‘Hedda’ Review: Tessa Thompson Seduces and Destroys in Nia DaCosta’s Sexy, Stylish Spin on a Classic [B+] TIFF
Nia DaCosta’s fun, feminist Ibsen reimagining, Hedda, opens with a quote from another playwright. Instead of referencing Ibsen himself or another literary staple of the 19th century, DaCosta looks to one of the Greek comedic playwrights, Antiphanes. Before introducing Hedda to her audience, she shares, “I trust only one thing in a woman: that she will not come to life again after she is dead. In all other things, I distrust her.” It’s a sly little wink of an opening that signals DaCosta’s unique take on the classic play and her inherent understanding of its dark comedic undertones. Perhaps more importantly, though, it illustrates her grasp of the interplay between seduction and violence at the heart of this classic character. DaCosta isn’t the first writer-director to tackle “Hedda Gabler,” but with this inspired spin, she proves that there is still plenty to mine from the classics and that the stories of prickly women playing with power have always been relevant.
Aside from the original text and classical Greek poetry, Hedda is also influenced by works of Gothic fiction, as Hedda’s story begins at the end. DaCosta’s camera focuses on a slightly disheveled Hedda (as disheveled as the fabulous Tessa Thompson can be) as she sits at her dining room table, where the police interrogate her about the previous night’s events. When the film jumps back, much like Virginia Woolf (and many historically tormented women), Hedda has been out in the water with a pocketful of stones before her big night; something or someone is bothering her. No one seems to notice, though, as she has a sprawling estate to prepare for an upcoming fête. As Hedda tells their smarmy longtime friend, Judge Roland Brack (Nicholas Pinnock), she and her husband, George Tesman (Tom Bateman), are hosting a party to introduce themselves to the world as a couple. They’ve just returned from their honeymoon, and it’s time for their friends to not only see them as a pair but also to take in their labyrinthine estate. As Hedda judiciously prepares for the party, throwing out a bouquet of flowers or a tablecloth that doesn’t suit her, production designer Cara Brower’s richly detailed work comes to life. It’s a home befitting Jay Gatsby, but one that the Tesman duo entirely cannot afford. It turns out that George bought the house to please and placate Hedda. “This is all happening because you wanted it. I hope you’re happy,” he tells Hedda as a flash of boredom falls over her face. George has another ulterior motive for hosting the party, though, and ideally, he’ll soon be able to afford their home if he impresses one of their guests, Professor Greenwood (Finbar Lynch). If all goes according to plan, George will walk away from the evening with a promotion, an endowment, and a way to afford the lifestyle Hedda wants.
Hedda has a scheme of her own, though, and is more preoccupied with her own past paramours than her new husband. It’s here that DaCosta makes the audacious choice to not only make Hedda a queer character but also to gender flip the role of Eilert Lövborg. In DaCosta’s reimagining, Eilert becomes Eileen (Nina Hoss), making for an even deeper examination of the play’s themes of repression, loveless relationships, and the taboo power that women can crave. And like the lavish estate, Hedda’s relationship with George seems to be for show, especially as it’s one of the few ways that she can survive as a Black woman in their fading aristocratic society. Early in the film, DaCosta playfully teases the audience with hints of Hedda’s sexuality (yes, there’s an “eating out” joke at dinner), but her desires don’t fully crystallize until Eileen’s arrival. Thompson’s Hedda is slippery and frisky, flirting with and controlling everyone in her path, but she has a trickier time with Eileen. Much to the chagrin of her new partner in work and love, Thea Clifton (Imogen Poots), Eileen was a bit of a wild child when she was with Hedda, and together, they’ve done what they can to move past her worst impulses (namely, Hedda and alcohol). But as Eileen describes, vices can’t be cured, only resisted. Hedda’s wickedness and desire to control Eileen once again grow stronger when she reveals that she’s also vying for the same professorship as George. She’s even brought along a copy of a manuscript she’s written with Thea, with the hope of impressing Professor Greenwood. In her adaptation, DaCosta creates a new conflict for Hedda, where, in choosing to try to help secure the job for her husband by bringing Eileen down, she sacrifices something much deeper. What was simply Freudian in the play morphs into a conflict centered around race, gender, and sexuality, making the adaptation feel incredibly modern.
That modernity extends to the look and feel of the film, as DaCosta and her collaborators create a lush midcentury space where her cast of characters converge in a single evening. Alongside Brower, cinematographer Sean Bobbitt (12 Years A Slave, Judas and the Black Messiah) creates a rich, vibrant world where Hedda is framed in mirrors and doorways, as her reflection and status among the other partygoers are always top-of-mind. During a particularly tense moment at the party, DaCosta and Bobbitt even deploy a dolly zoom on Hedda. It’s a fun camera trick that alludes to Hedda’s cloistered, repressive environment, while illustrating the film’s melodramatic flair. After being stifled creatively by the machinations behind larger studio tentpoles (The Marvels), it’s exciting to see DaCosta at the helm of something that feels entirely her own. The film’s dark comedy and anachronistic touches also come brilliantly to life in Hildur Guðnadóttir’s jazzy, percussive score, complete with sighs and whispers that imbue Hedda’s world as one of darkness, mystery, and intrigue. Often, adaptations rely strictly on the venom of Ibsen’s words to provide a showcase for the central performance (Trevor Nunn’s Glenda Jackson vehicle comes to mind), so it’s refreshing that DaCosta created an environment that allows Thompson and Hoss to play and give new meaning to the text.
In the ongoing tête-à-tête between Hedda and Eileen, Thompson and Hoss display a magnetism and a chemistry that is so palpable, it’s difficult to envision the story in its standard form. At every turn, Thompson, with her classic glamour, accesses Hedda’s whims and inner itch to cause trouble, showing just how difficult it is for those in her orbit to resist her. Her specific voice and accent work also remind us of how often she’s forced to perform for others in her environment. For Hoss, whose striking presence is usually steady and demure, Hedda gives her the chance to stretch into a new space. She is sensational as she evolves Eileen into a woman descending into despair. The sparring match between the two is deliciously catty, while still serving as a reminder of the core parts of themselves that they’ve shed to fit into a male-dominated world. When tragedy strikes and Eileen laments the loss of something that could’ve completely changed her place in society, DaCosta infuses the film’s final act with a rage that only grows as everything unravels for Hedda and Eileen. As the two women confront each other and the ways that race, gender, and sexuality have affected their circumstances, DaCosta evokes an honesty within the relationship between the two women that hasn’t been explored as effectively in her work since her feature directorial debut, Little Woods.
While the change made to the film’s ending doesn’t pack the same dramatic punch as the play, DaCosta proves that she’s at her best when she’s able to tackle and depict the complex relationships between women struggling with society’s difficult circumstances. As the party continues and Hedda becomes more determined to stir up trouble, DaCosta gets bolder, too, as if her camera is attending the party alongside the debaucherous guests. Throughout the evening, it seems that Hedda is celebrating like it’s her final hurrah, as if she’s trying to drink every last drop in her martini glass. For DaCosta, though, this is far from a sendoff and is instead an exciting return to the themes found in her early work, a sign of the type of slick, stylish storytelling we could see from her in the future.
Grade: B+
This review is from the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival where Hedda had its world premiere. Amazon MGM will release the film theatrically in the U.S. on October 22 and on Prime Video October 29.
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