Hamnet is a spiritual, earthy film, full of green forests and foliage, very much in Chloé Zhao's wheelhouse. There are gorgeous shots aplenty - the compositions, colors and lighting in certain scenes are like paintings, especially when you see Agnes in the places where she thrives, among the grasses and streams and animals. In addition, symbolic imagery acts as a character revealing tool. Our first glimpse of Agnes, for example, sees her curled up like a babe in a wooded womb, near a cave (acting as birth canal? Though later, Will looks at it as if it were a gateway to the hereafter). Production design lends period authenticity, while mirroring the personalities of the characters and the spaces they inhabit. Their two worlds (Will's stages, Agnes' forests) which merge in the final act, where the plays backdrop is not a castle, but trees.
Along with the romance, this is about unfathomable grief, the loss of a child, played ably by Jacobi Jupe, is crushing, and it drives a wedge between the couple, leaves them untethered and searching for answers - all of which felt raw, and true to life. And for a creative person, there's only one way to articulate the pain, to come to terms with it, to say the tender goodbyes you were unable to utter due to being so far from home...
I didn't really know how Hamlet could connect to Hamnet -- as Agnes wonders early on during the play, how is this about my son? But somehow, that connection is made, powerfully, communally - the change in Buckley's demeanor, from anger to the rapt attention that overcomes her as the story unfolds. She is locked in, and moved, as was I, which culminates in an emotional finish that elegantly captures the back-and-forth connection between art and audience.
In closing, Hamnet's creative ingredients impressed me - Łukasz Żal's camerawork, Max Richter's haunting score (On the Nature of Daylight played a vital role in shaping the end scene), the sound design, and Zhao's direction, which is anchored by acting that was authentic, heartfelt, and beautiful. I found it an incredible picture on all phases.
* I should note that while the parents' roles are cut back in this adaptation, Emily Watson makes the most of her time on screen, as William's hard, but compassionate mother.
