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“And the greatest of these is love …”

No, the quote from I Corinthians 13 is not part of Chloé Zhao’s elegant portrayal of the crippling grief and tentative healing experienced by Agnes and William Shakespeare in “Hamnet.” It is, however, one of the sustaining themes that brings hope out of utter darkness and healing to otherwise broken lives.

Based on the novel of the same name and co-scripted by author Maggie O’Farrell and director Zhao, the gentle ebb and flow of this gem of a film sustains its literary heritage while elevating the central characters who act out this fantasized back story that forces the horror of losing a child with the triumph of a legendary creative achievement and the ultimate hope of healing.  

No spoiler alert.  This is the “Cliff Notes” version of the plot line.

Will and Agnes are star-crossed lovers who marry and have three children. She is the epitome of “Earth Mother” while he is a dreamer whose head is filled with endless stories. Their son Hamnet dies from the plague. Shakespeare withdraws to London to become immersed in the Elizabethan fantasy world of live theatre. Agnes cannot get free of the crushing grief. Will wrestles mightily with his own emotional and creative demons. In a last ditch effort to reunite, Agnes journeys from Stratford to London to find Will and manages to stumble her way to the audience edge of the stage for the premier production of “Hamlet.”

The deeply personal and authentic way Zhao (who not only co-wrote and directed the piece, but was both producer and supervising editor) portrays these people would be enough reason to make sure we all saw it on a big screen in a darkened theatre with like-minded patrons. When the brilliance of the performances by the ensemble cast is inserted at the heart of the film, it is overwhelming.  

Perhaps it’s too early to accurately predict the outcome of this year’s Academy Awards, but rest assured that Jessie Buckley as Agnes will be an odds-on favorite in the race for OSCAR’s golden statue. She’s already won the first round of awards season by taking the Critic’s Choice Award. Her performance is simply intoxicating.

And, Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare will not be far behind. The sensitivity he brings to the role is palpable. Whenever the two are on the screen together, everything seems to melt away around them.

Two other notes to take into an immersive dive into the lives of these two fictionalized but very real characters might make for one or two “aha” moments. The first is the recurring physical presence of doorways. Many of them serve in the background source of light, casting characters in an odd halo effect that reinforces the sense of their needing to move on and through. The doorway to the soul? Perhaps.

The second is one of those strokes of nature and geniuses of casting that become almost eerily apparent with the appearance of brothers in two tightly linked roles. Jacoby Jupe is wonderfully innocent as young Hamnet, missing the presence of his father when Will heads off to London and struggling in the ravages of the plague with the agonized, hopeless ministrations of Agnes. It is his natural brother, Noah Jupe, who appears on stage in the final moments of the film, portraying the young Danish prince, Hamlet.  

The circle is unbroken.  The film is a treasure.