Hamnet

i am so glad this came back to theatres because i was devastated not being able to make it to any showings the first time. experiencing a film, such as this, on the big screen makes it even more impactful and significant. having read hamlet i thought i would have been at least somewhat prepared to watch but i was wrong. i love how they humanized agnes in this film. she is made out to be this comforting, humble, and caring motherly figure who we all fall in love with. jessie buckley deserves her flowers for this performance because she put her all into this role and you can tell. it can be difficult to capture the feelings of love and loss onscreen but she did it flawlessly. i know there has always been discourse about shakespeare and his wife's relationship and people theorizing that his reason for leaving was due to his hatred for her, even with insufficient evidence to support that belief. knowing that makes me even more appreciative of this storyline because it portrays them as two people who are fully entranced with one another. not only do we get to watch them fall in love in such intimate ways but we also see their grief and the toll of great tragedy in their lives. in my opinion, the actor for hamnet was a perfect casting. he perfectly captured the innocence and playfulness of being a child while also experiencing these intense emotions with his father leaving for London, his sick sister, and then being sick himself and finding peace in his own death. hamnet's death and his line about being brave had me bawling like a baby and do not even get me started on shakespeare's reaction to getting back too late. paul mescal is always breaking my heart in his films and when he started the "to be, or not to be" soliloquy, i was already 20 tissues down but that added about 6 more. i love that you really see the difference between his and agnes' coping with the death of their son and how it inspires shakespeare to create something beautiful in his honor while agnes struggles with the overwhelming feelings of grief. this changes, of course, when she attends the play, the tragedie of hamlet. the first look at the stage for the play was breathtaking and seeing the difference in seating for each social class was a fine touch. this play was performed beautifully and you can see shakespeare getting that closure by having those final conversations with hamlet whereas it takes agnes a bit longer to adjust mainly because she believed her son was not being honored the way she wanted him to. at the end of the play she has this emotionally intimate moment with hamlet's character as she and everyone else watching connects with him, regardless of social class, and then it allows her to see her son, hamnet, moving on into the afterlife. there is so much more to this film like the symbolism with the hawk, nature, and plague that just makes this even more special but i fear i have gone on long enough. one last thing though, what an amazing choice to not reveal will as william shakespeare until the end!