If you have not heard already: bring tissues for Hamnet.
As someone who likes to cry alone in movie theatres, this one did not disappoint——there wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the St James when I saw it last week.
The film is based on the book of the same name by Maggie O’Farrell, who co-wrote the screenplay with indie director Chloe Zhao.
The fictionalised tragedy surrounds William Shakespeare, his wife Anne Hathaway and their first son, Hamnet, who inspired the play and golden-haired character of Hamlet.
Anyone who knows anything about the canonical play can guess how things pan out.
Shakespeare is played by Irish actor Paul Mescal, whose strong classical profile, akin to a relief sculpture, served him well in Gladiator II.
His debut in 2020 book-to-TV series Normal People proved his ability to portray years of emotional turmoil with moving tears.
Also from Ireland, Jessie Buckley, who plays Anne, is also raw and believable as is the irresistible glow of child-actor Jacobi Jupe, playing the boy.
Not having read the book, I did not expect the witch-y elements, as Anne is portrayed as a 16th century herbalist, who spends all her time in the forest.
It gives viewers a connection to the witchcraft featured heavily in Shakespeare’s works.
It also draws a connection to the forest, which, in the case of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is almost like its own character.
The colour grading, sets and simple costumes are a lush background to the couple’s love story.
It reminds also of the folklore and lack of medical science at the time, as well as the loss — women were accustomed to losing many children, in childbirth or through illness.
It does not fail to signal that behind every a successful man, there is a woman suffering.
The story is cathartic, as the often depressed genius of Shakespeare eventually processes his pain through the stage.
