Toss out any accolade you can think of, and they still won’t begin to describe the sheer brilliance of Hamnet. Director and co-writer Chloé Zhao delivers a stunning period drama, brimming with career-defining performances. Hamnet, based on co-writer Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, takes the faintest hints of history and expands them into a poignant exploration of love, grief, and the creation of timeless art.
Hamnet brings the little-known Agnes Hathaway (who is known historically as Anne) into the spotlight. This towering period drama challenges the historical neglect that has relegated William Shakespeare’s wife to a mere footnote. The facts – that Will and Agnes/Anne married and had three children – are known, but who Agnes was and how she truly influenced his writing has been criminally left to speculation. If they wrote while William was in London working on his plays, that correspondence is lost. Nothing exists to indicate how they felt about each other over the decades of their marriage.
O’Farrell’s novel and the film adaptation position Agnes as the daughter of a forest witch, or at least that’s how the community labeled her. Proficient at potions and far more literate than her female peers, it was her unique spirit that captured William’s heart.
The gorgeous period drama centers on the passionate, unconventional courtship between William Shakespeare (Oscar nominee Paul Mescal, Aftersun) and Agnes Hathaway (Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter). William’s working as a Latin tutor when he spies the spirited, nature-loving Agnes. Will’s like a moth drawn to Agnes’ flame, and their fervent whirlwind romance quickly leads to a handfasting that consummates their relationship. Neither Agnes’s nor Will’s families embrace their relationship. Only Agnes’ beloved brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn, The Brutalist) sides with the young couple’s decision to marry.
The film explores the difficulties of their life together and the tension that arises when William, restless and ambitious, seeks his fame and fortune in London. Will leaves Agnes alone much of the time to care for their three young children – the oldest, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. It’s during one of his extended London trips that young Hamnet becomes deathly ill with the plague. His death and the family’s subsequent grief are the catalysts for Will’s Hamlet.
Hamnet‘s emotional core is the lingering effects of a family’s tragic loss. It examines how an artist processes unimaginable pain, but more importantly, it gives weight and value to Agnes – a woman relegated to just the barest of descriptions in history texts.
The powerful, career-defining performances by Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are raw, complex, and intense. Buckley is riveting as Agnes, portraying this forgotten figure as strong, deeply connected to nature, and unafraid to speak her mind. Buckley’s Agnes is fierce and capable, filled with extraordinary strength of character. When she suffers a devastating loss, you feel her pain deep down in your soul.
Paul Mescal matches Buckley’s intensity as William Shakespeare. Mescal delivers a revelatory performance, seamlessly moving from the eager, infatuated young lover to the tormented writer grappling with unimaginable sorrow. His transition from earthly passion to intellectual and emotional anguish is mesmerizing. And the chemistry between Buckley and Mescal is electric.
The young supporting cast are all excellent, in particular Jacobi Jupe, who plays young Hamnet. Many of the film’s most heartbreaking moments involve the twins, Hamnet and Judith, and Jupe and Olivia Lynes do a fantastic job of portraying their close bond.
Two-time Oscar winner Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) masterfully creates a world that feels removed from modern days yet strangely contemporary. Though the film may not be based on verifiable facts, it is a stunning, complex, and emotionally moving work that makes you hope this version of Agnes’ life is close to what she experienced. And if not, then at least it restores her to something beyond a footnote.
GRADE: A
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours 5 minutes
Release Date: November 26, 2025
Studio: Focus Features
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Joe Alwyn, Emily Watson, Jacobi Jupe, Olivia Lynes, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, and Noah Jupe
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