Movies

Paul Mescal, in the role of William Shakespeare, and Academy Award–winner Chloé Zhao, as the director, bring a moving story about the tragedy that shaped one of the greatest works of world literature. The film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s internationally acclaimed and award-winning novel Hamnet steps into the realm of historical fiction and offers a new interpretation of William Shakespeare’s personal tragedy—the loss of his 11-year-old son Hamnet. It is believed that this very loss shaped one of the most famous works of world literature, the play Hamlet, written soon after the tragedy.

Through the perspective of Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway, the novel and the film explore the consequences that the family tragedy leaves on their two remaining daughters—one of whom is Hamnet’s twin—as well as on their marriage and on art itself.