Hamnet

hamnet presents grief in a way that feels grounded through its focus on emotional distance and loss between agnes and will. the depiction of how agnes slowly comes to understand both her own pain and will’s, showing the different ways of how they cope with the same grief really works for me. there’s a quiet and honest sense throughout the film that wants to convey how true love never really disappears, it just changes shape and becomes harder to recognize, and the same thing essentially also applies for grief. we see agnes who still carries unresolved feelings toward will, especially because of his immediate absence after their son’s death. that loss sits heavily on her and it turns into frustration when she finds out the title of his latest play, because to her it feels like he’s exploiting their son’s tragedy. something shifts in her when she finally watches hamlet, she gets fully reminded of who the man she fell in love with is, the same man who at the beginning of the film told her that he isn’t good at communicating, but is able to communicate through stories. the same man she has supported in pursuing his career in the city. through that realization she finally gets to understand that he also suffers, but its just that his form of grieving is different from hers, more distant and less visible, but it comes from the same loss and carries the same pain. and i feel like chloe zhao successfully handled this with a lot of care interpreting grief in a way that feels grounded and natural. at the same time i really appreciate the fact that apparently she gave agnes hathaway a level of respect and humanity that historians often denied her, turned her into a fully respected person rather than just a distracting figure in william shakespeare personal life.