Hamnet (2025) Review: The Heartbreaking Story Behind Shakespeare's Greatest Loss

Hamnet (2025) Review: The Heartbreaking Story Behind Shakespeare's Greatest Loss

The critically acclaimed hamnet review tells the story of a film that has captivated both critics and audiences alike, scoring an impressive 87% on the Tomatometer with 319 reviews and an even more remarkable 93% audience score from over 1,000 verified ratings. I was completely unprepared for the emotional journey this powerful drama would take me on.

Scheduled for release in 2025, the hamnet movie is a beautifully crafted experience that runs for 2 hours and 5 minutes. What is Hamnet about? Actually, it's a love story—or rather, several love stories. The hamnet film provides crucial context for understanding Shakespeare's later works, as Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear all followed these tragic events in his personal life. Furthermore, Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal deliver performances so outstanding that awards recognition seems inevitable. In this hamnet movie review, we'll explore how this PG-13 drama/romance presents a more straightforward storyline than its source material while emphasizing its main emotional beats.

What is Hamnet about?

Directed by Chloé Zhao, the hamnet film explores the devastating loss that potentially inspired Shakespeare's most famous tragedy. Based on Maggie O'Farrell's award-winning 2020 novel, this historical drama pulls viewers into the intimate world of Shakespeare's family life during the late 16th century.

A brief look at the plot and historical setting

The narrative begins in Stratford-upon-Avon where young William Shakespeare works as a Latin tutor to help pay his family's debts. A written prolog importantly establishes that in Elizabethan England, "Hamnet" and "Hamlet" were considered the same name. The story follows William's courtship with Agnes Hathaway (not Anne, as she's commonly known), their marriage, and the birth of their three children: Susanna and the twins, Hamnet and Judith.

At its core, the hamnet movie portrays a family tragically altered when 11-year-old Hamnet sacrifices himself to save his twin sister from the plague. In a heart-wrenching scene, Hamnet lies beside his sick sister Judith, believing he can trick Death into taking him instead—his sister recovers, but Hamnet falls ill and dies. This tragedy becomes the emotional centerpiece of the narrative, with the final act exploring how both parents process their grief differently.

The connection to Shakespeare's real life

The historical record confirms that William Shakespeare and Anne (Agnes) Hathaway had three children, including son Hamnet who was baptized on February 2, 1585 and buried on August 11, 1596 at age 11. Parish records confirm that "Hamnet filius William Shakspere" was buried on this date.

However, essentially everything else in the hamnet film ventures into creative speculation. In reality, little is known about Shakespeare's personal life or his relationship with his family. The cause of Hamnet's death remains unknown—though the film depicts it as bubonic plague. Additionally, no historical evidence directly confirms that Shakespeare's grief over his son inspired Hamlet, although the play was written a few years after Hamnet's death.

Why this story matters today

Despite historical uncertainties, this hamnet movie review recognizes how powerfully the film explores universal themes of parental grief, marital strain during crisis, and the transformative power of art. The story particularly resonates because it humanizes Shakespeare, showing him not as an untouchable genius but as a father and husband struggling with profound loss.

The film also notably reclaims Agnes Shakespeare from centuries of misrepresentation. As O'Farrell explains, "We've only ever really been given one narrative about her... that she was an illiterate peasant who trapped him into marriage". Through Jessie Buckley's extraordinary performance, Agnes emerges as a complex woman with her own gifts and agency.

By imagining how personal tragedy might have inspired artistic transcendence, the hamnet review illuminates the enduring connection between human suffering and creative expression—a theme that remains as relevant today as it was four centuries ago.

Themes of grief, love, and loss

At the core of the hamnet film lies a profound exploration of parental grief that resonates deeply with viewers. This emotionally charged portrayal of loss transcends historical constraints, offering a universal meditation on how tragedy can simultaneously tear families apart yet potentially forge new connections through shared pain.

How the film portrays parental grief

The hamnet movie presents grief as a raw, guttural experience that defies social expectations of mourning. When Hamnet succumbs to the plague, both parents initially respond with haunting screams that capture the primal nature of their loss. Agnes's grief becomes especially visceral as she holds her dying child—her wails are described as "piercing" and "agonized," sending chills down audiences' spines. Indeed, Jessie Buckley's performance has been praised for making this grief palpable, "wailing until her lungs physically couldn't make any more noise".

The film refuses to offer easy comfort through resolution, instead allowing grief to coexist alongside daily life—a deliberate artistic choice that acknowledges how real grief rarely provides neat conclusions.

Agnes and Will's contrasting emotional journeys

One of the most compelling aspects of this hamnet review concerns how differently the parents process their devastating loss. Agnes plunges into a nearly catatonic state, barely able to complete basic tasks. Her grief manifests physically and emotionally—she feels guilty for failing to save Hamnet despite her herbal knowledge and healing abilities.

Conversely, William processes his grief through creative expression. Unable to return home for Hamnet's funeral, he channels his emotions into writing Hamlet—using art to articulate what he cannot otherwise express. The hamnet movie suggests that Shakespeare cast himself as the Ghost in his play to symbolically rewrite history, bidding farewell to his son in a way he couldn't in real life.

The impact of loss on family dynamics

The death creates immense strain in their marriage. Their "frayed union begins to completely unravel" following Hamnet's death. This distance becomes "palpable" on screen, with Will retreating to London while Agnes remains consumed by grief at home.

Nevertheless, the hamnet film's most poignant moment comes in its final scenes when Agnes attends a performance of Hamlet and finally understands how her husband has been grieving too. This mutual recognition across theatrical space offers a profound moment of shared understanding—they're both mourning their son, albeit through dramatically different means.

Performances and direction

The extraordinary cast of the hamnet film delivers performances that transcend mere acting to become visceral emotional experiences. Their work collectively brings authenticity to this centuries-old tale of love and loss.

Jessie Buckley's standout portrayal of Agnes

Buckley's performance as Agnes has been universally acclaimed as "astonishing" and "a tour de force". Without relying heavily on dialog, she communicates complex emotions primarily through her expressive eyes. Critics have called her performance "revelatory" and "one of the most heartrending performances this year". Her portrayal is particularly powerful in the film's final shot, where she wordlessly conveys "fear, anger, loss, acceptance and eventual happiness" in mere seconds.

Paul Mescal's restrained yet powerful performance

As Shakespeare, Mescal delivers an "incredible" performance, humanizing the legendary playwright through "discomforting imperfections". His interpretation shines most vividly in a scene where he contemplates suicide while quoting the famous "To be, or not to be" monolog—reportedly "some of the best acting of his entire career". After more blockbuster-oriented roles, Mescal returns to intimate drama where his talents truly excel.

Chloé Zhao's directorial choices and pacing

Following her Marvel Studios effort "Eternals," Zhao creates her "most emotional and intimate film yet" with Hamnet. She focuses on quiet moments and atmospheric storytelling, orchestrating "a slow, meaningful film". Zhao's direction rejects traditional period drama stiffness in favor of a dreamlike, impressionistic approach.

Supporting cast and child actors

Twelve-year-old Jacobi Jupe delivers an exceptional performance as Hamnet—particularly moving when he imagines being on stage while dying in his mother's arms. His portrayal brings "a level of sensitivity and innocence" that deeply affects viewers. The supporting ensemble, including Joe Alwyn as Agnes' brother Bartholomew, rounds out the film's emotional landscape with remarkable depth.

Cinematography, music, and emotional tone

Visually stunning and atmospherically immersive, the hamnet film showcases the extraordinary cinematography of Łukasz Żal, whose work elevates the emotional narrative to breathtaking heights.

Visual storytelling and use of natural light

Żal's cinematography is genuinely breathtaking throughout the hamnet review, with woodland imagery carrying a "fleeting beauty that ripples with foreshadowed pain". Light filters through trees as though Agnes herself is connected to the land, with soil appearing everywhere "not as decoration but as metaphor". His intimate, gentle camerawork beautifully captures the family's life through painterly compositions. Żal proves himself "one of the most emotionally attuned visual storytellers", creating ravishing yet unsettling images that make grief something viscerally felt.

The role of silence and slow pacing

Zhao's craft is deliberately unhurried, "allowing moments to bloom slowly, almost ritualistically". Moreover, her tableau-style filming technique has characters "walk into frame and then walk out of frame," creating space for ambient sound design. As a result, the film maintains a "soft observational approach," letting the drama unfold naturally.

Score and sound design as emotional tools

Max Richter's extraordinary score forms the emotional backbone of the hamnet movie. In addition to orchestral elements, he incorporated Elizabethan-era instruments like "viols, nyckelharpa, and hurdy-gurdies" alongside a women's choir that serves as "the voice of Agnes, but also the voice of the forest". His music creates what he calls "an amniotic fluid" - a transparent musical vessel that allows "the psychology to glow through". The film's climactic use of Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight" wasn't initially planned yet became central after Zhao experienced "an epiphany" while listening to it, subsequently playing it "on repeat for 10 hours" during filming.

Conclusion

Hamnet stands as a rare cinematic achievement that transforms historical speculation into profound emotional truth. Throughout its 2 hours and 5 minutes, this film delivers an unforgettable meditation on grief that feels simultaneously centuries old and startlingly contemporary. The story certainly leaves us with a deeper understanding of Shakespeare—not as the untouchable literary genius we study in classrooms, but as a flawed husband and devastated father who channeled unspeakable loss into timeless art.

Above all, what lingers after watching Hamnet is the extraordinary performances. Jessie Buckley's Agnes emerges as one of the most memorable screen characters in recent years, her silent expressions conveying more than pages of dialog ever could. Meanwhile, Paul Mescal brings Shakespeare down from his pedestal, making him achingly human. Together with Zhao's patient direction and Żal's luminous cinematography, they create a world where every frame feels suffused with both beauty and impending sorrow.

Ultimately, this film asks us to reconsider what we think we know about genius and inspiration. Shakespeare's greatest works may indeed have emerged from his deepest personal tragedy. The film thus reminds us that great art often springs from broken hearts. After experiencing this powerful story, I found myself wanting to revisit Shakespeare's plays, particularly Hamlet, with fresh eyes—seeing them not just as literary masterpieces but as potential echoes of a father's grief for his lost son.

Hamnet therefore succeeds both as captivating period drama and universal exploration of how families navigate devastating loss. The film's deliberate pacing, emotive score, and naturalistic approach create space for viewers to feel the full weight of these emotions. This remarkably crafted film deserves every bit of its critical acclaim and will undoubtedly stand as one of 2025's most moving cinematic experiences.