I went to see Hamnet last week with some mama friends and I’ve been thinking and reading about it ever since.

The new film from Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao, it’s a beautiful and brilliant adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2000 book of the same name, which I also loved. Trailer below, if you haven’t seen it and if you have – and it has you in its grip – keep scrolling for some links to posts, interviews and behind-the-scenes tidbits I loved.

“Every season has its own wisdom for you” – loved these insights from Hamnet director Chloé Zhao on how stories are often cyclical, not linear and how even producing creating work has its seasons. 

One of the things I loved about the film was its use of colours and textures:

“For the headstrong, maternal Agnes, who is spiritually caught between the modern world and a more ancient, primal place, Turzanska used a palette of sanguine, rust, russet, crimson, and prune, inspired by the different stages of blood—from freshly oxidized to aged, clotted, and scabbed.” – a fascinating look at the important role that colour plays in the film in this Vogue interview with Costume Designer Malgosia Turzanska.

“In approaching “Hamnet,” novel or film, you know you are preparing for a story both about creation and about loss, about child death and about creativity.” – Lovely NY Times piece [gift link] on how both the film and book explore grief.

Also from the NY Times, nice Modern Love interview with Jessie Buckley, who became a mother herself shortly after she finished shooting this.

Production designer Fiona Crombie tells Wallpaper how she reimagined the Tudor-era spaces.

One thing I wasn’t sure about was the jarring switch to some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines and speeches; but here Zhao does a lovely job of explaining how the delivery transcends the words themselves.

Update January 21, 2026:

Adore this video Chloé Zhao shared of the entire cast and crew dancing to Rihanna’s We Found Love to celebrate wrapping filming!