302, Hamnet

I think it's fair to kick off this blog by stating I am not a very literary astute person, So on immediate review, I honestly assumed Hamnet was either a typo - or a play on words for Hamlet and there was just something I was missing.  Luckily - the opening screen of the movie is a written statement, educating the lesser aware audience members that Hamnet is completely interchangeable with the name Hamlet in the 16th-century so not a typo, just a variation thereof so my new understanding of what I believed I was about to watch was the story of how Shakespeare came up with the world renowned play, but again - not entirely the case.

(Includes spoilers)

Hamnet is less about Shakespeare the playwright and more about Shakespeare the Husband and Father.  In fact, there is very little indeed about the actual playwriting side of him and barely anything set in London or at the Globe, save for the last 20 minutes of the movie.

This movie follows a young Shakespeare, referred to as Will (Paul Mescal - Gladiator 2) starting out as an apprentice tailor & farmer, supporting the family business until his gaze falls upon farm girl Agnes (Jessie Buckley - Wicked little Letters) and after what is quite an inappropriate courting approach, manages to win her over quite quickly and she soon falls pregnant with daughter number one Susannah, and then a few years later - twins Hamnet & Judith.  

For me - this movie is more about the struggles of Agnes, raising the three kids with a mostly absent father figure while Will is off in London building his career.  A Medicinal Herbalist, Agnes is all about natural remedies and being at one with nature, something very apparent during Susanna's birth but it's the struggles of Will when he is at home - the distance between them and the love the children have for him that makes his absence ever so more heartfelt.

Tragedy strikes when Hamnet himself at aged 11 succumbs to what is portrayed as the Plague, sold to the audience as almost a sixth sense awareness of his twin Judith's ongoing medical problems she's carried since a touch and go birth, wanting to be there for her and take her pain away, allowing death itself to take him and not his sister and the fallout of that tragedy, linked with Will not being present at the time, sends the family into a trench of despair and forces Will even further into his work.

From then on - it's Agnes' loss of Hamnet and her belief that she alone dealt with the tragedy, with no real support from Will that drives the final parts of the movie.  That is until she visits The Globe to witness Hamlet being acted out on stage, and the connection to her own experiences, albeit faced with confusion to the namesake and the meaning but, all becomes clear to her in the end.   

At this point there may be some variables to how I understood the final act to others, but for me - Hamlet was the result of Will's grief on losing his own son.  Transforming that experience into the play and his take on Hamnet's final moments, forcing the whole audience to share in the loss, making it even more meaningful to him than Agnes ever initially believed.

How much truth there is to all of this I can't comment - Yes, Will was married to Agnes and they had three kids, one being Hamnet who died at 11 so that bit's true, but I can only assume there's artistic licence for the rest, the lifestyle of the family for example but, only Shakespeare himself can answer the connections between the loss of his son and Hamlet the play.  However that said, to the unknowing mind - it all appeared pretty believable to me. 

Hamnet is not a happy film - There are no real high's but there are plenty of lows.  The movie itself won 2 of it's 6 Golden Globe Nominations for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and Best Performance from a Female Actor for Buckley (beating Julia Roberts & Jennifer Lawrence) in what was a worthy performance on her part.  

The 16th-Century backdrop is as expected - It's dark, muddy, basic and although based in Stratford-Upon-Avon, it's the village of Weobley, Herefordshire that plays host to our location due to it's largely unchanged, Tudor-era appeal and well-preserved black and white timber buildings.  London itself is only really seen from a skyline perspective and in very small doses until you enter The Globe itself, which disappointedly wasn't the actual Globe - but a replica constructed on a backlot at Elstree Studios.

Oscar nominations are out later this week and it's predicted that Hamnet will appear in some of the top categories which stands to reason following it's success at the Globes.  

So why the appeal?  Well, there is no denying the raw emotional power of some scenes and the depth of the tragedy.  It does have exceptional performances from Buckley and Mescal (as well as the kids and other cast members) and it offers a new female perspective to the life and times of a very famous male playwright, giving voice to a previously overlooked role in the creation of what is now known as one of the greatest plays ever written.

I can say with all honesty I don't need to see it again, and if you're after a light-hearted romp through Tudor England then this probably isn't going to be that.  But, If you are a fan of Shakespeare and this is your kind of thing, then it's an award winning movie you can easily add to your list.

(Images used in blog are sourced from IMDB, Discover Britain Magazine, Universal Pictures, Original Cin, Financial Times & Film Review)