4238_D005_00229_r Jessie Buckley plays Agnes and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare in “Hamnet” by director Chloé Zhao, a focus film. Photo credit: Agata GrzyBowska / © 2025 FOCUS Features LLC
I was warned about Hamnet. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a crier and am easily susceptible to emotional manipulation; Whether it’s a schmaltzy commercial with a generational storyline or a cheesy Hallmark movie about the healing power of Christmas, I’m going to cry. So when it comes to a Chloe Zhao-directed, critically acclaimed drama about the loss of a child and art as a means of coping with grief, the people in my life knew it would break me. And despite their waivers, this happened.
Hamnet unfolds slowly and tells the story of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Anne Hathaway, or Agnes Shakespeare (Jessie Buckley) as she is called in this adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s book Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague, as they fall in love and have three children, including their son Hamnet. The names Hamnet and Hamlet were often used interchangeably at the time and this is O’Farrell’s interpretation of what led to Shakespeare’s masterpiece.
The first half of Hamnet is about the tender beginnings of a relationship and the complexities of marriage. It’s about a free spirit and a neurotic writer who deal with their different desires and a long-distance relationship. There are sly references to Shakespeare’s most famous work, such as the fact that William and Agnes are star-crossed lovers, as he presumably doodles “Romeo and Juliet” by candlelight, or that William’s relationship with his father proves that Shakespeare’s paternal issues were in full effect. The subtlety stops here. The second half of Hamnet is unflinching, a devastating portrait of the grief that comes with unconditional love. At certain moments Hamnet made me angry; I begged for a break from the emotional tyranny it exerted over its audience. At others, I was grateful for his vulnerability and unabashed sentimentality. When Zhao and company made me cry so hard I had a headache for hours after the credits rolled, but it worked. Anything that manages to evoke so much emotion and elicit these extraordinary performances from two of the best actors of their generation is a triumph for me.
When I talk to Mescal and Buckley over Zoom, they giggle a lot more than you’d expect, considering both are known for playing roles that rip your heart out and exercise your tear ducts. They are considerate, polite, and playfully tease each other with the ease of old friends. Below, the Irish actors talk about the emotional weight of Hamnet, the first films that made them cry, and gush about their co-star, to each other’s hilarious discomfort.
Refinery29: I’m sure you’ve heard this a lot today, but this movie cracked me up. I ended up sobbing hysterically.
Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal: [Both laugh].
I feel like people need an explanation, that they’re going to cry a lot. Can you just give me a warning or advice on how to prepare for the emotional experience of watching this film?
Jessie Buckley: Feeling is pretty scary. Feeling at all is scary. I think we try to control what that is in our lives, and in some ways there’s so much catharsis that we can reconnect with the epicness of life. And this film is so full of love. It is so full of courage to love fully, live fully and lose. And whenever you choose love, you also choose to potentially lose. You risk losing someone in your life. But I think there’s a lot of catharsis and hope and healing in this film, and you’re not on your own. There will be someone next to you who has a tissue and they will give it to you and you will have a big conversation afterwards and hug each other and you will think that was great.
Paul Mescal: [laughs] Okay, that was great!
Make it a community experience!
JB: [laughs] That wasn’t my experience. Afterwards, I locked myself in a toilet for half an hour.
Paul Mescal plays William Shakespeare in director Zhao’s “Hamnet,” a focus film. Photo credit: Agata GrzyBowska / © 2025 FOCUS Features LLC
Yes, I needed to decompress! Do any of you remember the first movie that made you cry or made you feel the same way this movie did?
JB: Yes, Darby O’Gill and the Little People [1959]. Because there was a banshee and I thought that was the scariest thing in the world. I was heartbroken. Have you seen it? I mean, it’s not a big hitter, it’s more niche.
PM: What’s it called again?
JB: Darby O’Gill and the Little People.
PM: This isn’t a real movie.
JB: [laughs] It’s a movie!
[Paul] He has such a huge human heart and is such a team player. He holds the biggest parts of you. He can drink a case of yours, and not many people can.
Jessie Buckley on Paul Mescal
Paul, which movie was the first to make you cry?
JB: He will say something profound.
PM: Or: Tír na n’Óg [Into The West, 1992].
JB: Oh yes, that’s nice.
JB and PM [in unison]: The potato and the horse!
JB: Yes, that made me cry.
4238_D004_00159_R Jessie Buckley plays Agnes in director Chloé Zhao’s HAMNET, a Focus Features release. Photo credit: Agata Grzybowska / © 2025 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
Well, you both created me cry. But the film doesn’t work without your chemistry. William and Agnes are two great characters to embody and you both did it beautifully. I want to give you a moment to look at each other and rave about working together and what makes each other so great.
PM: Jessie is easy [laughs] — This is not just a performance of the year, this is a performance, and I’ve said this before, but this is studied in drama schools. Actors around the world: If you want to see what great acting is, don’t just watch Hamnet, watch everything Jessie has ever been in and you’ll be fed up. And that’s all the time we have today! [laughs]
JB: NO [laughs]. I feel like I’ve met someone so important and great in my life by working with Paul here. First of all, he is absolutely… No, first of all, he has the most…
PM: [laughs] Firstly, Darby O’Gill and the Little People.
JB: [laughs] No no! He has such a huge human heart and is such a team player. He holds the biggest parts of you. He can drink a case of you and not many people can do that, especially co-leads. Not many people can just help you tell the story with absolute care and courage. I mean this with so much sincerity and conviction: He’s a movie star, and he wears it –
PM: [nervous, uncomfortable laughter]
JB: No, that’s you! It’s just you. This applies to you, and it is because you have the ability to be a giant. You are a huge human being.
PM: I’m average height [laughs].
JB: [laughs] No, your heart is huge. It’s no coincidence that he goes from William Shakespeare to Paul McCartney and becomes a gladiator. Not many people can do that, and he can do it, and it’s because of who he is as a man.
PM: That was wonderful.
Do you like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness here?
Da’Vine Joy Randolph Steals Scenes in ‘Eternity’
In defense of “Wicked: For Good”
Hedda: Tessa Thompson at her best
