Time: 126 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Sex scenes
Cast:
Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare
Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare
Emily Watson as Mary Shakespeare
Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew Hathaway
Director: Chloé Zhao

Hamnet is the latest film from Chloé Zhao and stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, and with the talent involved it was one of my most anticipated movies of 2025. It has especially been getting a lot of attention because of awards season, and having finally seen it, I think it deserves all the acclaim.

Something to know before going in is that the pacing is quite slow and deliberate to begin with. It takes quite a bit to get to the central tragedy as it establishes Agnes and William Shakespeare, their relationship and their life together, but the build-up really worked and paid off. Hamnet is a portrait of grief and the grieving process, and I found myself immersed through the whole thing. When ‘the event’ happens, it does go all out with the sadness, perhaps at risk of going ‘overboard’. However, I can’t really complain since it worked for me, I was swept up in the emotion and unapologetic sentimentality. Your mileage may vary, but I thought it was handled very well, and it culminated in a beautiful and effective third act.

Jessie Buckley delivers a phenomenal performance, one that felt so raw and human and conveyed such grief in a believable way. Paul Mescal also delivers some of his best work here as William Shakespeare, his acting nuanced, riveting, and convincingly full of pain. It was compelling watching the way Buckley and Mescal’s characters react to loss and trying to deal with it, and their dynamic becomes even more compelling after the tragedy. Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn are really good in supporting roles, Noah Jupe also gets a moment to really shine and stand out. Some of the best acting of the film however comes from Jacobi Jupe who plays Hamnet, which is one of the best child performances I’ve seen in recent years. His acting is so sincere, believable and raw and much of the devastating emotion from the film is because of him, he made so many of those scenes hit hard as they did.

Chloé Zhao’s direction is excellent. It’s an amazingly shot film, visually beautiful (especially with the shots of trees and nature), makes really good use of natural light, and even feels dreamlike in parts. Max Richter also composed a beautiful and gentle score which was fitting for this movie.

Hamnet is emotionally devastating, beautifully directed, and with phenomenal performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. One of the year’s very best films.