Agnes Hathaway, the elusive heroine of the director Chloe Zhao's new film, Hamnet, seems happiest when in nature: retreating to the woods as often as she can, collecting mushrooms, tucking into tree hollows to sleep. She spends so much time outdoors that rumor spreads across her English village about her mother being a witch. It's a believable claim; Agnes, as played by the actress Jessie Buckley, is raw, brooding, and fundamentally enigmatic. The film's first stretch relishes her mystique, which attracts a suitor better known than practically anybody in the 16th century: William Shakespeare. When Agnes meets him, Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal) is a similarly wayward creature in Stratford-upon-Avon. He's soon beguiled by her, unaware that she's the woman he'll go on to marry and have three children with. As historical fiction, Hamnet has little else to work off: Archival records reveal only the basic facts about their relationship. Shakespeare married Agnes, also known as Anne,...
learn more
