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Hamnet | 2025 | PG-13 | – 6.4.2
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Why is “Hamnet” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “thematic content, some strong sexuality, and partial nudity.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a sex scene with partial nudity, a few kissing scenes, a few childbirth scenes with some partial nudity, the death of children from a highly infectious disease, many dead bodies wrapped in cloth in a crowded city, a father striking his son and being dismissive of his professional pursuits, many arguments and some name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.
The story of love and loss that was ostensibly the inspiration for Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” With Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Zac Wishart, James Lintern, Joe Alwyn, Justine Mitchell, Eva Wishart, Effie Linnen, Emily Watson, David Wilmot. Directed by Chloé Zhao. [Running Time: 2:05]
Hamnet SEX/NUDITY 6
– A man and a woman go to a storeroom where the woman sits on a table, the man removes his shirt and unfastens his pants (we see his bare back and partial buttocks); the man lifts the woman’s skirt and thrusts (they both moan and breathe heavily) and the scene ends.
► A man and a woman hold hands, she presses his hand against her abdomen and they kiss. A man kisses a woman tenderly. A husband kisses his wife on the cheek. A man and a woman meet and talk and the man seems smitten.
► A woman goes to a forest alone and moans and groans in labor (her dress clings to her very swollen abdomen) and we see her later cradling a newborn.
► A woman yells at her son when she finds out that a woman that he has had sex with is pregnant and she tells him that he has been bewitched. Two young girls argue about who will marry first and their mother calls one girl a “gypsy.”
► A woman is shown to be very pregnant in a few scenes; she wears a flimsy nightdress in a couple of scenes and we see part of her bare legs, abdomen and pubic region when she is in labor. A woman’s partial bare breasts are visible when she leans over wearing a loose-fitting gown during childbirth. A woman wears low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage in several scenes.
Hamnet VIOLENCE/GORE 4
– A young boy tells his twin sister that death has come for her (she is very sick) and that he will make it take him instead; he lies with his sister and we later see him with very swollen glands and feverish; the boy later moans and groans and thrashes in pain before dying and his mother screams in grief. A young girl lies in her bed and a young boy tries to wake her but cannot; we later see her with very swollen glands on her neck and feverish and the boy asks his mother if she has the pestilence.
► A man slaps his adult son in the face and the son pins the man against the wall telling him that is the last time. A woman tries to slap her husband in the face when he prepares to leave after their young son died; they struggle briefly and he leaves. A man yells at an actor for his delivery of lines. A man stands on a cliff over the ocean (presumably contemplating suicide); he does not jump. A man and a woman hold onto a very pregnant woman in labor as she tries to leave to go to the forest to have her baby; she remains in the house where she delivers twins and the second infant appears to be stillborn but revives. Two young men argue and wrestle across a table over food on their plates and their father hits one of them in the head to make them stop.
► A woman sleeps on the forest floor among the roots of a large tree and awakens to the sound of a hawk that she whistles for, and it perches on her arm; she feeds it raw meat of some kind. A man pets a hawk and it appears to peck his hand; he pulls away startled.
► A woman goes to a forest alone and moans and groans in labor (her dress clings to her very swollen abdomen) and we see her later cradling a newborn. A man has a cut on his forehead (we see some blood) and a woman later treats it with a salve made from herbs and leaves.
► A man tells his young son to stay away from his grandfather while he is away; he tells him that the man would not hit his sisters, but it is the boy that he worries about. A man yells and pounds on a table in frustration waking a newborn. A woman yells at her son when she finds out that a woman that he has had sex with is pregnant and she tells him that he has been bewitched. A man is described as violent and dangerous. A man says about another man, “What use is he?” Two young girls argue about who will marry first. A man disparages his son for being a writer instead of a tradesperson. A man tells a woman the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. A man says, “I’ve lost my way.” A woman talks about her three daughters dying and says to never take anything for granted. A woman says that her young son died in agony and blames her husband for not being with them. Lines from a play include, “Get thee to a nunnery.”
► A city is shown to be covered with grime and mud and bodies wrapped in cloth are carried out of buildings by people wearing masks with long beaks on them; we understand that there is a plague and we see a shadow puppet performance enacting the spread of a disease and people dying. A woman’s body is shown on a table with a bloodstained gown after she presumably died in childbirth and a cloth is placed over her face as her young daughter tries to reach her and cries for her mother. A hawk lies dead on the ground and people place items on and around it while grieving. Bees buzz around a tree and hives and a woman says that they are upset by something and that the children should be kept inside.
► Actors stage fight with swords during a performance and one man appears to be slashed on the back, the other appears to be stabbed and killed while other actors pretend to fall dead from poison while an actor cries out, “I die,” as he collapses to his knees and thrashes. A man and a young boy play sword fighting using sticks and the man choreographs their moves.
Hamnet LANGUAGE 2
– Name-calling (useless, trade less, not an ounce of sense, horrible, forest witch, gypsy, pasty-faced scholar, violent and dangerous, rascals), exclamations (hush). | profanity glossary |
Hamnet SUBSTANCE USE
– People drink wine with meals in a few scenes, a man says that he has had too much to drink.
Hamnet DISCUSSION TOPICS
– Orpheus and Eurydice, Hades, the underworld, Shakespeare, “Hamlet,” child abuse, grief.
Hamnet MESSAGE
– Pay attention to your dreams and live with your heart open.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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