It is the Journey of HAMNET

 

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to Bluray and Digital from director Chloe Zhao. Focus Features and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is the story of HAMNET.

In 16th century England, Agnes (Jessie Buckley) is a young woman spending her time in the forest with her falcon. Her time is spent gathering herbs and napping under a mysterious tree. William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) is a tutor who is working to pay off his fathers’ debt. Looking out the window, William is captivated when he sees Agnes. Following her, they find themselves connected.

Later at home, William’s mother Mary (Emily Watson) is not happy to hear that he is drawn toward Agnes. She tells him that she is the daughter of a forest witch. Unmoved by what she thinks, William and Agnes find themselves spending time together and she urges him to tell her stories. In exchange, Agnes reads his palm speaking about not only his future but theirs together.

Getting married, they start a family together and William cuts contact with his own family. Agnes talks to her brother Bartholomew (Joe Alwyn) about sending William to London to pursue his writing and theatre. Agnes is at home raising their children. The years go by as the children grow and William continues going back and forth between family and his career.

Then, there world falls apart and the love between William and Agnes is tested. It is when the Globe Theatre’s production of Hamlet comes to the stage that the couple realize that the tragedy has affected them both but in different ways. The couple, in one moment, begin to heal together.

Buckley as Agnes is a woman who has her own beliefs in what her mother taught her about the forest and herbs. Meeting William, she sees their future and the happiness they could share together. Buckley is truly amazing in this role giving a woman who didn’t follow the societal rules of the time. Although she wants her husband to succeed, this film centers on Agnes life of sacrifices and the last ten minutes of the film is absolutely hers. I couldn’t move watching her performance and although there aren’t many words, everything is on her face and it killed me.

Mescal as William is a man who also fights against what is expected of him as a man. Living with an abusive father and a mother who follows all the societal rules, William tries to find his own way. It is with Agnes that he has someone who believes in him, even when there are times he doesn’t believe in himself. Mescal plays beautifully with Buckley and, along with her, makes the last ten minutes of the film gut wrenching.

Watson as Mary is a woman who believes what she does about Agnes yet, when William isn’t there, she steps in. Watson has her moments of importance in the film and, no matter what her role, she is an iconic actress. Alwyn as Bartholomew is also a supporting character for Agnes. When she needs him, he is there, even up to the very end.

Other cast include Faith Delaney as young Agnes, Smylie Bradwell as young Bartholomew, Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet Shakespeare, Olivia Lynes as Judith Shakespeare, Justine Mitchell as Joan Hathaway, David Wilmot as John Shakespeare, Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Susamma Shakespeare, Freya Hannan-Mills as Eliza Shakespeare, James Skinner as Gilbert Shakespeare, Elliot Baxter as Richard Shakespeare, and Louisa Haraland as Rowan Hathaway.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us to all experience and re-experience in our own home theaters. There are films of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

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Bonus Features include Family is Forever, Cultivating Creativity, Recreating the Tudor Period, and Feature Commentary with Director Chloe Zhao. 

HAMET is a film filled with themes that can be found in many of Shakespeare’s works. Buckley’s Agnes feels like such a strong yet ethereal creature, especially when she is in the woods living that life. Mescal’s William is a man that is obsessed with stories, words and the feeling of being lost in them both. Director Zhao takes that story and gives it the stunning feel not only of the time, but of the feel of both Agnes and William.

Zhao describes her experience of making HAMNET as deeply personal, ritual-based and an emotional production process. To capture that, she used small, handheld cameras allowing the process of capturing moments instead of camera setups. It is also not surprising that Buckley has already won a Critics Choice Award, Golden Globe, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild award. Onward to the Oscars, definitely.

What the film brings together is the struggle of life, unexpected love, untimely death, the way of grief and acceptance of pain all wrapped together. All of it leads to the ability to forgive one another in the swirl of it all. The cinematography is harsh yet beautiful, emotional yet brutal and when put together with the cast and, is nothing short of spectacular with music to bring the tears.

In the end – keep your heart open!