From Academy Award® winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, Hamnet tells the powerful love story that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.

Hamnet is a lyrical historical drama that reimagines the personal tragedy believed to have shaped one of the world’s most famous plays.

Set in late 16th-century England, the film explores the marriage of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes Hathaway, focusing on their family life away from the London stage.

When their young son Hamnet falls ill and dies, the loss leaves a profound mark on both parents. As Shakespeare pursues his theatrical ambitions in the city, Agnes remains rooted in the natural landscape of Stratford-upon-Avon, navigating grief through memory, instinct and emotional resilience.

Drawing inspiration from literary scholarship and historical fiction, Hamnet reflects on bereavement, creativity and the ways personal sorrow can be transformed into enduring art, offering an intimate and imaginative origin story behind Hamlet.

‘Chloé Zhao’s film version of Maggie O’Farrell’s myth-making novel powerfully reimagines the agonising loss of a child as the source of Hamlet’s grand stage drama’ The Guardian ★★★★★

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