From Academy Award-winning writer/director Chloé Zhao of 2021’s Nomadland fame comes the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet.
Chloé Zhao is a one-stop force of nature with this feature. She was not only the writer and director of Hamnet, but is also its producer and editor. This puts her in the company of such great directors as Christopher Nolan, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, Alfred Hitchcock, and George Lucas. Directors who are known for having this kind of extensive control over their creative vision and shaping their projects from conception to the final cut. Because of this freedom, Zhao has given us a beautiful, bone-achingly austere study on family, love, loss, and what we leave behind.
Hamnet is based on the best-selling historical fiction novel by Maggie O’Farrell, also titled Hamnet. In this book about William Shakespeare’s family, she speculated that the death of his 11-year-old son, Hamnet, from the plague inspired the writing of the iconic play Hamlet. So this film goes with that assumption and lets us see the lives of Agnes and William Shakespeare from their early sweet courting days to the bleak season of grieving the loss of a child.
The creator of this film, Chloé Zhao, when asked why she wanted to make this film, said:
I have been afraid of death all my life, and as a result, I have been afraid of love as well. I didn’t know how to keep my heart open, staring at the impermanence of life. I’ve made four films about characters experiencing great loss and finding themselves through acceptance. HAMNET is the accumulation of that journey. With the sacred container of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, I went down deeper into the underworld to retrieve what was lost, that made me so afraid to experience both love and death. Maggie had opened a portal with her book, a bridge for us to connect with Will in ways we haven’t before.
“All things in life must die, passing through nature to eternity.”
“To be or not to be, that is the question.”
“The rest is silence.”
Will had written a story about love and death, and I feel honored and fortunate to be able to interpret his messages for today’s audience. We knew, felt, that he was with us.
The casting for Hamnet is fantastic. I am predicting Best Actress, Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and two Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations for the real-life brothers Noah and Jacobi Jupe, who play Hamlet on stage and Hamnet, Shakespeare’s actual son.
This film also has a haunting score by Englishman Max Tichter. He incorporated basic elements of Elizabethan music and instrumentation, then mixed them with electronic components to set the mood for each scene. His ability to translate profound human experiences, such as those Shakespeare’s family goes through, is magic in itself. The score seeps into the back of the audience’s mind, cementing them into the moments on screen that are so brilliantly acted.
I give Hamnet 5 stars. It’s a brilliant film that will be on everyone’s best of list for this year, and the one to beat come Oscar time. It is a must-see film this holiday season. It will be added to people’s collections once it becomes available to purchase.
Directed by: Chloé Zhao
Written by: Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell
Rated: PG-13
Sekig Rsting: 5 Stars
Running Time: 2 hr 5 min
Drama/ Period / Biography
Wide Release: In theaters November 26th
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Jacobi Jupe, Emily Watson, Noah Jupe
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.