Rating	M18 Sexual Scenes 性相关画面
Language	Englishwith English & Chinese subtitles
Genre	Drama
Director	Chloé Zhao
Cast	Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Joe Alwyn, Emily Watson
Synopsis	William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, celebrate the birth of their son, Hamnet. However, when tragedy strikes and Hamnet dies at a young age, it inspires Shakespeare to write his timeless masterpiece "Hamlet."

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By InCinemas 21 Jan 2026

A quiet and haunting masterpiece that will stay with you.

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No parent should ever have to experience the loss of a child. But that is the very agony writer-director Chloé Zhao puts her audience through in her bold attempt at adapting Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, Hamnet. Featuring a most committed cast consisting of Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Jacobi Jupe, Emily Watson, and Joe Alwyn.

Hamnet is a dramatised take on William Shakespeare (Mescal) and his wife Agnes’ (Buckley) lives as they grapple with the death of their young son Hamnet.

The film begins with a steadfast courtship of William and Agnes. The later once asking the former for a story and, despite his future reputation as a world-renowned playwright, he doesn't concoct his own but rather share a tragic one off the top of his head – the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. For those unfamiliar, it is a sad tale of two lovers: when Eurydice dies from a snake bite, a grief-stricken Orpheus moved heaven and earth to reach her. He finds himself in the Underworld, before the god Hades, whom he moved to compassion when sharing his song of heartbreak. Hades grants Orpheus the chance to take Eurydice with him, under the conditions she walk behind Orpheus and he could not turn to look at her. Despite almost reaching the end, Orpheus loses his faith and turns to see if Eurydice is still behind him, only to have banished her back to the Underworld for good.

It’s almost foreboding that this was the Greek myth of all tales to be told, for William and Agnes’ lives almost mirror that of the tragic lovers, until they reverse the plot by making the one forbidden thing that tears Orpheus and Eurydice apart forever the very thing that binds William and Agnes together.

Hymen predicted that Orpheus and Eurydice’s perfection was not meant to last. Agnes foretells William's future as something great, and also sees herself dying with two children.

By the time she has three, William is always away in London for work. The place she once begged for him to be sent to save him from his inner torment becomes the place she loathes for having him more than his family. William’s absence causes him to miss his child’s death for which Agnes could not forgive. He wasn’t there, but he doesn’t stay around long after either that further strains their marriage.

Hamnet’s death is neither surprise nor spoiler. What is shocking though is the sheer audacity of the cast at delivering the devastation as if they truly lived the horror. Buckley and Mescal give powerhouse performances for the ages that personifies grieving parents like you’ve never seen. The guttural screams and cries that come out of Buckley are some of the more horrifying sounds one has ever heard and would never wish to hear – so raw and profound, they become the catalyst of your inability to breathe let alone process the moment. Mescal’s approach is more restrained in comparison but no less impactful or pained. It’s no Hamnet without mentioning Hamnet himself, the cherubic young Jupe giving a most stellar performance from a child actor we’ve seen in awhile. His capaility at conveying emotion through his eyes alone brings much depth to his character that is otherwise sidelined for his older castmates'.

Zhao being back in her comfort zone of making powerful quiet films is right where she belongs. A love story this heartbreaking and daunting is no easy feat, so it’s only fate that she finds herself not only with the support of great on-screen talent but also those off-screen as well. Łukasz Żal, who’s no stranger to harrowing films, lends breathtaking cinematography that highlights every aspect of Zhao’s vision, accompanied by music that crescendos at all the right points, thanks to Max Richter’s soaring yet sorrowful score.

Hamnet is a film that will break you in every act, with the final one leaving you reeling. May witnessing William and Agnes Shakespeare’s suffering of losing their child be the closest we’ll ever get to the real thing. To cry or not to cry, that is the question.
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Hamnet

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