Hamnet is a powerful story of love and loss that makes Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet more profound!
This is a film that will make you see William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Hamlet in a whole new light. It’s a film that will make you appreciate more what is considered Shakespeare’s greatest play and just how tragic and emotional, but cathartic it really is. But the film Hamnet, it’s not so much about this play as what inspired it. Maybe it is blending more fiction with reality in exploring what was Shakespeare’s inspiration for his iconic play, but that doesn’t take away from the beauty and tragedy within the story thus best making it one of the best films of 2025. There’s so much that I can write about this story, but I will reframe from writing a college essay and give you a stricter point of view on why you should see this film. Hamnet tells of the Love affair between William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes, and the tragedy of losing their son. It is a love story, but it is also a story of grief and how an artist can use that grief to make something great. Now while there may be considerable debate on what really inspired the play Hamlet, there’s no denying that Shakespeare used themes of grief and loss in his writing. It is those themes that make this film and its story a work of art just like to play that it inspired. Of course, I can be overly critical, and I’ll explain why later in the review, but my criticisms do not take away from why this is one of the best movies of the year.
Paul Mescal and Jessica Buckley are the true driving force of this film. Their performance is like watching and acting clinic on what it means to pour your entire soul into a role. They are electric on the big screen. As the audience, you feel their love, you feel their pain, and you will connect with their characters in a way that you didn’t think was possible within film. They both deserve Oscars, if nothing else a nomination for best actor and best actress. There’s been a lot of good performances in 2025, but these two absolutely shine. The brilliance of the film is how it is shot and the fact that it does feel like you’re watching a stage play unfold against the backdrop of great cinematography. The forest scenes are magnificent accompanied with the right music. It instantly hits the right emotional notes for the audience to feel inspired. Like I said, there may be more fiction than reality, but that can be said of any great story.
You see their love story blossom through the birth of their children. It’s easy to connect with the character of Agnes especially with her understanding that her husband will always need more than a small farm on the English countryside. She is the one that pushes him away to go and do great things in London…to become the writer that he was always meant to be. The film fantastically explorers her life as a mother who’s more connected to nature and somebody who sees things that others cannot, well instilling passion, love, and a great imagination within her children. For Paul Mescal, there is a quiet sensibility to his performance as William Shakespeare that we easily connect with in this flawed man who had a huge imagination and could write such wonderful stories as well as poetry. Yes, it’s their performances and scenes together that truly make this movie work up until the very end when we are able to see the play of Hamlet formed within this story as a way for Shakespeare to share his grief and help Agnes process the loss of their son.
The best part of this movie is literally the last 20 minutes where her character stands at the edge of the stage and sees the first performance of Hamlet as she becomes more connected to the story. I like Hamlet as a play, yes, it is iconic and tragic and a true work of art, but I don’t think I’ve ever really experienced it in a way where it can touch so many lives like they show in this film with the audience so easily able to touch and connect with the actors. These are the best scenes and the other cast member like Noah Jupe deserves a lot of credit for how well they performed Hamlet within the film especially Paul Mescal’s performance as the ghost of the slain king and how he delivers his line about processing his grief.
However, Hamnet it is not without its problems. While the best part of the movie is the last 20 minutes with the heightened climax of seeing this play performed, the pacing can be a little slow getting there. But for good reason and it’s slowly moves you into the right emotional state to appreciate the ending of the film. From a critic’s standpoint, yes, they probably could have cut 10-15 minutes out of the film and not have some of these scenes linger as long, but that doesn’t take away from how dramatic they are especially when the two main characters are having to process the grief together to only candlelight and you think this may be the end of their relationship. I also criticize the fact that this is a hard story to tell within a 2-hour time frame even though they do it well. There’s so much more to the love story of William Shakespeare and Agnes, and how that influences his writing. This could very easily have been a limited series. I know I say that a lot about some stories, but it almost feels like a 3-hour stage play as if you were watching one of Shakespeare’s plays being performed live. I want to know more this story and how he came to write all his plays. It’s easy to be so engrossed with their love story and their lives together, you may feel the same. But this is a very specific story where we are introduced to their love affair and the birth of their children, and this great tragedy that would inspire Shakespeare to write Hamlet so in that regard they do a great job with a 2-hour movie, not making it too short or too long. The last criticism I have is the overuse of music no matter how emotional it might be. While its not uncommon to reuse iconic classical pieces for film, Max Richter’s piece “On the Nature of Daylight” has been overused in film. We saw it in the movie Shutter Island and then again in the movie The Arrival, It makes sense that Max Richter who does the score for this movie, using this beautiful piece of music that perfectly deals with loss being placed at the end of the movie to help heighten our emotions. Hamnet is the best movie for that music and should have been the first time we hear it in film to make it more meaningful, but it also needs to be the last time we hear it in a movie.
Overall, Hamnet is a beautiful film that everyone should experience especially fans of Shakespeare. It may not be as rewatchable as a Mission Impossible movie, but it certainly a lot better in terms of story. Paul Mescal and Jessica Buckley are outstanding and if you are fans of their work, then this is a must see movie. More importantly if you are a fan of the play Hamlet, then this film is a great companion piece to any version of that story. The greatest art comes from an artist’s deepest pain and if it’s true that this was a bit of inspiration for Shakespeare’s play, then you owe it to yourself to know the story and to see how it connected to Shakespeare himself and his wife Agnes. It will bring you to tears. I had tears at the end of the movie watching Jessica Buckley’s performance as she connected with the actor’s performing Hamlet. It made me want to watch Kenneth Branagh’s iconic film of Hamlet which many considered the best film version even though it is four hours long. Yes, this film is not for everyone, but if you’re looking for the best and most beautiful film that deals with loss and grief, this is that film. Like the play itself, the film Hamnet is a true work of art that not only inspires love and beauty, but how to process our grief in a less destructive way. Even if you do not see this in theaters, it is worth renting. Even if you only watch it once in your lifetime, it is worth experiencing. And if nothing else, this story makes The Tragedy of Hamlet so much better while adding a more emotional meaning behind the words in the play. It may not win best picture, but it is easily one of my top five favorite films of 2025.
