Director Chloé Zhao brings incredible filmmaking talent to adopt Maggie O'Farrell's lovely (but flawed) novel, with O'Farrell along as a co-writer on the screenplay.
The film fixes many of the novel's core flaws, but... makes its own unfortunate bad decisions along the way.
First of all, the film is gorgeous and patient, matching the feel of Agnes' deep inner world that is so well conveyed in the novel. Zhao is impressively UN-intrusive in her directing and editing; she stays on the actors for long takes so that moments can just play out.
But the approach never feels boring or small. The performances are so strong that you don't need or want choppy cuts or dramatically panning cameras swooshing about. Zhao is the anti-Michael Bay.
The GOOD:
The film fixes the novel's biggest flaw in that Shakespeare himself is unrecognizable. Yes, his identity is intentionally obscured (it's about HER, not HIM) but it's utterly unbelievable that this character would become the world-reknowned Shakespeare.
So instead the film shows more of his passion for writing and the development of his craft. Even dropping in a moment of him working through early Romeo & Juliet lines.
The BAD:
But then the film way overcorrects and succumbs to the cheap writer trap that O'Farrell had gone out of her way to avoid: working too many of Shakespeare's most famous lines directly into the script.
As he contemplates suicide, he begins to extemporaneously invent the Hamlet "to be or not to be" monologue.
Are you fucking kidding me? No no no no.
The SAME:
The novel's original exploration -- what's the relationship between Shakespeare's son Hamnet (who dies at 11yrs old) and the play Hamlet (which was written 4yrs later)? -- never came together. There just aren't connective threads; the play in no way reflects on a son dying in childhood. Yes, Hamlet dies at the end of the play, and the moment is played up to full effect in the film. But still no real connective tissue.
And so the film has no answer either.
But also BETTER:
Zhao does manage to elevate the ending over the novel's deeply dissatisfying one. It doesn't solve the core problem, but it does fill much of the hole.
* It's more about Agnes experiencing the power of Shakespeare's work for the first time. She finally gets it. Finally sees that, yeah, okay, maybe he's not a total ass for giving time to this pursuit instead of staying with his family.
* Shakespeare playing the ghost of the king saying farewell to his son Hamlet IS nicely done (and not in the novel). Having been away when 11yr old Hamnet died, it gives him a deep symbolic closure he needs.
* There IS a nice phrasing callback (the ONE instance I'll allow!). It's Agnes early on who uses the phrase "undiscovered countries" which helps melt her anger toward her husband when she hears Hamlet utter it in the "To be or not to be" monologue.
* There's a really, really lovely moment of closure that brings home her dying son's spiritual journey with the closing moments of the onstage Hamlet performance. It's wonderful. But, notably, could have happened at the end of any of Shakespeare's plays.
A MODEST REWRITE:
There's a scene in the film where Shakespeare is training his son in a stage swordfighting sequence. In a different scene, Hamnet tells his mother that he wants to work at his dad's theater as an actor.
So let's combine them and have that convo with dad. Dad can naturally say, "Oh, then I'll have to write you a leading role!"
And then... (yes, tiptoeing on cringe factor): "You know... there IS a famous HAMLET who has quite a story to tell."
The boy, excited, wants to hear more. "Well son, it would be quite serious. A tragedy. BUT... with a GRAND final swordfight!!" and back to play swordfighting...
That's it. That's the whole Hamnet <-> Hamlet connection. We can infer that at some point in his grief, Shakespeare recalled this moment and dragged himself to make it happen. The work becomes a tribute to his son -- the role his son would have starred in. The name coincidence would just be the initial inspiration, nothing more.
And all of Zhao's nice additions at the end still work.
---
nevent1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qg3waehxw309ahx7um5wgh8w6twv5hszrnhwden5te0dehhxtnvdakz7qpq892q23euv4yycswxajcpxutmqppul97xej39mh9824rnl75cjr9qy4cxe5
