Chloé Zhao’s new overwhelming film proves that her movie Marvel divisor was a stroke of luck [TIFF 2025]

I watched “Hamnet” during a projection on Monday at 8:50 am at the Toronto International Film Festival, in a theater which, by the last act, was filled with viewers crying openly. I knew the general history of the personal life of William Shakespeare and I read his play “Hamlet” a few years ago; However, I had not read the novel “Hamnet” on which this film was based, so I had not been prepared to suffer so much sorrow so early in the morning.

“Hamnet” may not have been a pleasant observation experience, but it was powerful. Paul Mescal (who plays the famous bard) and Jessie Buckley (who plays his tragic wife Agnes, the main character in the film) both offer a heartbreaking representation of mourning. They will make you tear up by act two, and that will not become difficult from there. There is also a particularly brutal use of “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter thrown in this film, a heavy violin partition which is essentially a cheating code so that viewers choke and explode their noses. It is a film with a goal apparently – to make you cry – and he succeeds without seeing too much Sappy or manipulator.

The pure competence in which the melodrama of “Hamnet” is represented is a relief for the fans of the director Chloé Zhao, a director whose reputation took a blow in 2021 with the release of “Eternals”. This Marvel Studios superhero film was Zhao’s first feature film which was not acclaimed by mass criticism, which makes sense because it was the first feature film that was not particularly good.

There were certainly parts of the “Eternals” which captured a spark similar to “Nomadland” or “The Rider”, but for the most part, it was too crowded. It was as if there was a confrontation between the sensitivity of the Marvel cinematographic universe (with its insistence on the Humor Quippy and a constant configuration for future films) and the sensitivities of Zhao, which preferred to keep things serious, personal and autonomous. But the biggest problem was that it was one of the few Marvel films that should have been a television program instead of the opposite; His 10 main characters deserved more than a simple two -hour film shared with each other.

“Eternals” was hardly the first time that a promising director respected by the criticism moved when they were trying to make a studio film for the general public. The story of the overhanged “Eternals” resembles the story of “Dune” by David Lynch in 1984. Lynch tried to make a general public blockbuster, fortunately failed and, to his more personal projects which remained faithful to its own sensitivity. In some respects, to fail with “Dune” was the best thing that has ever happened to Lynch, because it helped him understand exactly what he wanted with his artistic career and taught him not to try to play the big studio game again.

Although “Eternals” is hardly the clear bust that “Dune” was, Zhao seems to follow the same path to follow his successful failure with a welcome return to his independent roots. “Hamnet” is almost the polar opposite of “Eternals”, especially in the way it focuses on a small distribution rather than a big waste of sprawling characters. It tells a single story with a strong focus; The film does not have the impression of constantly fighting against the limits of its kind or its runoff. It is a return to form which strongly implies that Marvel was the problem with his latest film, not Zhao herself.

Like “Blue Velvet” has proven that Lynch was going nowhere, “Hamnet” proves that Zhao is there to stay. “Eternals” was only a short trip that could have clarified what she wanted in her career in cinema. This helps, a bit like the way Lynch was happy to deny “Dune” in its disastrous consequences, Zhao herself seems to be understanding that “Eternals” has not fully worked. In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, she offered her point of view on how her foray into the MCU went south, and how it prepared it to make “Hamnet” as well as possible:

“‘The Eternals had, like an unlimited amount of money and resources. And here we have a street corner that we can afford, to [stand in for] Stratford …. The “Eternals” did not have many limitations, and it is actually quite dangerous. Because we only have this street corner [in ‘Hamnet’]Suddenly, everything makes sense. “”

“Hamnet” arrived in theaters limited on November 27, 2025 and developed nationally on December 12, 2025.