HAMNET (2025): Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-Caliber Film Makes Waves at the Telluride Film Festival

Hamnet Makes a Stir at Telluride Film Festival

Chloé Zhao’s new novel-inspired film, Hamnet, has emerged as a front-runner for Best Actress (Jessie Buckley) after its screenings at the Telluride Film Festival.

Based on a novel from 2020 by Maggie O’Farrell, the new upcoming film from Focus Features, Hamnet, has proven undeniably courageous as a piece of film-making and as a piece of art. This story of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal)’s wife, Agnes (Buckley) and the loss of their son Hamnet, has proven to be a tearjerker of the highest order as it has inspired audiences to show waves of emotion regarding this deeply moving new picture’s plot and character developments.

Hamnet also co-stars Joe Alwyn (fresh off The Brutalist), and Breaking the Waves‘ Emily Watson as well as Bodhi Rae Breathnach, not to mention Jacobi Jupe in the title role as Hamnet. This is a film where the acting is said to be everything and the emotions are seemingly felt deeply by audiences thanks to the power of the performances.

Jessie Buckley has been an Oscar-winner in the making since her work in 2021’s The Lost Daughter, for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. Buckley stunned audiences in the brilliant Women Talking, and now, the actress seems to be the one to beat in the Best Actress category this year for her work in the devastatingly emotional, Hamnet.

Directed by Chloé Zhao, who led Frances McDormand to her third Best Actress Oscar for Nomadland, Hamnet looks likely to receive recognition for its directing as well as for its performances. It has also been said that Hamnet is beyond technically proficient and could score major nominations in the behind the scenes categories at the Oscars.  

Mescal is said to throw himself into the role of the Bard in this spectacularly complex tale of love and loss, but it is Buckley’s work that seems to almost definitively have “Oscar” written all over it. It’s rare to see a movie that so many people resonate with and this upcoming Focus Features release appears to have the ingredients of a moving movie-going experience for the specialty market and, possibly, beyond. The name of Shakespeare’s child, Hamnet, was said to inspire the play, Hamlet.

Film festival reception is usually on-the-mark although there have been exceptions. Hamnet, however, is a tale that is quite distinguished in terms of its essential ingredients and even better when one considers how emotionally resonant the film is said to be at the core. Hamnet could yield a Best Picture nod as well given that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tends to reward movies with triumphant acting such as this one. Buckley’s time to accept a Best Actress trophy may be upon us.

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