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The Conversation
Yanyan Hong, Adjunct Fellow in Communication, Media and Film Studies, Adelaide University

Shakespeare reinvented: how Chloé Zhao blends East and West philosophies in Hamnet

Agata Grzybowska © 2025 Focus Features

In Hamnet, Agnes Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) asks William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) to introduce himself by telling her a story. It is her way of seeing who this man really is.

Here, storytelling becomes a mirror held up to the heart. Are we, as human beings, moved by the same things? Are our hearts shaped from the same material?

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