Hedda

A total demolition of an Ibsen play, wrecked by a dreadful story and unconvincing acting. There's zero sense of escape or immersion, the kind of transport a period piece should deliver. Disbelief sets in from the first scene and never lets up. I've seen countless films win me over as they unfold, but this one never stood a chance.

I was genuinely excited for a bold reimagining, but like many modern "reinterpretations" of classics, this failed in every way. An extremely talented actress like Tessa Thompson is completely wasted, along with Imogen Poots in a minor role. This is perfectly on brand for Nia DaCosta, hyped as the next great filmmaker with no body of work to back it up.

I recently watched Hedda (2025) on Prime. The story takes place in England, where Hedda has recently married, moved into a new home, and appears to have the perfect life. She hosts a party to celebrate, inviting a former lover, a current lover, old classmates, and a past professional rival. As the night unfolds, Hedda attempts to manipulate each of them in different ways-threatening to unravel the very life she's celebrating.

This picture is directed by Nia DaCosta (The Marvels) and stars Tessa Thompson (Creed), Nina Hoss (Tár), Nicholas Pinnock (Captain America: The First Avenger), and Imogen Poots (Vivarium).

I wanted to like this movie more than I did. The cast is excellent and delivers strong performances. It's a compelling period piece-the estate, costumes, makeup, hairstyles, and settings are all beautiful and very well shot. The dialogue is sharp and witty. However, the storyline and its twists weren't as engaging as I had hoped. I didn't connect with any of the relationships, and many of the characters felt more irritating than intriguing. Much of the film plays like a collection of "rich people problems," the kind that barely qualify as problems at all but are inflated because the characters have little else to occupy them.

In conclusion, Hedda is an average-to-above-average period piece with solid performances and strong production elements. I would score it a 6/10.

Hedda Gabler (Tessa Thompson) is throwing a party at her mansion. By the end of the night, someone is getting shot and she gets interrogated.

I don't know anything about the play. Director Nia DaCosta has done some good-looking functional work. This is a costume drama. It looks good. Tessa is solid. Nina Hoss is excellent. I wouldn't mind an Altman-like drama. I am distracted by the opening reveal of the shooting. I kept treating this like a murder mystery when I should be enjoying this as a chaotic one-night character drama.

Nina Hoss, as Eileen Lovborg, has the best material in this adaptation, and she makes the most of it. The queer love triangle at the center of this film develops her character the most and in some ways is more intense than the original play's treatment of the male character "Ejlert Lovborg." Unfortunately other aspects of the adaptation are not as successful or convincing, but I hope that Hoss, as Eileen, is recognized for making the movie worth watching and talking about.........I should also point out that reimagining the action at an all-night party created a dramatic arc that was clever. And that many of the other actors were good but simply didn't have enough material to do their complex characters justice.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. But it seems it's a very polarizing movie.

I liked Hedda. She's got that subtle sexy femininity going for her, and a definite badass energy that works for this century, probably more than it did for hers. She's gorgeous, manipulative, ambitious, ruthless, probably empty. But we don't care about these things that much these days. They're not necessarily negative attributes. And after all she play's people's weaknesses to appease her own. It takes a while to understand what she's up to but it was delightful watching her. Tessa Thompson really makes her captivating and mysterious enough. She keeps us guessing to the very end. There's always something more to Hedda. She asserts her right to choose her fate and her story even when cornered.

I liked the debauchery of it. Of the house, the party, the decor, the insatiableness, the madness. Quite a feast visually.