Hamnet (5 Stars)

My main reason for going to see this film is its recent nominations for the Academy Awards: eight nominations, including Best Picture. I wasn't disappointed. For the first half of the film I was thinking to myself "a typical four star film", but as it progressed I was more and more impressed.

The film is about William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, who's called Agnes in the film. It begins with love at first sight. Shakespeare is teaching Latin in a village church. He looks out of the window and sees Agnes, so he abandons his class and goes out to talk to her. They get married despite the objections of her family.

Fast forward 18 years. Shakespeare is spending most of his time in London, leaving Agnes at home in Stratford-On-Avon with her three children. Their eleven-year-old son Hamnet dies. Agnes is bitter than Shakespeare wasn't with him in his last hours. A short while later the play "Hamlet" is announced in London, so Agnes travels with her brother to see it. Though not explicitly stated, this seems to be the first performance she's seen of one of his plays.

Very little is known of Shakespeare's private life, so I don't know if all the smaller details are historically accurate. The film is based on a novel, whose author may have invented things to make the story more interesting. That doesn't bother me. As long as the known facts aren't contradicted, I don't care how much is added.

The focus of the story is on Agnes, not Shakespeare.