This review may contain spoilers!
Hedda is an adaptation of the play, 'Hedda Gabler' by Henrik Ibsen, recontextualised for the 1950s and a queer retelling. The story follows Hedda, a wealthy and chaotic socialite, who is drawn to her old flame, Eileen Lovborg, on the evening of a great party.
This film is brimming with tension; you constantly feel like something is about to happen that is tantalising in nature. Hedda is rife with lovers being ripped apart, people plotting against one another, the precarious illusion of social class and sexual tensions aplenty. Hedda Gabler being at the epicentre of all of this makes her a force to be reckoned with.
The editing for Hedda is one of my absolute favourite things about it. Whoever was sitting in that post-production suite was orchestrating this film with tremendous care. The way scenes were cut lingered or abruptly ended just so and with tremendous purpose. Hildur Guðnadóttir's score is whispering, a flowing breath that makes you feel like something or someone is poised to strike at any given time.
Nina Hoss, who played Eileen Lovborg, is a very refined and fiercely independent figure when we first meet her; Hoss does a stupendous job at showing the negative effects Hedda has upon her character.
However, the best performance came from Tessa Thompson, who played Hedda Gabler. This character being such a focal point of the film certainly elevates Thompson's performance over others; she is a force to be reckoned with here. Hedda is a woman who is entirely chaotic and bent to her own whims. We see her dramatically move to suicide at the start and the end of the film, but in both instances, this act rings as more out of a need for drama and attention than hopelessness. Thompson's socialite commands her house and the party, yet she seems more comfortable on the fringes, plotting her next move. This is a character who desires and wants. Hedda is reaching for further efforts to attain status and wealth throughout, though this seems secondary to her twisting Hoss' Lovborg around her finger. The cat-and-mouse performance put on by Thompson and Hoss is a sharp piece of chemistry and lust.
Hedda is a movie that feels desolate and trite at the best of times. It feels like someone saw the idea of the play and remarked that they liked the idea of it. This interpretation of Hedda Gabler feels like director Nia DaCosta is trying to find the Baz Luhrmann interpretation. The film is very showy, and the efforts to show the hollowness of voracious wealth are all done in quite the obvious manner. The supporting characters are barely worth considering; they struggle to make themselves known. In a lot of ways, this film feels like it should be Hedda and Eva circling one another for the entire feature, but there's no consideration given to doing that. In fact, these two aren't pushed into one another's paths enough. The luxurious period drama adaptation comes off as garish wallpaper covering up an imagined concept that hasn't been developed enough. For that matter, the move to a 1950s period piece seems a bit strange; it's hard to really pin down the time of the setting, and for a period piece, it often fails to ground the viewer.
This film has a stunning set, a decent ensemble for the party and an admittedly intimate story to tell with the core cast of characters. It is, therefore, a shame that the film looks so confused about how to capture this. The cinematography feels scattered, and sometimes the vision seems to be big and flashy and at others more close and lingering, but there's never a definitive visual language to Hedda in the way it is filmed.
Imogen Poots, who played Thea Clifton, gives quite a blunt performance; Poots is often seen in a scene drawing up a tear, but there's no depth behind that performance. Nicholas Pinnock, who played Judge Roland Brack, is a very prominent character but never really gives a clear image of themselves; Pinnock feels like a misplaced piece in this ensemble. Tom Bateman, who played George Tesman, is an ineffectual performer across the piece; Bateman is positively dull as George and lacks chemistry with Thompson massively.
A laborious period adaptation that fizzles more than it sizzles. I would give Hedda a 3.5/10.
