I recently watched Hamnet, a slow burner of a film that I was glad to see in the cinema, because if I watched it at home I would have been distracted by my phone.  My good cinema etiquette required me to leave my phone in my pocket and give the film my full attention, which was all the better for it, for there was a fair amount of filler.  Whilst I do prefer an all killer no filler film, I do also accept that some films, especially ones that want to come across as arty, or deep, will throw in some unnecessary padding just to – well I don’t know why, they just do.

Overall I’m glad I watched it, but I did have one major gripe and that was with the ending. You see, after the Hamlet play in the film had finished, everyone in the crowd goes silent and reaches a hand out in front of them, linking themselves to the person in front.

A strange thing like that wouldn’t have happened in Shakespeares day, and it would never happen in ours either.  I can’t think of a single event ever where a crowd would all link up like that. Plus imagine in the 1500s, placing your hand on someone’s unwashed back, on the sort of tatty clothes that would destroy a washing machine.  No thank you.

But this is Hollywood.  The ending could have been so much more effective if just the main character had reached their hand out; that would have given the scene all the power it needed.

Hollywood does enjoy going over the top. I’m surprised the ending didn’t have William turning to the camera with a cheesy grin, giving a cheeky wink whilst saying “and that, my dear, is all folks”. It’s probably in the directors cut.