Hamnet

Cert: 12A, 2hrs 5mins

Rating:

Famously, little is known of the private life of William Shakespeare, still less that of his wife, Anne Hathaway, and it is important to remember that as Hamnet weaves its enchanting spell.

But it is also important to forget it too and surrender to the idea that this a work of beguiling fiction – a brilliant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel by the Oscar-winning Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao, hitherto best known for Nomadland, that magically gains an emotional transcendence through the sheer beauty of its storytelling.

Not for nothing is it nominated six times at tonight’s Golden Globes.

When we first meet the future Bard he’s a young man, played by Paul Mescal, working reluctantly and unimpressively as a Latin tutor to repay a debt owed by his domineering father.

Small wonder that his eye is soon caught by the wildly captivating Anne, styled here as Agnes (the name used in her father’s will) and played so powerfully by Jessie Buckley that she last week won the Critics’ Choice award for Best Actress and seems certain to win more.

Agnes is portrayed as an almost feral creature, the ‘daughter of a forest witch’ who skives off from her farm chores to fly her beloved hawk and lie curled up in the embrace of tree roots.

When she and Will consummate their new love, it seems entirely fitting that they do so in an apple store.

Their first daughter she delivers herself in her beloved greenwood, the twins that soon follow, Hamnet and Judith, she is forced to have at home. An old magic has been broken…

This is a film that works on so many levels, most powerfully as an exploration of love and grief.

But links to Shakespeare’s plays are important too – the woodland setting immediately evokes A Midsummer’s Night Dream, while the twins playful cross-dressing finds an echo in Twelfth Night and As You Like It.

Later all three children will act out the witches’ scene from Macbeth, as a silly garden entertainment.

But is it also a portent of death, as it is in the play? Well, possibly, for death is certainly on its way.

Buckley is quite wonderful, while Mescal provides cleverly judged support, but the casting – and acting – are exquisite throughout.

Joe Alwyn is quietly splendid as Agnes’s supportive brother, Bartholomew, while young Jacobi Jupe makes Hamnet as loveable and intelligent a little boy as you could imagine.

If he doesn’t break your heart than the appearance of his real-life older brother, Noah, playing the title role in the film’s climactic performance of Hamlet at the Globe Theatre, certainly will. 

Take tissues, lots of them.