Courtesy of IDMB

The film, starring Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare, deals with themes of grief and loss.

There’s a scene about an hour into “Hamnet,” where William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal) is pictured teetering off of a bridge in London. He leans forward, then he leans back, the tips of his soled toes almost escaping into the treacherous waters. It’s an understandable scene to depict a tortured playwright dealing with loss and contemplating suicide, but the moment is lost when Shakespeare utters: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” 

It was at this moment that I looked at my friend (to whom I had hyped up this movie before stepping into the theater) and burst out laughing. 

“Hamnet,” while being jam-packed with tragic emotion, is also hysterically on-the-nose, to a point where the tragedy — rather than feeling real — is more like a convoluted history book about the dark side of Shakespeare’s life. 

The film, which was released on Nov. 26, was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Chloe Zhao). 

The best part of the otherwise jumbled film are the stellar acting performances across the board. Jessie Buckley, who plays Agnes — Shakespeare’s wild, hot-blooded wife — delivers an excellent performance that earned her both a Golden Globe and a Critic’s Choice award, as well as an Oscar nod. Mescal, too, plays a convincing Shakespeare — more human than we have ever seen the larger-than-life writer. 

However, the performance that boosts the entire film is by 12-year-old Jacobi Jupe, who plays Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s youngest son, died from the plague at 11.

While the true inspiration behind Shakespeare’s most famous play, “Hamlet,” is still a mystery, the film (and the book by Maggie O’Farrell of the same name that it is based on) posit Shakespeare was largely influenced by the death of his son in creating the character of the vengeful, sensitive Hamlet. 

Jupe portrays Hamnet so innocently that it’s difficult not to shed a tear when his skin goes cold. Shakespeare, away in London for work at the time of Hamnet’s death, is met by a cold welcome from Agnes upon his return. 

After the death of their son, the relationship between the two is fractured and is never visibly healed. The film closes with a very draggy sequence of Agnes watching a performance of “Hamlet” in London. For lovers of the play and of Shakespeare, this scene is likely enticing because it is virtually word-for-word what the play is. 

But for those who aren’t extremely familiar with the play, it’s strange to spend such a long time watching a movie about another story. It’s a play within a play — perhaps a nod to “Hamlet” itself — but still not entirely stimulating viewing for an audience. 

A stiff undercurrent of grief runs across the entire film, the audience is never given a break from the absolute tragedy of loss, and often the constant rush of emotion can feel numbing. 

When Shakespeare contemplates taking his own life on that bridge, we all know that he won’t do it. We know that he will live long enough to finish “Hamlet” and to write a few more plays in his time. Because of this, there is no actual drama. 

But, perhaps, that’s the issue with making a biopic about the inner workings of the most famous writer in the English language. In a way, we know so little and yet so much that it may be impossible to truly tell his story. 

 Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Falcons