Hamnet
I’ve never cried that much watching a movie.
When I saw the different interactions on the social media, I was like « I must see this movie » and listen to people on the internet was the best choice. This movie is beautiful, sad, happy, gut wrenching, fascinating, contemplative. It makes us escape like a hawk who’s flying and diving in the air but it also takes our guts and forces us to see that life is hard and rarely fair. How grief is depicted in this movie is so poetic, so beautiful and captivating. We don’t see the characters being happy, being sad, crying, screaming, we feel all of those things. Chloe Zhao has made a masterpiece enhanced by wonderful actors especially Jessie Buckley and Jacobi Jupe who I discovered in that movie (and ofc Paul Mescal is magnificent as always).
Jessie Buckley was not playing Agnes, she was Agnes, and she couldn’t be Agnes without the chemistry she had with Paul. The scenes of the birth of the twins and at the other hand the scene of Hamnet’s death are the two saddest scene I’ve ever seen and it’s all due to the amazing acting and dedication of Jessie Buckley. She deserves to won the Oscar unanimously. She played the strong and courageous mother to perfection. The capacity she has to express happiness and deep grief and sadness are outstanding. From now on she is one of my favorite actress and I am excited to see her in future movies.
Paul Mescal, what can I say ? When he is in a movie, everything is more : more beautiful, more deep, more poetic, more immersive. The way he is playing grief so beautifully is admirable. The looks, the show don’t tell (wich Jessie did amazingly too), the smiles, the body language and especially when he talks, it shows the amazing actor he is. Playing the most iconic dramatist of all time is a tough job but he handled it perfectly. The multiple looks he shared with Jessie during the last scene, the scene behind the theatre where he bursts into tears were his best scenes. He should be more recognized for his work because he is different and really talented.
And how not talking about the young talent Jacobi Jupe. Being this good at such a young age is impressive. His intensity, his sensitivity touched my heart immediately. The scene where he lies besides his sick twin sister and say that they will trick death and that it will take him not her was the most captivating scene. It brought me to tears immediately, especially when he kept saying « I’ll be brave ». And when he died, the spark of happiness created by the beginning of the movie died with him (as well as the sparks of Agnes and William). I hate seeing kids die in movies and this atrocious death made me hating it even more. The distress of Agnes and her daughters was so intense that I couldn’t stop crying.
Besides the characters, the colors and the scenery were magnificent. The opposition of colors with the red of Agnes wich represents the heart, the earth and the passion that characterizes her and the blue wich represents the mind, the sky and the need of escaping of William. This is an opposition wich renforce the bond between Agnes and William. This bond will be weakened by Hamnet’s lost and turn the bright red of Agnes into a dark sad brown until the last scene where the bond of the two lovers will become stronger because they finally share their grief and go forward by the acceptance of Hamnet’s departure.
And how not talk about the music ? Max Richter delivers a masterpiece that helps us drown ourselves in the movie and the last music during the final scene was perfected and embellished the symbolism of it.