Hamnet – To see or not to see?

Samantha McKenna

That is the question. Perhaps you’re debating whether to venture to the cinema to enjoy Hamnet – the film generating much buzz on the awards circuit.

For some, the hesitation revolves around questions such as: will I need to have read or know anything about Hamlet or any Shakespeare play? Will I need to know about the man himself, William Shakespeare, his wife, or his life?

To assume such knowledge is necessary to enjoy Hamnet would be like assuming you need an understanding of the inner workings of the Mafia to appreciate The Godfather.

Like any great movie, Hamnet is ultimately about people. At its core is the universal theme of grief, and for the most part, this could be the story of any two parents. Where the narrative, so beautifully imagined by Maggie O’Farrell, truly distinguishes itself is in its focus on Will and Agnes, and in how grief is channelled through art as a means of survival and healing.

In the expert hands of director Chloé Zhao, emotions of love, hope, joy, grief, and pain, are captured and amplified through art, then shared with others in profoundly moving ways.

Jessie Buckley’s portrayal of Agnes deserves every award she has and will receive. Her raw and brutally honest performance presents a woman devoted to her children and ultimately consumed by grief. Her world is shattered by the incomprehensible loss of her son, and her pain is almost unbearable to watch on screen.

While the story belongs to Agnes, it could not exist without William, the man who would go on to write Hamlet. Tenderly played by Paul Mescal is a man torn between the gift he was born with and the life he feels he must settle for. The loss of his son devastates him, driving him into a brutal, silent withdrawal from everyone around him. His muteness stands in stark contrast to his wife’s screams of anguish.

There is a painful truth in the acknowledgement of the different journeys taken by a mother and a father grieving the loss of their child. It confronts the harsh reality that while such a tragedy is shared, grief is profoundly individual. Though the event binds two parents together, their experience of the loss is utterly separate, and tragically different.

To Agnes, it appears that Will has chosen the easier path, one of denial. Unable or unwilling to face the pain, he retreats to London, to his writing and his theatre, leaving her to endure her grief alone.

It is only in the finale, when Hamlet is performed on stage, that we finally understand the devastating depth of his sorrow. These scenes are emotive and breathtaking, and we experience them through Agnes’s eyes. As she watches the play, she sees Hamlet as her son grown into the man he might have been had he lived. In that moment, she understands Will’s grief, and through that understanding, she begins to heal.

The story comes full circle, and we witness an entire theatre audience sharing in the emotions unfolding on stage, just as we the cinema audience share in the emotions of Agnes and Will.

Hamnet is a story of loss, a devastating portrayal of grief and a deeply human insight into how art can help heal some of the wounds inflicted by this cruel world.

So, should you see it? For me, the answer is unequivocally yes. There is no question.

Samantha McKenna is a member of Inklings Writing Group, who meet on Tuesdays at 11am and Wednesdays at 7.30pm in the Annebrook House Hotel. Aspiring writers welcome.