Mystery, beauty, grief, and love course through Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-selling novel of the same name. The two wrote the script for the film adaptation of “Hamnet,” which screens at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center starting Jan. 16. The story fictionalizes the relationship between William Shakespeare and Agnes Hathaway, who suffer a tragic loss that O’Farrell proposes inspires “Hamlet.”
A mighty wind blows through the forest at the beginning of the film. A young Agnes (Jessie Buckley), dressed in a deep red gown, draws a falcon she has partially tamed onto her gloved hand. As it devours the meat she is holding, we sense its wild, voracious nature, one coursing through Agnes’ own veins.
She soon encounters her match in William (Paul Mescal), whose passionate personality, despite being an impoverished Latin tutor at the time, rivals Agnes’. Early on, Agnes asks William to tell her a story about something that moves him, as they sit deep in the forest. He recounts the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which Orpheus tries to save his deceased lover from the underworld. Orpheus fails because he breaks the condition of not looking back to see whether Eurydice is following him out to the upper world. The story introduces themes of the dark underworld and the loss of a loved one. Afterward, Agnes, said to be the eldest daughter of a forest witch, introduces William to the healing gifts of the forest’s roots and herbs, along with the ability to see the future — knowledge and skills passed down through women in her family for generations. These themes also echo throughout the story.
We feel the frisson of Agnes and William’s courtship, and trust that they will wed, despite strong opposition from both their families. The couple’s ardor continues through the early years of their marriage, highlighted by intensely dramatic scenes of the birth of their first daughter and then twins — a boy and a girl who share a special bond. The family thrives as the children grow, with close bonds between the parents and their offspring interrupted only by William’s journeys to London for work.
Both Buckley and Mescal deliver powerful performances, capturing the very souls of their respective characters — Agnes in a grief that pierces her, and William wrestling with profound inner guilt after they suffer a tragic loss that wrenches their (and our) hearts. The incident threatens the essence of their relationship, and in O’Farrell’s story, ultimately inspires William to write “Hamlet.” The film’s sophisticated weaving of the famous tragedy with the couple’s life and loss is seamlessly executed, making the story a powerful work of art.
“Hamnet” starts on Friday, Jan. 16, at the M.V. Film Center.