By Bob Grimm

If you are eyeing Hamnet as a nice romantic drama about the origins of Hamlet, a pleasantry along the lines of Shakespeare in Love, you need to prepare yourself: The movie is excellent—but it’s not happy movie.

Featuring a knockout performance from Jessie Buckley as Agnes, wife of the aspiring playwright Will Shakespeare (Paul Mescal), Hamnet winds up being one of cinema’s all-time most brutal and despairing depictions of death and loss. It’s also mesmerizingly beautiful, thanks to the direction of Chloé Zhao.

As she tends to her family’s farm and spends time in the forest with her beloved hawk in 16th-century England, Agnes is noticed by Will, a neighbor’s son who is attempting to please his father in the leather trade. The film at first downplays Will’s identity as Shakespeare; he’s just a lovestruck and confused young man who occasionally tortures himself by trying to put words to paper after a day of making gloves for his father.

The two eventually marry and have children, with Will leaving the farm for London to expand his father’s business and perhaps dabble in community theater. Will leaves his family behind with intentions to move them closer when the time is right.

As his playwright ambitions come to the forefront, his time with family lessens as the plague savages the area. The plague directly affects their family, and eventually the direction of Will’s writing—leading to the origins of one of his most famous plays.

Buckley goes the full range here, from mystical woman of the forest to despairing mother. Her performance seemingly puts everything emotionally conceivable onscreen, and every note is perfection. The same can be said for Mescal, but his is more of a supporting role. It all leads up to a final play staging that is perhaps one of the more compelling depictions of a Shakespearean work ever onscreen.

Buckley and Mescal have both turned in buzzworthy performers in recent years, and this film cements them as true acting forces. Both just received Golden Globe nominations—and I suspect Oscar noms will follow.