There are plenty of 2025 movies that critics have been touting as possible awards contenders, and before it even hit theaters, Hamnet was one of them. In fact, with the book-to-screen adaptation about William Shakespeare's family getting its wide release on Friday, December 12, the film has already acquired six Golden Globe nominations. So what’s all the buzz about? Let’s see what critics are saying.
The story is a fictionalized version of the famous playwright and his wife Agnes’ lives following the death of their 11-year-old son. Directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao and starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, this adaptation of Hamnet is inspiring emotional reactions in audiences, including Moira Macdonald of the Seattle Times. The critic gives the movie a perfect 4 out of 4 stars for its portrayal of how grief can be transformed into art. The review reads:
We all process loss differently, and it’s nearly the end of the movie when we learn how William has done so: not through life — he can’t bring himself to do so — but through art, finding a way to let his beloved boy live again. The last moments of Hamnet are transcendent, and perhaps the most moving thing I’ve seen on screen this year. Agnes, her face lit by love, reaches out through a magic wall; you feel certain that, on the other side, a small hand is clasping it.
Many who have already seen the movie are calling out Jessie Buckley’s standout performance. Justin Chang of NPR says her character is “the heart of the movie,” and Buckley is “extraordinary.” The critic continues:
There's an elemental force to Buckley's performance in Hamnet. When Agnes gives birth, or watches as her son takes his last breath, she howls her agony to the skies. At some point, Buckley doesn't even seem to be acting anymore, so effortlessly does she seem to inhabit Agnes' earthy mysticism, her maternal love and her bottomless grief and despair. She's the reason the film is as affecting as it is, especially at the climax, when we finally see how Shakespeare's son, Hamnet, and the first production of his play, Hamlet, converge.
Odie Henderson of the Boston Globe acknowledges how tough Hamnet will be for some moviegoers, as he witnessed eight people walking out of his showing (several other critics reported the same thing). Jessie Buckley’s grief-filled howl of pain as Agnes grieves could be seen “as either humanly genuine or over-the-top.” Henderson picks the former, rating the movie 4 out of 4 stars and writing:
Paul Mescal is very good here, but he has a more conventional role. Hamnet is a showcase for Buckley’s talent, and she does her best work. Assisted by the gorgeous cinematography of Łukasz Żal, Buckley convinces us of her ties to the forest world she finds most comforting. … Love it or hate it, Hamnet will get a response out of you that you won’t easily shake. I was equally moved and horrified, and I loved every minute of it. As Hamlet would say, the rest is silence.
Christy Lemire of RogerEbert — as the mother of a son — braced herself for an emotionally wrecking experience after hearing others talk about Jessie Buckley’s portrayal. However, she felt the performance was more excessive than raw. She still recognizes the artfulness of the film overall, rating it 2.5 out of 4 stars. Lemire says:
There’s nothing subtle about Buckley and Mescal’s performances in the way they portray this bottomless ache: It’s big and shrieky and shrill, and Zhao lingers in their pain in a way that feels uncomfortably voyeuristic. The loss of a child is devastating. It’s impossible to know what that’s like unless you’ve experienced it yourself. Hamnet depicts this tragedy with histrionics that are so overly demonstrative, they actually take you out of the moment.
Peter Travers of the Travers Take writes that he had also heard these complaints ahead of his screening, with others apparently calling Hamnet “grief porn.” While he warns that the film will destroy you, he also says he found it “one of the best and most emotionally engulfing movies of the year.” You can’t take your eyes off of Agnes in the final scene, the critic says. From his review:
Zhao, the Nomadland Oscar winner who wrote the script with O’Farrell, starts by telling us that Shakespeare had a wife, establishing a female perspective that puts Shakespeare in a supporting role. It’s a choice almost as inspiring as casting Jessie Buckley as said wife, Agnes (Anne) Hathaway. And Buckley— guttural, defiant, untamable in the performance of the year— plays Agnes with what the Bard once termed ‘a mad blood stirring.’
Here at CinemaBlend, Hamnet is getting high marks from those who have seen it, even if some did find it too emotional for their tastes, and the movie is a Certified Fresh 86% on Rotten Tomatoes (92% from the audience’s Popcornmeter). If you haven’t been able to catch this one yet in theaters and want to get a start on movies you’ll see on awards ballots, find the latest from Chloé Zhao when it goes wide December 12.
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