Hamnet and Shakespeare in Love Offer Contrasting Portraits of Shakespeare

Movieweb reports that Chloé Zhao's Hamnet, now in major Oscar contention, has prompted comparisons with John Madden's 1998 Best Picture winner Shakespeare in Love, noting the two films both center on William Shakespeare but approach his life very differently. Shakespeare in Love is a flamboyant period romantic comedy about a fictional affair between William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) and Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), who disguises herself as a male actor; it opened in limited release on Dec.

11, 1998, earned 13 Academy Award nominations, won seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actress, and grossed $100 million domestically and $289 million worldwide. The film’s Best Picture legacy is frequently linked to producer Harvey Weinstein’s aggressive awards campaign, which The Hollywood Reporter said altered the Oscar-season playbook.

Both films draw lines between moments in Shakespeare’s life and his plays—Shakespeare in Love focuses on Romeo and Juliet and the emergence of a Viola who inspires Twelfth Night, while Hamnet’s final act shows Shakespeare shaping his son’s death into Hamlet—but they diverge in tone and style.