Hamnet is an exceptional movie - its only weakness being that it tries unnecessarily too hard to extract a tear at every turn, drawing on the full armamentarium of tools available to a crafty storyteller like Chloe Zhao. Ultimately, the movie takes you on a journey through life of a typically family. William meets Agnes, Agnes gets pregnant, they get married, they face difficulties in their lives and work, they have twins, they are protective of their children and premonitory about losing a child too. William has to spend significant time in London for work. They lose a child to pestilence. They process grief in their own way.
This movie has all the necessary ingredients to cater to a wide range of audiences and their respective beliefs about reconciling that kind of grief: ghosts, afterlife, mystical forest, abyss, dark holes, underworld (yes, Orpheus' story is woven into the story too), sky burial, perhaps a dream, too. Stillbirth that was not, connection between twins, mysterious connection with nature - a buffet of transcendent beliefs. There are twists too, not unlike those in The Six Sense or The Others. All leading to a catharsis that may have been more profound, if one were not already in tears throughout the whole movie. But, it was therapeutic and liberating, nevertheless. Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal and Jacobi Jupe contribute masterfully to every single emotional exploitation in this well-crafted deconstruction of grief and Hamlet.
My wife and I watched the premiere at TIFF, with the Roy Thomson Hall always being an unmatchable, immersive venue to watch a movie, particularly one with a score like Hamnet's, supporting and amplifying the tension-building moments with Max Richter's intense music. As I have already pointed to Chloe Zhao not missing a single opportunity to draw on whatever values the audience may already have, here is the use of "On the Nature of Daylight" track (amplifying so intensely the preordained loss of a child to rare disease in Arrival). On the one hand, it was incredible to watch Chloe Zhao and Emily Watson's reactions to the movie, as it unfolded, just across the aisle from us. On the other hand, it was impossible to contain the emotional rollercoaster this movie has trapped us in - less than a year ago (on a trip through Denmark, of all places, where Hamlet is set), our three year old son caught severe pneumonia, deteriorated in the middle of the night from what appeared like a bad cold into a near comatose condition. Despite getting him to one of the best pediatric hospitals in the world, over the next week, the infection got worse and we endured for days holding and watching his near-lifeless septicemic body, not knowing whether he will wake up the same and whether he will wake up at all. This was a traumatic experience in a foreign country that left its scars. Watching Hamnet made us relive all of this in a span of two hours - that immeasurable, unimaginable, irreversible loss of a child full of unadulterated joy, dreams, aspirations, potential. I last felt this way when I watched Manchster by the Sea, but that was before I would come to experience my own child. Hamnet is portrayed in the movie to die from what appears as pneumonic plague - rare, but most rapidly progressing - in agony - it is devastating. Yet, we had a happy ending of sorts - our child survived. But it was crashing to watch the family on screen process this grief in their own way. It was beautiful to see them endure. We are drawn to tragedy in a paradoxical manner. Chloe Zhao knows and fully embraces that throughout her work, but also by preparing the audience for the experience (yes - there was a brief breathing exercise and meditation) and providing some closure in her commentary after - we live, we experience loss and grief, most of us find what to continue living for (to be or not to be), and we die, inevitably. I can only speculate, but she appears to have gone for absolute certainty to reach into the very soul of every person in the audience and touch them and unite them with strangers around the room with her masterful storytelling. There is much, much more to be said about this movie than I have. It is a must see and will surely collect many awards for its creators, but, most importantly, will solidify its place in art and history as a masterpiece.
