EP.8: THE TRAGEDY OF HAMNET

About this episode

In this episode, the hosts discuss the film adaptation of 'Hamnet' and share their contrasting opinions on it.

On the contentious eighth episode of a new podcast, co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen review Hamnet , the new film by Chloe Zhao, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name. Topics discussed include lead actors Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley; one co-host’s fondness for the movie, especially its first half; the two other co-hosts’ utter loathing of the film; the use of Shakespeare; screaming; trees; womblike hollows; open weeping in movie theaters; twins; communication of the bubonic plague; maternal powers of resuscitation; kitsch; Shakespeare in Love ; Joseph Fiennes; the late Sir Tom Stoppard; shot composition; Romeo and Juliet ; historical fiction and historical accuracy; triteness; trauma; Normal People ; male bulk and its sex appeal or lack thereof; whether Shakespeare had an eight-pack; Orpheus and Eurydice; child actors; head size; Stephen Greenblatt’s 2004 article “Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet ” in the New York Review of Books ; James Shapiro’s 2025 article “The Long History of the Hamnet Myth” in the Atlantic ; sword fighting; Steven Spielberg; the Hallmark Channel; parents busy with their careers when their children…

People in this episode

Hosts: Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, Christian Lorentzen

Topics covered

• Hamnet
• Chloe Zhao
• Maggie O’Farrell
• Paul Mescal
• Jessie Buckley
• Shakespeare
• bubonic plague
• historical fiction
• trauma
• child actors

Keywords

• film review
• adaptation
• literature
• cinema

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Hamnet, Shakespeare in Love, Normal People

Books & works: THE TRAGEDY OF HAMNET, Hamnet, Shakespeare in Love, Romeo and Juliet, Normal People, Orpheus and Eurydice, Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet ”, The Long History of the Hamnet Myth, the Sonnets of Shakespeare, the National Book Critics’ Circle Prize

Places: Atlantic

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