‘On the Nature of Daylight’ Isn’t Just a Needle Drop in Hamnet

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Max Richter’s moving piece, “On the Nature of Daylight,” originally created for his 2004 album The Blue Notebooks, has become well-known for its use in emotionally powerful movie and TV scenes. Over the past two decades, it’s appeared in numerous films, often accompanying moments of profound sadness – particularly the loss of a loved one, like a spouse (as in Shutter Island and The Last of Us) or a child (Arrival). Most recently, the track powerfully underscores the ending of Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, during a performance of Hamlet, bringing the film’s themes of life and death to a deeply moving, wordless conclusion.

Hamnet isn’t a remake of Shakespeare’s famous play, but a story about the playwright (played by Paul Mescal) and his wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley), a woman with a mystical and unconventional spirit. They have three children, and Agnes has a premonition that one of them won’t survive. When their son, Hamnet, dies, it deeply impacts their marriage. William leaves for London to focus on his plays, while Agnes struggles to care for their remaining daughters. Later, Agnes and her brother, Bartholemew, travel to London and see a performance of Hamlet for the first time. The play deeply unsettles Agnes, as she recognizes echoes of her own life within the story, making the experience both captivating and disturbing. It’s as if her private grief and experiences are being played out on stage.

Chloé Zhao cleverly uses the song “On the Nature of Daylight” at the end of both her film, Hamnet, and the play-within-a-film, Hamlet. In a poignant moment, Agnes reaches out and touches the hand of the dying Hamlet (played by Noah Jupe), breaking the boundary between the performance and reality. Hamlet‘s lasting power comes from its ability to resonate differently with each viewer, exploring themes of madness, power, and loss. Zhao’s film, based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, reimagines Hamlet as a story of parental grief, focusing on the loss of a child rather than a child’s mourning for a father. Agnes’s touch feels like a renewed goodbye to her son, Hamnet, and the swelling strings of Richter’s piece create a bittersweet and inescapable feeling. Interestingly, the choice of “On the Nature of Daylight” for the ending wasn’t originally planned by either Zhao or Richter.

Max Richter wrote original music for the film’s ending, echoing an earlier choral piece that also plays during the credits. He notes the script simply stated, ‘Hamlet dies. The rest is silence.’ However, the poignant final scene of characters reaching out wasn’t originally written that way. With only a few days of filming left at the Globe, director Chloé Zhao heard a piece called ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ from Jessie Buckley. Zhao played it repeatedly on set for three days while filming the ending, and it became central to the scene’s emotional impact, representing Agnes’s connection across time and beyond death. By the time Richter presented his composed ending music, Zhao had already decided to use ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ instead. Richter emphasizes that the song isn’t just added to the scene – it’s fundamentally woven into its structure and emotional core.

Some viewers familiar with classical music might feel the use of Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight” at the end of Hamnet is a shortcut to emotional impact – quickly triggering tears after a lot of sadness. The piece has become well-known in films and television as a signal of death or grief. However, Richter emphasizes the song’s original meaning: it was written as a protest against the Iraq War and is best understood as part of his album The Blue Notebooks. He appreciates how audiences connect with his music in their own ways and find new meaning in it, saying it’s a true honor whenever anyone listens to his work.

Max Richter was genuinely surprised when his song, “On the Nature of Daylight,” appeared in the film Stranger Than Fiction, playing as Will Ferrell’s character faced his mortality. He recalls being thrilled just to hear his music on the big screen. Later, the song was chosen by Robbie Robertson for Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, which Richter considered a career highlight. However, he especially loves how the piece was used in Hamnet, feeling it perfectly captured the film’s emotional core of life and death. Richter explains he wanted the music to subtly enhance the story’s psychology, allowing the actors and narrative to breathe without being overshadowed. He believes the film’s power doesn’t need the music to convey emotion; it simply supports it.

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2025-11-26 17:54