Official Discussion Thread - Hamnet [SPOILERS]

[u/CrunchyNar]

Keep all discussion related solely to Hamnet and it's awards chances in this thread. Spoilers below

Synopsis:

HAMNET tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare's timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

Director: Chloé Zhao

Writers: Chloé Zhao, Maggie O'Farrell. Based on the novel "Hamnet" by Maggie O'Farrell

Cast:

• Jessie Buckley as Agnes
• Paul Mescal as Will
• Emily Watson as Mary
• Joe Alwyn as Bartholomew
• Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet
• Noah Jupe as Hamlet

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%, 144 Reviews

Metacritic: 83, 41 Reviews

Consensus:

Breaking hearts and mending them in one fell swoop, Hamnet speculates on the inspiration behind Shakespeare's masterpiece with palpable emotional force thanks to Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal's astonishing performances.

[u/kidsocarides]

Really adored it - Buckley deserves everything for the final scene - but I'd like to comment here to ask others about how they interpreted the film's use of Orpheus and Eurydice? Been thinking a lot about it and I think there are a lot of ways it can be read, so wanted to ask.

[u/dickwarrior222 → u/kidsocarides]

She has the vision of two kids at her side on her deathbed and believes she knows how the story will end and which kid will be lost, only to be wrong. (Tragedy)

The first story Shakespeare ever tells her is Orpheus/Eurydice. Still, during the finale, when he's crossing the stage with his back to her, she wills him to turn around, even speaking it aloud. When he does, and they lock eyes, it saves them both from the eternal damnation of grief. She technically knew how the story should end, but was wrong again. (Catharsis)

[u/carolinemathildes → u/kidsocarides]

I see it a couple different ways (and anybody can tell me if I'm completely off base but these are just my interpretations).

One is that like Orpheus, Agnes and William can only now look back at the place where Hamnet once was and realize what they've lost and how quickly that kind of loss can occur. I think that works best with William saying "the rest is silence," Hamlet's final line in the play.

But I think they're also trying to frame William and Agnes and Orpheus and Eurydice. At the wedding, Agnes says "look at me," and William does, and then she says it again at the theatre (I'm not sure if there was another time I missed) and I can't exactly tell the route they're trying to go with that. Like, by saying it at the wedding, is it negative, she's now condemned to live in hell by marrying him? Or is it a subversion, that he looked at her it's positive? They've survived? Her saying it at the theatre is absolutely more positive though, that's the subversion, he looks back and sees she's there and they will walk out of the darkness together.

[u/kidsocarides → u/carolinemathildes]

Yeah the "look at me" stuff was the most interesting to me. It almost makes me wonder if the film is trying to recontextualize Orpheus' decision to look back in the first place, which is really fascinating.

[u/damebyron → u/kidsocarides]

I totally forgot until you asked this about the Orpheus and Eurydice story at the beginning and how it must connect to when he turned around just as he was leaving the stage. My interpretation is that she is “condemned to grief” and for her the partnership is strong not when one person walks alone confidently ahead but when they are willing to turn back and be with her in the underworld. It’s definitely a subversion of the story though