Those who were lucky to catch an early screening of Hamnet on the festival circuit were unable to recall the experience without welling up.<\/p>\n
Some of our peers have refused a second sitting; others returned for a repeat viewing at a recent Irish press show, just to see if they could hold it together this time. They couldn\u2019t, and I know now why they brought tissues.<\/p>\n
Hamnet, a fictional tale rooted in historical tragedy, depicts an unimaginably cruel chapter in the lives of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne (referred to throughout this film as \u2018Agnes\u2019).<\/p>\n
Based on a novel by Northern Irish author Maggie O\u2019Farrell, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zhao, this powerful and perceptive drama begins with a routine countryside romance in the muddy Stratford hills.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s there that a handsome Latin tutor (Paul Mescal\u2019s Will) falls head over heels for the most talked-about woman in the village (Jessie Buckley\u2019s Agnes).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Paul Mescal is perfect for the role as William Shakespeare in ‘Hamnet’<\/p>\n
They say he\u2019s a terrible worker, lazy and distracted; they tell stories about Agnes, a spirited hawk handler who sleeps under the trees. Our beguiling leads share little in common but are nonetheless perfect for one another.<\/p>\n
The inevitable family kick-back ensues. Will\u2019s father, John (David Wilmot), is a bit of a bully; his argumentative mother, Mary (Emily Watson), disapproves of her son\u2019s hippy girlfriend. It\u2019s only after Agnes\u2019s big-hearted brother, Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn), gives his blessing that Agnes and her beloved are allowed to marry.<\/p>\n
The kids are on their way. First, a daughter \u2014 Susanna \u2014 is born in the woods, just as Agnes had planned. Some time later, Mary assists with the birth of twins \u2014 Hamnet and Judith \u2014 in the Shakespeare home.<\/p>\n
With dad away in London making history and the children enjoying a cosy, comfortable life in Stratford with mum, it seems no harm can come to this endearing family portrait. And then the bubonic plague arrives in town.<\/p>\n
There has been much talk of Hamnet\u2019s distressing middle section, when Agnes watches the life slip away from her only son.<\/p>\n
Buckley, one of the finest actors in the world right now, contorts her body in such a way that suggests she, too, might perish on the spot. The ensuing wail is not a sound I would like to hear twice.<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s an astonishing sequence, horrifying and heart-wrenching, and it\u2019ll probably be studied for years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jessie Buckley’s performance in ‘Hamnet’ may help her win an Oscar<\/p>\n
The aftermath is different for everyone. Agnes can barely breathe without thinking of her boy. Will is unable to cope with the idea that his dear Hamnet has simply vanished.<\/p>\n
Inevitably, he does what a million other parents have been known to do in such terrible circumstances: he throws himself into his work.<\/p>\n
Historians and scholars have often wondered if the young Shakespeare lad\u2019s death directly inspired his father\u2019s most accomplished dramatic piece.<\/p>\n
A title card informs us that \u201cHamlet\u201d and \u201cHamnet\u201d were the same name around this time \u2013 but it\u2019s up to us to decide if the Bard really did conjure up a grandiose theatrical tragedy from his own personal, hellish grief.<\/p>\n
Here, that\u2019s exactly what he does, and \u2014 this is hardly a spoiler \u2014 a heartbroken Agnes eventually reconnects with her estranged husband through the stage.<\/p>\n
There is some strong support around them. The increasingly watchable Joe Alwyn delivers a compassionate, dignified turn as Agnes\u2019s dutiful sibling. Watson is marvellous, as ever, and Noah Jupe turns in a commendable performance as the young actor hired to play Will\u2019s \u2018Hamlet\u2019.<\/p>\n
Mescal, meanwhile, gives us a more measured Shakespeare than we\u2019re used to. Too many films paint the Bard as cocky and untouchable, an annoying man to be around. This is the first to treat him as a human, and Mescal is perfect for the part.<\/p>\n
Handsomely shot and beautifully scored, Hamnet is very much a team effort. But it\u2019s Buckley\u2019s big moment, and she\u2019ll probably win an Oscar for it.<\/p>\n
In someone else\u2019s hands, Agnes\u2019s emotional odyssey might have spiralled wildly out of control. There is no such issue with Buckley, whose remarkable central turn is so raw \u2014 so extraordinarily authentic \u2014 you\u2019d forget you\u2019re watching an actor.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t get better than that.<\/p>\n
Five stars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Those who were lucky to catch an early screening of Hamnet on the festival circuit were unable to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[18,117,19,17,327],"class_list":{"0":"post-229029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-movies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115706081443067272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}