Hamnet Review: I walked into Hamnet already carrying the weight of everyone else’s emotions. You know how it goes: Telluride raves, critics calling it an awards front-runner, people online promising you’ll leave the theater feeling shattered.
So I did what any normal person would do: I braced myself. And then… nothing. No tears. No emotional collapse. Just me sitting there thinking, “Wait, am I heartless, or did this movie oversell itself?”
My Rating: 3.5/5
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Title | Hamnet |
| Director | Chloé Zhao |
| Based On | Novel Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell |
| Genre | Historical drama / Period drama |
| Main Cast | Jessie Buckley (Agnes), Paul Mescal (William Shakespeare), Jacobi Jupe (Hamnet), Noah Jupe (Hamlet – stage) |
| Runtime | 2h 5m |
What the Movie Is Trying to Do
Jesse Buckley plays Agnes (or “Anes” depending on the pronunciation you prefer), a woman with this earthy, almost mythical connection to nature, daughter of a “forest witch,” intuitive in ways that feel ancient. She meets William Shakespeare, though the movie hides his name like it’s a Marvel end-credit reveal, and they quickly build a family together.
If you know your Shakespeare lore, you know where this is going: they lose their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. The film imagines this loss as the emotional foundation for Shakespeare’s writing of Hamlet.
On paper, that’s powerful. In execution… It’s complicated.
Where the Film Actually Works
When the movie stays quiet, earthy, grounded, it breathes. There are moments with Buckley in the forest where you feel the wind, the soil, the creaking of the trees. The cinematography (Lucas Zal) and sound design (Johnny Burn) do some serious heavy lifting. There’s a shot with a giant tree hollow that stuck with me more than half the dialogue.
And honestly, the early scenes between Buckley and Paul Mescal feel real, like two young people falling in love and building something tender and messy. The kids are also fantastic, especially the young actor playing Hamnet.
Where the Film Completely Lost Me
The emotional beats never felt real. They felt performed. All the grief comes through like actors projecting to the back row of a theater instead of letting us sit in it with them.
I kept waiting for the movie to show me something I didn’t already understand about loss. But it just… stated the obvious. Loudly.
And don’t get me started on the Shakespeare “Easter eggs.” There’s an actual moment where he stands by the river doing the “To be or not to be” speech, and I swear I almost sighed out loud. It’s too on-the-nose, even a little corny.
The Biggest Issue: I Never Felt Connected
I don’t need a movie to babysit my emotions. But I do need it to invite me in. Hamnet doesn’t do that. It feels like you’re watching grief through glass, close enough to see everything, too far to feel anything.
And maybe the hype messed with me. Maybe I walked in expecting transcendence. But when a film gets described as spiritually devastating and award-worthy for months, you expect it to actually hit you somewhere. This one didn’t.
My Verdict
Hamnet is beautifully crafted, but emotionally distant. The technical elements are fantastic. The performances, when quiet, land. But the big emotional swings don’t. I walked out exactly as dry-eyed as I walked in, and honestly, a little relieved that it wasn’t just me.
Also Read: Wildcat Review: Kate Beckinsale Deserves Better Than This Chaos
Good & Bad
| What Worked | What Didn’t Work |
|---|---|
| Stunning cinematography (Lucas Zal) | Emotional moments feel forced, not lived |
| Incredible sound design | Overly dramatic grief scenes |
| Natural chemistry in the early relationship | Shakespeare references dropped like clichés |
| Strong performances from the kids | Film never lets you truly feel their pain |
| A few visually breathtaking moments | Too much hype, not enough soul |
Final Thoughts
If you go in expecting a spiritual awakening, you’ll probably walk out disappointed. If you go in expecting a carefully made, quiet, sensory drama with some gorgeous visuals, you’ll get that.
But for a film about grief, it left me surprisingly untouched. If you end up seeing it, I’m genuinely curious: Did it hit you emotionally, or did you feel the same distance I did?
