway (Jessie Buckley), a local woodswoman. The pair marry after William gets Agnes pregnant, but he’s driven by a desire for artistic fulfilment, which leads the young couple to leave for London, while Agnes cares for the children, including their sickly younger daughter, Judith (Olivia Lynes).
The original novel won numerous prizes, which means this film has been highly anticipated. Even more so given it was produced by Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, and directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao. It stars two fantastic talents in the form of Buckley and Mescal. It won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the BFI London Film Festival. Everything about it suggests it will be one of the leading contenders during the 2026 awards season.
What emerges is a thoughtful piece of filmmaking: a deliberately slow and ponderous work composed of long single takes, rich historical detail, and an air of magical realism. It can be marvelled at for its performances, especially from Buckley, who deserves an Oscar nomination, and for its impressive costumes and production design. The world feels authentic even though the story is fictional.
Hamnet is a film that’s easy to admire because of its staging and performances. Shakespeare aficionados will appreciate the references to his other plays, one of the most obvious coming when the Shakespeare children quote the witches from Macbeth. The film’s strain of magical realism is shaped by Elizabethan beliefs and superstition: William and Agnes are presented as star-crossed lovers, and things do not normally end well. It is rumoured that Agnes’ mother is a woods witch, and she does make remedies. Dark omens linger throughout, and many of the supernatural touches remain deliberately ambiguous, open to interpretation.
Hamnet’s pacing is very much that of a slow burn, shaped by Zhao’s meticulous direction – which often gives scenes the feel of a stage play – and by its heavy subject matter. At its heart, the story concerns two people processing their grief. All of this makes the film something of an acquired taste, as it is a deliberately slow and often grim experience. Zhao appears far more at ease with this material than in her work on the MCU, delivering a film that plays firmly to her strengths.
What ultimately stands out is Hamnet’s feminine perspective: it focuses on the women in William’s life. Agnes is the first character on screen, and the story is told from her point of view. She plays a vital role in William’s writing career while also bearing the physical and emotional demands of childbirth and raising a family largely on her own. Agnes is presented as the ultimate outsider – an unmarried woman living beyond the town’s boundaries, and a pseudo-pagan figure within a rigidly patriarchal, Christian society. William’s mother, played by Emily Watson, is also central to both their lives, whether acting as a mediator between William and his father (David Wilmot) or offering Agnes support through her domestic struggles.
Artists may find much to relate to in William’s situation. He is someone searching for artistic purpose, unwilling to accept a mundane life despite being an educated man expected to take up the family trade under his abusive father. He uses creative expression to process grief and personal conflict, to exorcise his demons. This culminates in an emotional, cathartic, and well-staged final act.
In the end, Hamnet is a wonderfully crafted piece of cinema, elevated by its performances and best experienced as a sombre meditation on grief.
**** 4/5
Hamnet is in UK cinemas now.
