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Hamnet | TIFF 2025 | Review by: Gal Balaban


 

In Hamnet, Chloe Zhao seeks the beauty in stillness, and in our flow through the world around us. The film serves as an almost anti-biopic, focusing on the most legendary poet's inception of one of the most legendary plays ever, though the film isn't told through William Shakespeare's eyes -- he's only over mentioned by name once. The center of the film is his wife Agnes, as their love begins a family and interacts with art and time. Jessie Buckley gives a performance that packs such a punch to the gut and demands such dedication in every scene. The relentless devotion of a mother to fight for her kids is on full display in Buckley's Oscar-worthy turn, as is the anguish of distance and loss. Paul Mescal also digs into a deep devastation as Shakespeare; for him, unlike Agnes, mere love is not enough to satisfy him as he pursues his artistic endeavors in addition to his familial duties. Noah Jupe and his brother Jacobi Jupe, who makes his acting debut, are both incredible in different roles that will stick with you long after the film ends.


Zhao's filmmaking brings you into an environment that's calm and safe yet devastating and Earth-shaking, like a lullaby that opens you up into vulnerability, and perhaps even tears. The cinematography by Lukasz Zal is daring and continues to surprise and stun, while Zhao's deep connection to nature is ever present. The score by Max Richter is captivating and no small part in this masterful experience. Ultimately, the film is about the relationship between love and patience. When people love in such sweeping, and even different ways, love takes its time through hardship, space, creation, and death. Love is tender yet ferocious and enduring in Zhao's eyes, and her transcendent and meditative film takes us on a profound journey that we may not emotionally disembark for long after it ends.

5/5

Written by: Gal Balaban 

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