December 8, 2025
William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) was working as a tutor when he met Agnes (Jessie Buckley) whom he saw training her pet falcon. His parents were against him seeing her because she was rumored to be the daughter of a forest witch. However, William and Agnes still got married, and had a daughter Susanna (Bodhi Rae Breathnach). Soon after, Agnes allowed William to pursue his theater career in London, even if she was again pregnant, this time with twins, who grew up to be Judith (Olivia Lynes) and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe).
This film was directed, co-written and co-edited by Chloe Zhao, her latest project after winning the Oscar for Best Director for "Nomadland" (2020). The screenplay was co-written with Maggie O'Farrell, the author of the 2020 award-winning historical fiction novel upon which the story was adapted from. By the time I watched this film, this film is already widely-predicted to be one of the big players come Oscar season, hence awards expectations are very high.
The loudest Oscar buzz is for Jessie Buckley and her passionate portrayal of Agnes Shakespeare, who went through an emotional roller-coaster throughout this film. Majority of critics are already naming her as the Best Actress winner as early as now. Prior to this film, I only knew her from two Netflix films -- "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" (2020) and "The Lost Daughter" (2021), and even then, she already proved her chops for intense drama.
Paul Mescal has been very active since his debut in "The Lost Daughter," which was soon followed-up with an acclaimed turn in "Aftersun" (2022) which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. His role in "Hamnet" was being touted as supporting, likely for campaign purposes, but I thought his part was just as important for this story. He was the one who wrote a theatrical masterpiece in order to heal himself and his wife from their grief.
The pace of the storytelling may be slow (in true Chloe Zhao style), and things do get quite overwrought at one point, which may make some wonder where the critical acclaim was coming from. It did feel like a typical family melodrama about a housewife dealing with three kids, spousal abandonment and an insidious plague. However, the real magic began in the last 15 minutes at the premiere staging of "Hamlet" (Noah Jupe in the title role). It was here that we feel the true heart of this film and finally get what the buzz was all about. 8/10
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