Hamnet
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Chloé Zhao
Screenplay by
Based on Hamnet
by Maggie O'Farrell
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Łukasz Żal
Edited by
Music by Max Richter
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 29 August 2025 (2025-08-29) (Telluride)
  • 26 November 2025 (2025-11-26) (United States)
  • 9 January 2026 (2026-01-09) (United Kingdom)
Running time
126 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Language English
Budget $30–35 million[2]
Box office $93 million[3][4]

Hamnet is a 2025 biographical period film directed by Chloé Zhao, who co-wrote the screenplay with Maggie O'Farrell, based on the 2020 novel by O'Farrell. The film dramatises the family life of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway[a] as they cope with the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet.[6] It stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William, alongside Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, and Noah Jupe in supporting roles.

Hamnet had its world premiere at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2025 and received a limited theatrical release by Focus Features in the United States and Canada on 26 November. It received a wide theatrical release on 5 December and was released by Universal Pictures in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2026. Critical reception was positive, with Buckley's performance receiving particular praise. The film received numerous accolades, including winning the Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Buckley at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, and eight nominations at the 98th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Zhao, and Best Actress for Buckley. It was listed among the top ten films of 2025 by the American Film Institute.

Plot

A written prologue states that in Stratford, England, "Hamnet" and "Hamlet" were considered the same name.[7]

Agnes is seen in the forest near a mysterious cave, where she summons a hawk with her falconry glove and gathers herbs. William Shakespeare works as a tutor to help pay family debt. He leaves his students after seeing Agnes, and they share a moment. William's mother, Mary, informs him of rumours that Agnes is the daughter of a forest witch who taught her herbal lore, which Agnes later uses to heal a cut on William's forehead.

William visits Agnes in the forest. She asks him for a story, and he recounts the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, delighting her. Agnes palmreads William, foretelling a successful future for him, and two children at her deathbed. The pair consummate their relationship, impregnating Agnes, leading her family to disown her and forcing her to move in with the Shakespeares. The two hurriedly marry, and Agnes gives birth to Susanna in the woods.

William retaliates when his father, John, beats him for rejecting manual labour. Seeing William's frustration with writing, Agnes suggests to her brother Bartholomew to send him to London for a theatrical career, leaving her and Susanna in Stratford. A while later, a pregnant Agnes tries to go outside to give birth, but William's family restrain her in the house, where she gives birth to twins Hamnet and Judith, the latter seemingly stillborn. Remembering being kept from her mother's deathbed, Agnes demands to hold the baby despite superstition, and Judith awakes.

11 years later, a now-successful William returns intermittently while the children grow up very close. The twins believe they look similar, and frequently try to trick family members by wearing each other's clothes. Agnes foretells that Hamnet, who wishes to join his father's theatre company, will flourish. Agnes's hawk dies and is buried; she tells the children to make a wish to the hawk's spirit, who she says will carry them in its heart.

Returning to London, William wanders the streets during an outbreak of bubonic plague and watches a puppet show depicting the plague carrying people off to death. In Stratford, Judith contracts the plague. Hamnet evokes the tale of the hawk to encourage her and lies beside her, proclaiming he wants to take her place, to trick death. Judith recovers, but Hamnet falls gravely ill and dies; on his deathbed, he envisions himself on a stage calling for his mother, and Agnes's hawk appears.

William rushes home and is distraught to find Hamnet lying in repose. His absence strains his marriage to Agnes as they cope with Hamnet's death. William buys the largest house in Stratford and departs for London again. Agnes holds his hand and says she now sees nothing. William rehearses Hamlet in London, but is frustrated with his cast's flat delivery. In despair, he leans over the edge of a jetty on the River Thames and recites his "To be, or not to be" monologue from the play.

Agnes's stepmother Joan shows her a playbill for a production of Hamlet in London and upbraids her for marrying William, but Agnes rebukes her. Agnes and Bartholomew travel to London to see William. Finding him absent from home, they resolve to attend the first performance of Hamlet at the Globe Theatre. Initially offended, thinking her son's name is being profaned, upon seeing William as the ghost of Hamlet's father, she realizes the play is a tribute to Hamnet, and is moved to tears by the scene between Hamlet and his father.

Backstage, William, having noticed Agnes, breaks down in tears while listening to the play, and returns to see Agnes from the wings. The play progresses through scenes of sword-fighting, fulfilling Hamnet's dream of such a role. During Hamlet's death scene, Agnes reaches forward for the actor's hand as she had held William's when they first met, and the rest of the audience reaches toward him in turn. She envisions Hamnet on the stage, seen earlier as his dying vision. He moves from sadness to a smile before disappearing into the backstage, through a hole resembling the forest cave. For the first time since Hamnet's death, Agnes laughs and smiles.

Cast

Production

See also: Hamnet (soundtrack)

A stage production of Maggie O'Farrell's novel was announced in November 2022,[8] with the film rights having been acquired prior to publication by London-based Liza Marshall and her company Hera Pictures, who then partnered with Neal Street Productions.[9] In April 2023, Chloé Zhao was hired to direct the film, and would write the screenplay alongside O'Farrell.[10]

In May 2023, Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley entered negotiations to star in the film.[11] Mescal confirmed in a January 2024 interview that he and Buckley would star.[12]

Principal photography was originally scheduled to begin in London on 3 June 2024.[13] Production instead began in Wales on 29 July 2024, and wrapped on 30 September. While most of the film was shot in Herefordshire, England, including the village of Weobley, scenes were also filmed in London at the Charterhouse, which served as the largest London location for the production.[14][15] The scenes set at the Globe Theatre were shot at a replica of the building constructed by production designer Fiona Crombie at Elstree Studios backlot, rather than at Shakespeare's Globe (which Zhao and Crombie felt was too ornate for the film).[16][17][18] Joe Alwyn and Emily Watson were added to the cast in August, and Steven Spielberg joined the film as a producer.[19] Łukasz Żal was the cinematographer[20] and Max Richter the film's composer,[21] whose 2004 track "On the Nature of Daylight" is also used in the film.[22]

Literary references

In addition to adapting O'Farrell's book, the film repeatedly quotes from the Old English Nine Herbs Charm, an alliterative spell (galdor) from Anglo-Saxon England. The film quotes from two translations of the text: one from philologist Joseph S. Hopkins and another from Stephen Pollington. Regarding the use of his translation in the film, Hopkins says "It is a great joy to play a role in presenting the Nine Plants Spell to such a large audience in the contemporary period, surely providing the most exposure the spell has received since Anglo-Saxon England".[23]

Release

Focus Features acquired worldwide rights to Hamnet in August 2024, with its parent company Universal Pictures handling its international distribution; Indian distribution rights were acquired by Reliance Entertainment in December 2025 under a pre-existing output deal with Amblin Entertainment.[19][24] It had its world premiere at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2025.[25] In July 2025, the film was announced as part of the Gala Presentations lineup of the 50th 2025 Toronto International Film Festival,[26][27] where it won the prestigious People's Choice Award.[28] It was screened in the non-competitive section 'Grand public' of the 20th Rome Film Festival in October 2025 before its theatrical release,[29] in the official selection of the 70th Valladolid International Film Festival on 27 October 2025 (for its Spanish premiere),[30] and closed the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival on 5 November 2025.[31]

The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 26 November 2025, ahead of a wide release one week later on 5 December 2025.[32] It would later be released in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2026, and in Australia on 15 January.[33] As of January 24, 2026, screening expanded to a total of 1,276 theaters and ranked #10 at the box office with $1.8 million for a domestic total approaching $18 million.[34]

Reception

Critical response

Buckley's performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 332 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Breaking hearts and mending them in one fell swoop, Hamnet speculates on the inspiration behind Shakespeare's masterpiece with palpable emotional force thanks to Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal's astonishing performances."[35] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[36]

Buckley's performance in particular was widely praised. David Fear of Rolling Stone opined that people "will be talking about Jessie Buckley's performance for years".[37] Screen Daily's Tim Grierson thought Mescal's role was similar to his previous work but "the regularly superb Buckley is revelatory as a wild creature who experiences the exhilaration of motherhood as well as the heartbreak of loss."[38] Johnny Oleksinski at the New York Post wrote that "it's Buckley who's giving one of those rare turns that simply beggars belief. She swings back and forth from cast iron to porcelain. The actress is thunderous, playful, grounded and ethereal."[39] Peter Debruge [de] of Variety declared the film to be "so emotionally raw as to be almost excruciating at times" "featuring a heroic performance from Jessie Buckley".[40]

Bilge Ebiri of Vulture described Hamnet as "devastating, maybe the most emotionally shattering movie I've seen in years".[41] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter summed the film in the bottom line as "a tremendously acted heartbreaker".[42] Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood wrote that Hamnet, "with its quiet determination to say much about how art is affected by life, is unlike anything else".[43] David Ehrlich of IndieWire affirms that with Hamnet, "it would be hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to Shakespeare's most widely interpreted play." On the performances, Ehrlich notes that the character of Agnes is not built on tropes but is "anchored by the primordial rawness of Buckley's astonishing performance." Whereas on Mescal's performance he found it to be "cathartically transcendent, because it at last rewards that search... as Will starts looking for his son in the space between life and death."[44]

Richard Lawson in The Guardian gave it four stars, calling it a "poignant adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel with a stirring tearjerker ending".[33] BBC film critics Nicholas Barber and Caryn James deemed the movie to be the best of 2025 thanks to its rich and emotionally touching characters, its themes and its imagery.[45] On the contrary, The Wall Street Journal's Kyle Smith called it a "quintessential Oscar bait (highbrow foundation; maximal crying and emoting) but is dogged by intellectual anachronism."[46]

Accolades

Main article: List of accolades received by Hamnet

Hamnet received an assortment of awards and nominations, notably for the direction, performances, screenplay, score, cinematography, costumes, and production design.

The film won the People's Choice Award upon its premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.[47] It was subsequently nominated for eight awards at the 98th Academy Awards, six at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards (winning two, including for Best Motion Picture – Drama), eleven at the 79th British Academy Film Awards (winning two, including for Outstanding British Film), and eleven at the 31st Critics' Choice Awards. For her role in the film, Buckley won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.[48][49][50][51][52][53][54] It was selected as one of the top 10 films of 2025 by the American Film Institute.[55]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Agnes Hathaway in the novel and film (instead of 'Anne') to avoid confusion with the actress with the same name. In her father's will, her first name was listed as Agnes. This had led some scholars and others to claim that she should be referred to as Agnes Hathaway.[5]
  2. ^ Shakespeare had two sisters named Joan, though the first died in infancy, and the name was re-used.

References

  1. ^ "Hamnet (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 2 October 2025. Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  2. ^ Christopher Marc (13 October 2025). "Chloé Zhao Speaks To Challenges Of Recouping Moviemaking Costs: 'I Want The People Who Put The Money Into My Films To Get The Money Back'". The Playlist. Retrieved 11 January 2026.
  3. ^ "Hamnet - Box Office and Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  4. ^ "Hamnet". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 4 March 2026.
  5. ^ Pogue, Kate (2008). Shakespeare's Family. Greenwood. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-275-99510-2.
  6. ^ Chuba, Kirsten (19 November 2025). "Steven Spielberg Says He Is 'Fighting the Tides' to Keep Movies Like 'Hamnet' in Theaters So It's 'Not Just Blockbuster' Films on the Big Screen". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  7. ^ Randall, Kayla (24 November 2025). "The Real History Behind 'Hamnet' and the Tragically Short Life of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway's Only Son". Smithsonian. Retrieved 28 November 2025. The names Hamnet and Hamlet were considered interchangeable in Elizabethan England
  8. ^ "RSC to stage play about plague death of William Shakespeare's son Hamnet". the Guardian. 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  9. ^ Bamigboye, Baz (20 March 2023). "Breaking Baz: Stage Version Of Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet Has Become A Phenomenon Before It Opens; Transfer From Stratford-upon-Avon To London's West End Revealed". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  10. ^ Kroll, Justin (4 April 2023). "Chloé Zhao To Direct Adaptation Of Maggie O'Farrell's Novel Hamnet For Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures, Neal Street And Book Of Shadows". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  11. ^ Kroll, Justin (1 May 2023). "Jessie Buckley And Paul Mescal In Talks To Star In Hamnet Adaptation From Amblin Partners And Chloé Zhao". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  12. ^ Seth, Radhika (26 January 2024). ""I Want More Stability": Paul Mescal On All Of Us Strangers, Hamnet And His In/Out List For 2024". British Vogue. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Hamnet". Production List. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  14. ^ Calnan, Ellie (28 June 2024). "UK filming cranks up as The Thursday Murder Club, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Roses all start shooting". Screen Daily. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  15. ^ Calnan, Ellie (29 July 2024). "'Hamnet' starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley begins filming in Wales". Screen International. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  16. ^ Tangcay, Jazz (6 November 2025). "How 'Hamnet's' Production Designer Built a Replica of Shakespeare's Globe in Less Than Four Months". Variety. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  17. ^ de Semlyen, Phil (1 January 2026). "The 7 remarkable real-life locations that made 'Hamnet'". Time Out. London. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  18. ^ Desowitz, Bill (January 2026). "Hamnet: Love and Loss". American Cinematographer. Vol. 107, no. 1. pp. 26–35. ISSN 0002-7928.
  19. ^ a b Kroll, Justin (20 August 2024). "Focus Features Boards Chloé Zhao's Adaptation Of 'Hamnet' Starring Jessie Buckley And Paul Mescal". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
  20. ^ Łukasz Żal, PSC
  21. ^ Alchemy of Life and Sound
  22. ^ Rich, Katey (24 November 2025). "He's the Reason 'Hamnet' Makes You Cry Your Eyes Out". The Ankler. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  23. ^ Hopkins and Pollington are both cited the film's credit acknowledgements for their translations. For Hopkins's comment on his translation adapted in the film, see the publisher Hyldyr's website entry for Hopkins's translation: https://www.hyldyr.com/hopkins-nigon-wyrta-galdor-nine-herbs-charm Accessed November 28, 2025.
  24. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (10 December 2025). "'Hamnet' Heads to India Via Reliance Entertainment as Awards Buzz Builds". Variety. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  25. ^ Davis, Clayton (28 August 2025). "Telluride Festival Lineup: 'Hamnet,' 'Springsteen' and 'Ballad of Small Player' Set for Premieres With Tributes for Ethan Hawke and Noah Baumbach". Variety. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  26. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (16 July 2025). "TIFF Unveils Round Of World Premieres With 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' & Pics From Derek Cianfrance, Paul Greengrass, Nicholas Hytner, Hikari & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  27. ^ "Hamnet". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  28. ^ Hammond, Pete (14 September 2025). "'Hamnet' Wins Oscar-Predictive Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  29. ^ "Festa del Cinema di Roma 2025, il programma completo (diretta)" [Rome Film Fest 2025: Full program (live)]. Ciak Magazine (in Italian). 19 September 2025. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
  30. ^ "El "esperado" estreno en España de 'Hamnet', de Chloé Zhao, completa la Sección Oficial fuera de concurso de la Seminci". Europa Press (in Spanish). 17 October 2025. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  31. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (1 October 2025). "Fan Bingbing's 'Mother Bhumi,' Zhang Ziyi's 'She Has No Name' Among Selections as Tokyo Film Festival Unveils Full Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  32. ^ Rubin, Rebecca (24 April 2025). "Chloe Zhao's 'Hamnet,' Starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, Sets November Release Date". Variety. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  33. ^ a b Lawson, Richard (8 September 2025). "Hamnet review – Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal excel in stately Shakespeare drama with overwhelming finale". The Guardian.
  34. ^ Pamela McClintock (24 January 2025). "Box Office: Chris Pratt's 'Mercy' Toppling 'Avatar 3' as a Brutal Winter Storm Threatens Moviegoing". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 January 2026.
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  36. ^ "Hamnet". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  37. ^ Fear, David (8 September 2025). "'Hamnet' Is the Most Shattering Movie of 2025". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  38. ^ Grierson, Tim; critic, Senior US. "'Hamnet' review: Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal power Chloe Zhao's potent Shakespeare drama". Screen. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  39. ^ "'Hamnet' with Paul Mescal is one of the best, most gut-punching movies of the year". 9 September 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
  40. ^ Debruge, Peter (30 August 2025). "'Hamnet' Review: Jessie Buckley Delivers a Devastating Performance in Chloé Zhao's Radically Feminine Take on Shakespeare's Family Life". Variety.
  41. ^ Ebiri, Bilge (30 August 2025). "The Most Devastating Movie I've Seen in Years". Vulture.
  42. ^ Han, Angie (30 August 2025). "'Hamnet' Review: Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal Are a Wonder in Chloé Zhao's Gorgeous and Shattering Shakespeare-Inspired Drama". The Hollywood Reporter.
  43. ^ Hammond, Pete (30 August 2025). "'Hamnet' Review: Jessie Buckley And Paul Mescal Magnificent In Chloé Zhao's Stunning Emotional Story Of Love, Death, Shakespeare And Art – Telluride Film Festival". Deadline Hollywood.
  44. ^ Ehrlich, David (31 August 2025). "'Hamnet' Review: Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley Rip the Heart Right Out of Your Body in Chloé Zhao's Unspeakably Devastating Shakespeare Fanfic". IndieWire. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  45. ^ "Sinners to One Battle After Another: The 25 best films of 2025". BBC. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  46. ^ Smith, Kyle (4 September 2025). "Telluride Film Festival 2025 Review: Highlights at High Altitude". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  47. ^ Erbland, Kate (14 September 2025). "The Toronto International Film Festival 2025 Awards Are Being Announced Now (Updating)". IndieWire.
  48. ^ Moreau, Jordan (8 December 2025). "Golden Globes 2026 Nominations: 'One Battle After Another' Tops Films With Nine Nods, 'White Lotus' Leads TV With Six". Variety. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  49. ^ Lang, Brent; Moreau, Jordan (11 January 2026). "Golden Globes 2026 Winners: 'One Battle After Another' Earns 4 Awards, 'Adolescence' Leads TV". Variety. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  50. ^ "NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 31ST ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS HOSTED BY CHELSEA HANDLER". Critics Choice Association. 5 December 2025. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
  51. ^ Pedersen, Erik (4 January 2026). "Critics Choice Awards: 'One Battle After Another' Wins Best Picture as Paul Thomas Anderson Takes Best Director; Chalamet & Buckley Win Top Acting Prizes; 'Sinners' & 'Frankenstein' Lead with 4 Each". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 15 February 2026.
  52. ^ "The 98th Academy Awards | (2026)". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  53. ^ Ritman, Alex; Shafer, Elsie (27 January 2026). "BAFTA Film Awards Nominations: 'One Battle After Another' and 'Sinners' Dominate as 'I Swear' Leads the Charge for British Indies". Variety. Retrieved 27 January 2026.
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