'Hamnet' Review: Another Shakespearean Tragedy

©Focus Features

“Hamnet”

It’s difficult to explain to a young kid that someone they know is dead. It’s even harder to explain to a child what being dead means. How should they start to deal with it? How do you begin to deal with it? Unfortunately these questions, while feeling unsolvable, are ones that ricochet across millions of lives. They take us into dark depths and terrible places, and they still leave us asking, where do I go from here?

Maggie O’Farrell first fictionalized the behind the scenes of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet back in 2020. O’Farrell’s book, Hamnet, explored a synthetic reality which followed the years leading up to the creation of one the most known Shakespearean tragedies. Shortly after the narrative was unleashed into the world, it was met with critical praise, and Chloé Zhao, fresh off of Oscar success, picked up the rights to a film adaptation.

Set to star in the project, Oscar nominees Paul Mescal and Jesse Buckley were placed as the onscreen iterations of the renowned poet and his wife. Putting a face on a character with that high of a status is typically deemed impossible, but the nail gets hit right on the head here. However, Jesse Buckley demands the spotlight after every delivery, movement, and tear.

©Focus Features

“Hamnet”

The film begins at the very start of the relationship it explores. William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) wanders into the presence of Agnes (Jesse Buckley), and their relationship’s development becomes a major focus in building the world around us. The strong foundation given is necessary, but the complexity of each shot from master Chloé Zhao is sometimes lost on the audience. The film does not fully trust itself when it fails to commit to the long and drawn out moments that are meant to linger. It conforms to traditional editing techniques, which ultimately finds itself in an awkward position. For such a grand and emotional whole, it toes the line between greatly moving and being a bit uninteresting.

After a slow start, the wheels really start going. By the end of it, Jesse Buckley solidifies this as Agnes’ movie. With such an iconic name attached to the narrative, it seems like a no-brainer to put William Shakespeare out in front for all eyes to see. Be that as it may, the script at hand chooses to tell the devastating perspective provided by Agnes, a mother, by exploring the nightmarish and horrifying possibilities having a child can cause. In the midst of the heartbreak and chaos, newcomer Jacobi Jupe blows everyone away as young Hamnet. It’s hard to identify artwork in which every single performance transcends the screen, but the tender and brilliant script lets everyone shine, despite the varying sizes of each role.