Monday, January 26, 2026

Hamnet (2025)

 


Hamnet is a 2025 biographical historical tragedy film directed by Chloé Zhao, who co-wrote the screenplay with Maggie O'Farrell, based on the 2020 novel by O'Farrell. The film dramatises the family life of William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway[a] as they cope with the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet.[6] It stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William, alongside Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, and Noah Jupe in supporting roles.

Hamnet had its world premiere at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2025 and received a limited theatrical release by Focus Features in the United States and Canada on 26 November. It received a wide theatrical release on 5 December and was released by Universal Pictures in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2026. The film received critical acclaim, with the performances of Buckley and Mescal receiving particular praise. It was listed among the top ten films of 2025 by the American Film Institute. The film won Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (for Buckley) at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, and Buckley additionally won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress. The film received eight nominations at the 98th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Zhao and Best Actress for Buckley.

Plot

A written prologue states that in Stratford, England, "Hamnet" and "Hamlet" were considered the same name.[7]

William Shakespeare works as a tutor to help pay his family's debt. He leaves his students after seeing Agnes Hathaway practicing falconry, and they share a moment before he leaves. Shakespeare's mother, Mary, tells him that rumours persist of Agnes being the daughter of a forest witch. Shakespeare visits Agnes in the forest, where she asks him for a story. He recounts the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, delighting her. Agnes palmreads Shakespeare, foretelling a successful future for him and two children at her deathbed. The pair consummate their relationship, impregnating Agnes, leading her family to disown her and forcing her to move in with Shakespeare. The pair marry, and Agnes gives birth to Susanna in the woods.

Shakespeare fights back when his father, John, beats him for rejecting manual labour. Seeing Shakespeare's frustration with writing, Agnes suggests to her brother Bartholomew to send him to London for a theatrical career, leaving her and Susanna in Stratford. Agnes tries to go outside to give birth, but Shakespeare's family restrain her in the house, where she gives birth to twins Hamnet and Judith, the latter appearing stillborn. Remembering the death of her mother, Agnes demands to hold the baby despite superstition, and Judith awakes. Shakespeare, now successful, returns intermittently and the children grow up very close. Agnes foretells Hamnet, who wishes to join his father's theatre company, will flourish. Agnes' hawk dies and is buried; she tells the children to make a wish to the hawk's spirit, who she says will carry them in its heart.

Returning to London, Shakespeare wanders through the streets during an outbreak of bubonic plague. In Stratford, Judith contracts the plague, but Hamnet evokes the tale of the hawk to encourage her. Later, Hamnet lies beside her, proclaiming he wants to take her place. Judith recovers, but Hamnet falls gravely ill and dies; on his deathbed, he envisions himself on a stage calling for his mother, and Agnes' hawk appears. Shakespeare rushes home to see Judith, but is distraught to find Hamnet lying in repose. His absence strains his marriage to Agnes as they cope with Hamnet's death. Shakespeare buys the largest house in Stratford and departs for London again. Agnes holds his hand and says she now sees nothing. Shakespeare rehearses Hamlet in London, but is frustrated with his cast for not showing passion. In despair, he lean over the edge of a jetty on the River Thames and recites his "To be, or not to be" speech from the play.

Joan, Agnes' stepmother, shows her a playbill for a production of Hamlet in London and upbraids her for marrying Shakespeare, but Agnes rebukes her. Agnes and Bartholomew travel to London to see Shakespeare. Finding him absent from his home, they resolve to attend the first performance of Hamlet at the Globe Theatre. Initially offended, thinking her son's name is being profaned, upon seeing Shakespeare in the role of the ghost of Hamlet's father she realises that the play is a tribute to Hamnet, and is moved to tears by the scene between Hamlet and his father.

Backstage, Shakespeare, having noticed Agnes, breaks down in tears while listening to the play and returns to see her from the wings. The play progresses through scenes of swordfighting, fulfilling Hamnet's dream for an action role. During the scene when Hamlet dies, Agnes reaches forward to hold the actor's hand, and the audience reach out towards him in turn. She envisions Hamnet on the stage, seen earlier as his dying vision, now moving from sadness to a smile and disappears into the theatre. For the first time since Hamnet's death, Agnes laughs and smiles.

Cast

Production

A stage production of Maggie O'Farrell's novel was announced in November 2022,[8] with the film rights having been acquired prior to publication by London-based Liza Marshall and her company Hera Pictures, who then partnered with Neal Street Productions.[9] In April 2023, Chloé Zhao was hired to direct the film, and would write the screenplay alongside O'Farrell.[10]

In May 2023, Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley entered negotiations to star in the film.[11] Mescal confirmed in a January 2024 interview that he and Buckley would star.[12]

Principal photography was originally scheduled to begin in London on 3 June 2024.[13] Production instead began in Wales on 29 July 2024, and wrapped on 30 September. While most of the film was shot in Herefordshire, England, including the village of Weobley, scenes were also filmed in London at the Charterhouse, which served as the largest London location for the production.[14][15] The scenes set at the Globe Theatre were shot at a replica of the building constructed by production designer Fiona Crombie at Elstree Studios backlot, rather than at Shakespeare's Globe (which Zhao and Crombrie felt was too ornate for the film).[16][17][18] Joe Alwyn and Emily Watson were added to the cast in August, and Steven Spielberg joined the film as a producer.[19] Łukasz Żal was the cinematographer[20] and Max Richter the film's composer,[21] whose 2004 track "On the Nature of Daylight" is also used in the film.[22]

Literary references

In addition to adapting O'Farrell's book, the film repeatedly quotes from the Old English Nine Herbs Charm, an alliterative spell (galdor) from Anglo-Saxon England. The film quotes from two translations of the text: one from philologist Joseph S. Hopkins and another from Stephen Pollington. Regarding the use of his translation in the film, Hopkins says "It is a great joy to play a role in presenting the Nine Plants Spell to such a large audience in the contemporary period, surely providing the most exposure the spell has received since Anglo-Saxon England".[23]

Release

Focus Features acquired worldwide rights to Hamnet in August 2024, with its parent company Universal Pictures handling its international distribution; Indian distribution rights were acquired by Reliance Entertainment in December 2025 under a pre-existing output deal with Amblin Entertainment.[19][24] It had its world premiere at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival on 29 August 2025.[25] In July 2025, the film was announced as part of the Gala Presentations lineup of the 50th 2025 Toronto International Film Festival,[26][27] where it won the prestigious People's Choice Award.[28] It was screened in the non-competitive section 'Grand public' of the 20th Rome Film Festival in October 2025 before its theatrical release,[29] in the official selection of the 70th Valladolid International Film Festival on 27 October 2025 (for its Spanish premiere),[30] and closed the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival on 5 November 2025.[31]

The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 26 November 2025, ahead of a wide release one week later on 5 December 2025.[32] It would later be released in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2026, and in Australia on 15 January.[33] As of January 24, 2026, screening expanded to a total of 1,276 theaters and ranked #10 at the box office with $1.8 million for a domestic total approaching $18 million.[34]

Reception

Jessie Buckley's performance received widespread critical acclaim, and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 309 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Breaking hearts and mending them in one fell swoop, Hamnet speculates on the inspiration behind Shakespeare's masterpiece with palpable emotional force thanks to Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal's astonishing performances."[35] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[36]

Buckley's performance in particular was widely praised. David Fear of Rolling Stone opined that people "will be talking about Jessie Buckley’s performance for years".[37] Screen Daily's Tim Grierson thought Mescal's role was similar to his previous work but "the regularly superb Buckley is revelatory as a wild creature who experiences the exhilaration of motherhood as well as the heartbreak of loss."[38] Johnny Oleksinski at the New York Post wrote that "it's Buckley who's giving one of those rare turns that simply beggars belief. She swings back and forth from cast iron to porcelain. The actress is thunderous, playful, grounded and ethereal."[39] Peter Debruge [de] of Variety declared the film to be "so emotionally raw as to be almost excruciating at times" "featuring a heroic performance from Jessie Buckley".[40]

Bilge Ebiri of Vulture described Hamnet as "devastating, maybe the most emotionally shattering movie I've seen in years".[41] Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter summed the film in the bottom line as "a tremendously acted heartbreaker".[42] Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood wrote that Hamnet, "with its quiet determination to say much about how art is affected by life, is unlike anything else".[43] David Ehrlich of IndieWire affirms that with Hamnet, "it would be hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to Shakespeare's most widely interpreted play." On the performances, Ehrlich notes that the character of Agnes is not built on tropes but is "anchored by the primordial rawness of Buckley’s astonishing performance." Whereas on Mescal's performance he found it to be "cathartically transcendent, because it at last rewards that search... as Will starts looking for his son in the space between life and death."[44]

Richard Lawson in The Guardian gave it four stars, calling it a "poignant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel with a stirring tearjerker ending".[33] BBC film critics Nicholas Barber and Caryn James deemed the movie to be the best of 2025 thanks to its rich and emotionally touching characters, its themes and its imagery.[45] On the contrary, The Wall Street Journal's Kyle Smith called it a "quintessential Oscar bait (highbrow foundation; maximal crying and emoting) but is dogged by intellectual anachronism."[46]

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
AACTA International Awards 6 February 2026 Best Film Hamnet Pending [47]
Best Direction Chloé Zhao Pending
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Pending
Best Supporting Actor Paul Mescal Pending
Best Supporting Actress Emily Watson Pending
Best Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Pending
AARP Movies for Grownups Awards 10 January 2026 Best Picture Hamnet Won [48]
Academy Awards 15 March 2026 Best Picture Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg, and Sam Mendes Pending [49]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Pending
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Pending
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Pending
Best Casting Nina Gold Pending
Best Costume Design Malgosia Turzanska Pending
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Pending
Best Original Score Max Richter Pending
Actor Awards 1 March 2026 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Joe Alwyn, Jessie Buckley, Noah Jupe, Paul Mescal, and Emily Watson Pending [50]
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Jessie Buckley Pending
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Paul Mescal Pending
Alliance of Women Film Journalists 31 December 2025 Best Film Hamnet Nominated [51]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Actor, Supporting Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Screenplay, Adapted Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Won
Best Ensemble Cast & Casting Director Nina Gold & Lucy Amos Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Best Editing Affonso Gonçalves & Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Female Director Chloé Zhao Won
Best Female Writer Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
American Film Institute Awards 4 December 2025 Top 10 Films Hamnet Won[c] [52]
Astra Film Awards 9 January 2026 Best Picture - Drama Nominated [53]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress - Drama Jessie Buckley Won
Best Supporting Actor - Drama Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Young Performer Jacobi Jupe Won
Best Original Score Max Richter Nominated
11 December 2025 Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated [54]
Best Costume Design Malgosia Turzanska Nominated
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Nominated
Austin Film Critics Association 18 December 2025 Best Actress Jessie Buckley Nominated [55]
BFI London Film Festival 6 November 2025 Audience Award for Best Feature Hamnet Won [56]
Boston Online Film Critics Association 20 December 2025 Top Ten Films of 2025 8th place [57]
Camerimage 22 November 2025 Golden Frog Łukasz Żal Nominated [58][59]
Celebration of Asian Pacific Cinema and Television 14 November 2025 Vanguard Award Chloé Zhao Won [60]
Chicago Film Critics Association 11 December 2025 Best Actress Jessie Buckley Nominated [61]
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Costume Designers Guild 12 February 2026 Excellence in Period Film Malgosia Turzanska Pending [62]
Critics' Choice Movie Awards 4 January 2026 Best Picture Hamnet Nominated [63]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Supporting Actor Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Young Actor/Actress Jacobi Jupe Nominated
Best Casting and Ensemble Nina Gold Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Best Costume Design Malgosia Turzanska Nominated
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Nominated
Best Score Max Richter Nominated
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association 17 December 2025 Best Picture Hamnet 4th place [64]
Best Director Chloé Zhao 3rd place
Best Actress Jessie Buckley 2nd place
Best Supporting Actor Paul Mescal 4th place
Directors Guild of America Awards 7 February 2026 Outstanding Directing – Feature Film Chloé Zhao Pending [65]
Dorian Awards 3 March 2026 Film of the Year Hamnet Pending [66]
Director of the Year Chloé Zhao Pending
Film Performance of the Year Jessie Buckley Pending
Screenplay of the Year Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Pending
Georgia Film Critics Association 27 December 2025 Best Picture Hamnet Nominated [67]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Nominated
Best Original Score Max Richter Nominated
Golden Globe Awards 11 January 2026 Best Motion Picture - Drama Hamnet Won [68]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama Jessie Buckley Won
Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Original Score Max Richter Nominated
Gotham Film Awards 1 December 2025 Best Feature Liza Marshall, Nicolas Gonda, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes, and Steven Spielberg Nominated [69]
Outstanding Lead Performance Jessie Buckley Nominated
Hollywood Music in Media Awards 19 November 2025 Best Original Score in a Feature Film Max Richter Nominated [70]
Houston Film Critics Society 20 January 2026 Best Picture Hamnet Nominated [71]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Supporting Actor Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Casting Nina Gold Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle 21 December 2025 Best Film Hamnet Nominated [72]
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Las Vegas Film Critics Society 19 December 2025 Best Actress Jessie Buckley Nominated [73]
Best Costume Design Malgosia Turzanska Nominated
Youth Male Performance Jacobi Jupe Nominated
Middleburg Film Festival 19 October 2025 Visionary Director Award Chloé Zhao Honored [74]
20 October 2025 Narrative Feature Audience Award Hamnet Won[d] [75]
Mill Valley Film Festival 3 October 2025 Mill Valley Film Festival Award Jessie Buckley Honored [76]
14 October 2025 Overall Audience Favorite Hamnet Won [77]
NAACP Image Awards 28 February 2026 Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture Chloé Zhao Pending [78]
New York Film Critics Online 15 December 2025 Best Picture Hamnet Nominated [79]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Supporting Actor Noah Jupe Nominated
Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Ensemble Cast Hamnet Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Best Use of Music Hamnet Nominated
Best Breakthrough Performer Jacobi Jupe Nominated
Online Film Critics Society 26 January 2026 Best Picture Hamnet Pending [80]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Pending
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Pending
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Pending
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Pending
Best Costume Design Malgosia Turzanska Pending
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Pending
Palm Springs Film Festival 2 January 2026 Vanguard Award Hamnet Honored [81]
Phoenix Film Critics Society 15 December 2025 Top Ten Films Won [82]
Best Actress in a Leading Role Jessie Buckley Won
Best Performance by a Youth Jacobi Jupe Won
San Diego Film Critics Society 15 December 2025 Best Film Hamnet Nominated [83]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won[e]
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Best Editing Affonso Gonçalves and Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Costume Design Malgosia Turzanska Nominated
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Nominated
Best Youth Performance Jacobi Jupe Runner-up
San Diego International Film Festival 19 October 2025 Best Gala Film Hamnet Won [84]
22 October 2025 Audience Choice: Best Gala Film Won
San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle 14 December 2025 Best Film Nominated [85]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Runner-up
Best Supporting Actor Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Nominated
Seattle Film Critics Society 15 December 2025 Best Picture Hamnet Nominated [86]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress in a Leading Role Jessie Buckley Won
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Best Youth Performance Jacobi Jupe Won
Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards 6 February 2026 Outstanding Original Score for a Studio Film Max Richter Pending [87]
Southeastern Film Critics Association 15 December 2025 Top 10 Films of 2025 Hamnet 6th place [88]
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards 14 December 2025 Best Film Hamnet Nominated [89]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Supporting Actor Paul Mescal Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Cinematography Łukasz Żal Nominated
Best Music Score Max Richter Nominated
Best Costume Design Malgosia Turzanska Nominated
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Nominated
Best Scene The Globe theatrical production Nominated
Toronto Film Critics Association 7 December 2025 Best Picture Hamnet Runner-up [90]
Outstanding Lead Performance Jessie Buckley Runner-up
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Runner-up
Toronto International Film Festival 14 September 2025 People's Choice Award Hamnet Won [91]
Valladolid International Film Festival 1 November 2025 Audience Award Won [92]
Vancouver Film Critics Circle 23 February 2026 Best Picture Pending [93]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Pending
Best Female Actor Jessie Buckley Pending
Best Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Pending
Virginia Film Festival 30 October 2025 Narrative Feature Audience Award Hamnet Won [94]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association 7 December 2025 Best Film Nominated [95]
Best Director Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Youth Performance Jacobi Jupe Nominated
Best Ensemble Hamnet Nominated
Best Adapted Screenplay Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell Nominated
Best Editing Affonso Gonçalves and Chloé Zhao Nominated
Best Production Design Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton Nominated
Best Score Max Richter Nominated
Women Film Critics Circle 21 December 2025 Best Movie About Women Hamnet Runner-up [96]
Best Movie By a Woman Chloé Zhao Won
Best Actress Jessie Buckley Won
Best Screen Couple Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal Runner-up


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