Hamnet (2025) Parents Guide

Hamnet is Rated PG-13 by Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for thematic content, some strong sexuality, and partial nudity.

Hamnet, directed by Chloé Zhao, is an elegant, deeply felt period drama that explores the heartache of loss in Shakespeare’s personal life. Set in 16th-century England, it centers on William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley), drawing a bridge between their grief after the death of their 11-year-old son and the creative genesis of Hamlet. Instead of grand historical flourishes, Zhao opts for intimacy scenes of love, quiet domestic moments, and the crushing weight of loss.

Throughout, Zhao leans heavily on symbolism while the screenplay co-written with O’Farrell leans just as heavily on literal explanation. Emotions are spoken aloud even when the actors’ faces or the imagery already tell the story. There’s a striking shot of water rushing under Agnes’s door as her water breaks, only for the moment to be followed by a line clarifying that she cannot leave the house because of the storm. It’s as if the film doesn’t trust viewers to catch its metaphors, or perhaps fears they might read them “incorrectly.” It’s a strangely anxious film, constantly underlining itself.

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Despite the scale of its production and the seriousness of its intent, Hamnet rarely draws breath. You admire the craft the muted palette, the meticulous period detail, the solemn composition but admiration is not the same as immersion. The film seems engineered to be prestigious rather than to feel lived, to be pointed at rather than felt. Shakespeare’s gift was taking the universal and making it startlingly present. Zhao’s film often does the opposite: it keeps explaining its universality, as if worried you might not find it on your own, instead of letting you feel the heartbeat inside it.

Rated PG-13, this isn’t a film for very young children. The emotional journey is unflinching: the decline of a child to illness and the aftermath of death are handled with genuine sensitivity, but it can be quite intense. IMDb and other guides note that while there is no graphic violence, the emotional “violence” of grief runs deep.

Language-wise, the dialogue stays true to its setting few harsh modern expletives, and when things do escalate emotionally, the swearing is mild. As for romantic content, there are moments of passion: kissing, heartfelt embraces, and some partial nudity, but these occur within the emotional arc of their marriage rather than for titillation. There’s also some mild historical substance use alcohol shows up, but it’s not glamorous or central.

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Perhaps the film’s strongest element is how it handles the terror and sorrow of grief. Watching a family unravel, coping with loss, and finding a way to live in its shadow is both heartbreaking and cathartic. It doesn’t shy away from sorrow, but it also suggests that creativity art, writing can heal, transform, and give suffering new meaning.

Parents will appreciate the positive role models: Agnes is raw, complex, and fiercely maternal; Shakespeare is vulnerable, brilliant, and human. Their relationship underscores love’s power, but also how grief doesn’t just fade it reshapes us.

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That said, this is not light entertainment. The focus on death and mourning means Hamnet may feel too heavy for younger or more sensitive viewers. Intimate scenes, including partial nudity, may also require parental previewing or discussion.

If your teen is 16 or older, or if your family is open to exploring big emotions together, this film offers a beautifully crafted meditation on loss and legacy. But for kids under 13, the emotional intensity makes it more suitable with guidance prepare for a film that is more balm for the soul than cinematic distraction.

In the end, Hamnet wants to be a story about love, grief, and artistic creation, but it too frequently stands at arm’s length from its own emotions. What should be a story of intimate loss becomes something beautiful yet remote, like a painting admired from behind museum glass.