I had been taught about Hamlet for most of my schooling career. It is the story of the Danish prince but was written after the death of William Shakespeare’s son. I knew the tale. Yet nothing could have prepared me for the emotional turmoil and release that Hamnet provides its audience.
Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell beautifully adapted O’Farrell’s novel of the same name that tells the love story of Agnes (Jessie Buckley) and her husband, William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal). Prior to Shakespeare’s work in the theatre in London, he fell in love with Agnes and the two wed when she was a few months pregnant with their eldest daughter. All details that Zhao and O’Farrell get correct in the film.
