Hamnet : A Quiet, Moving Family Drama
Experience the subtle brilliance of Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.
Hamnet certainly isn’t trying to teach you anything, as historical research or overly factual this is not - it’s more just about a family really - a young couple, their kids, their small world.
Synopsis
William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, celebrate the birth of their son, Hamnet. However, when tragedy strikes and Hamnet dies at a young age, it inspires Shakespeare to write his timeless masterpiece "Hamlet."
Good Points
Deeply human
Jessie Buckley
Paul Mescal
The Emotion
The direction
Bad Points
Could have trimmed 15–20 minutes I thought
This movie moves slowly
Hamnet moves slowly, but not in a “nothing’s happening” slow - more like it just refuses to rush anything, as it lets the scenes breathe, and I do think you need to be in the right mood for it, and if you are, it’s kind of absorbing.
Jessie Buckley is great, and the centre of the whole thing., with no big emotional speeches or dramatic outbursts needed from her either, as her performance is all internal.
You can tell exactly what’s going on with her without her spelling it out, and she handles everything the film needs her to handle expertly.
Then there’s Paul Mescal.
I did like that he was not playing “William Shakespeare: Literary God.”
He’s just playing a man - a husband who loves his wife, a father who cares about his kids, and someone who feels pulled toward ambition with his home on one side, the wider world on the other.
Hamnet barely leans on the Shakespeare legend.
His name almost feels incidental here, as it’s about the man before the monument, and the father before the playwright, and you’re certainly not watching history being carved into stone here - it’s more about the little things.
It understands that the biggest changes in life often happen in silence.
And every now and then, you can sense the film gently nudging you - like, “This moment will matter later.”
Hamnet also treats loss like it’s something quiet and personal and complicated, and doesn’t turn anything into a dramatic showpiece, which I was expecting before watching it.
And that sincerity carries it through some of the more slower stretches too, as even when it drifts a little, you can at least feel the intention behind it, as it wants to honour these people as people - not as historical figures.
If you’re willing to settle into it, there’s something properly moving about it all.
Final Verdict
Quiet, slow, and it chooses intimacy over grandeur every time.
As I said, you maybe have to be in the right mood for it, but if you are, it’s quite wonderful.
Did you like Hamnet?