Movie · 2025 · Drama, Romance, History · 2h 5m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 9.1/10 (1.7M ratings)
Keep your heart open.
Overview
The powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.
Ratings
Curator score: 9.1/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 4.19/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 87%
Metacritic: 84
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
Chloé Zhao
Production
Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions, Amblin Entertainment, Book of Shadows
Cast
Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn, Jacobi Jupe, Noah Jupe, Olivia Lynes, Justine Mitchell, David Wilmot, Louisa Harland, Freya Hannan-Mills, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, Zac Wishart, James Lintern, Eva Wishart, Effie Linnen, Dainton Anderson, James Skinner, Elliot Baxter, Faith Delaney
Where to watch
Peacock, Peacock Premium Plus
Curator Review
Verdict
A grief-soaked historical drama that turns a famous literary origin story into an intimate family tragedy. With Chloé Zhao’s patient, humane style and strong performances from Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, it looks built to devastate rather than merely impress.
Best for
viewers who want emotionally overwhelming prestige drama
fans of literary adaptations and historical period pieces
audiences drawn to grief, motherhood, and family tragedy
people who appreciate restrained, performance-led filmmaking
Skip if
you want a fast-moving plot or conventional biopic beats
you avoid heavy grief and child-loss stories
you prefer lighter romance or clean emotional resolution
you dislike meditative, art-house pacing
Overview
Hamnet appears to be less a Shakespeare origin tale than a study of how love survives catastrophe. The setup is familiar in outline, but the appeal is in the intimacy: a marriage, a family, and the unbearable pressure of loss as it becomes art. That gives the film a larger emotional reach than a standard period drama.
Worth noting
Chloé Zhao is a strong fit for material like this. Her work tends to favor landscape, silence, and feeling over exposition, and that approach should suit a story where the most important events are internal. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are exactly the kind of actors who can make restraint feel volcanic.
Bottom line
The response around the film suggests a devastating, cathartic experience rather than an easy one. If you’re open to a sorrowful, lyrical historical drama with real emotional force, this sounds like one of the year’s major prestige titles. If you need distance from child death and raw bereavement, it will likely be too much.
Top Letterboxd reviews
wengel (5★) · 60350 likes
WHO is that child. and WHY was that the best performance i’ve seen all year. i only looked at him and fought back tears
iso (4.5★) · 49416 likes
what is grief, if not love persevering
alor (4.5★) · 41109 likes
paul mescal’s relentless quest to play the saddest most broken men in history continues and this might just be his magnum opus