'The epic scale of love': Thoughts before I watch Golden Globe-award winning, Oscar-nominated "Hamnet" and its portrayal of grief

Photo by Valeria B.

Actress Jessie Buckley describes in interviews how she tapped into becoming her character Agnes for the film, "Hamnet" which is based on the life of William Shakespeare and his family. The film adapts parts of imagination to portray Shakespeare's family and home life, but more in particular, it dives deep into exploring grief and the storyline regarding the loss of one of their children, Hamnet. 

One activity Buckley shared was that even though she's married but doesn't have children, she would take the "pregnancy costume" home to get a small glimpse of becoming a mother. 

Whether it was director Chloe Zhao's input as a creative director that added to the experience, I like to think Buckley's talent and scale as an actress includes moments where she does try to get into the headspace of character experiences. 

What struck me the most was how she described motherhood: it was pretty spot on. She said the epic scale of love mother's have, or just to become a mother, the word love is hardly enough of a word to describe what that is, she said. 

I shortened this quote, but it's just as strong, and for those of us who have loved deeply and lost even deeper, we aren't nuanced to such thoughts. We have experienced something extremely brutal, all the while exceptionally beautiful, that took us into a portal of no return, at the cost of ... an "epic scale of love." 

"Like with all kinds of love, it's all dangerous to love as intensely and deeply and stratospherically because you might always lose it. You will ultimately. We're all going to die."

I will certainly bring a box of tissue to the theatre. I know this will tug at the heart strings, but I am interested in learning how art might portray such a feeling and maybe feel more connected, to my baby, to community, to being seen, through the eyes of a mother character who knows what it's like.