Hamnet - Review
- Jack Aling
- Oct 11, 2025
- 1 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
You Will Live.
Review written by Jack Aling
Hamnet is directed by Chloé Zhao and written by Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell.
An adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's bestselling novel, dramatising the family life of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes as they cope with the death of their eleven-year-old son Hamnet. Won the People's Choice Award at TIFF 2025.
Every year, there is a film at London Film Festival that reaches into your chest and breaks your heart - Enter Hamnet.
The story of loss that birthed William Shakespeare's Hamlet is an unsurprisingly sobering one, but Chloé Zhao's directorial flair brings an ethereal quality that helps find a sense of calm amidst the hysteria.
Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal give the performance of their lives, with Buckley in particular giving everything she has to the role, catapulting herself into awards season buzz. We watch how their two different manifestations of grief impact their world, relationships and work. Zhao balances this beautifully without shielding the audience from the heartache and turmoil.
The final act of Hamnet may be the finest in years - combining the beauty of Shakespeare's work with the emotional catharsis that comes after a significant loss. Art has always been a powerful means of escape. A way to connect with others and resonate with our shared experiences. A way to encapsulate what may not be possible to say. The rest is silence.
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