Hedda

TIFF REVIEW: BY DARREN ZAKUS

October 26, 2025

4 OUT OF 5 STARS

Hedda is an explosive powder keg of stellar performances, outstanding production design and exhilarating storytelling that updates Hedda Gabler for the twentieth first century that takes audiences on an unforgettable ride thanks to the stellar pairing of Tessa Thompson in the titular role and Nia DaCosta behind the camera in the director’s chair.

Nia DaCosta’s latest film may be based on the notable nineteenth century play Hedda Gabler and while it largely follows the same overall story of its source material, DaCosta gives the story itself a rip roaring modern update. Outside of the blockbuster studio system, within seconds of her latest film starting, audiences are instantly reminded of DaCosta’s immense talent as a director and storyteller with whirlwind adaptation that while may be overstimulating for some viewers, is directed with a quick pace and expertise that confirms herself as one of the most talented female directors currently working. Creating the party of the year, calling back to the utter and intoxicating madness of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, DaCosta’s Hedda is a tour de force cinematic experience with an excellent screenplay full of rapid fire dialogue delivered eloquently and with an invigorating wickedness from the entire cast, lavish production design, and an utterly brilliant performance from Tessa Thompson that ensures audiences won’t soon forget this film.

Flowing alcohol, sabotage, guns, and backstabbing lesbians, this is not the Hedda Gabler that history recalls. While the broad strokes of the story remain the same, DaCosta slightly changes the elements of the story of Hedda Gabler. Hedda’s former lover is now Eileen Lovborg and there is a charged emotional connection between them that creates a complicated situation with Eileen’s new companion Thea Clifton and Hedda, as these three women each make their way through the events of the party and must react to Hedda’s unpredictable actions to help her husband secure the professorship. Expanding the original play’s single room location and having it playout over the entirety of the estate that Hedda and her husband George reside at, DaCosta gives the story a cinematic feel as she moves the story and the characters from different rooms of the estate as the party rages on, with tensions rising over the course of the evening. There is a frenzied energy to DaCosta’s writing that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats with a gripping intensity, gleefully enjoying the chaos that erupts on screen but also holding their breath to see who is going to become collateral damage in Hedda’s schemes. The dialogue itself is exquisite: grand, highly intelligent and perfectly chosen to create some stimulating conversations but also some vicious one liners that you can’t help but to laugh at, helping to deliver one of the most sensational dialogue driven films of the year. But underneath the madness that erupts on screen, there is a timeless story of love (and the lack of), ambition and the lengths individuals will go to obtain power, with a wonderfully feminine update on the original text that makes this story ever as engaging as it was on the original play’s debut back in 1891.

Dazzling every second she is on screen; Thompson is the fuel that ignites Hedda and makes it the exhilarating cinematic experience it is. Knowing Hedda’s beauty, influence and power over all the attendees at the party, Thompson embraces the scheming nature of Hedda with a luminous presence that ensures viewers can’t take their eyes off the screen. Elegantly making her way throughout her party, indifferent to the wake of destruction that she leaves behind as she does whatever is necessary to ensure that her husband gets the professorship, Thompson is intoxicatingly diabolical as she uses whatever asset at her disposal to achieve Hedda’s goal. Using her charm, intelligence and femininity, Thompson is a force to be reckoned with on screen that not only makes for one of the year’s most ravishing performances, but one of Thompson’s best to date.

While Thompson is firing on all cylinders in her leading performance, it would fall flat without a supporting cast that can match her talents in every scene, and DaCosta has assembled one that is more than up for the task with Imogen Poots, Nina Hoss, Tom Bateman and Nicholas Pinnock. While not as diabolically cunning as Hedda, Hoss is equally as powerful as Thompson in the role of Eileen Lovborg, Hedda’s former lover and her husband’s competition for the professor ship. From the second she enters the film with an undeniable confidence, in one of the year’s most stunning and empowering character arrivals on screen, Hoss brings an intelligence and fierceness to Eileen that makes her a worthy candidate for the professorship in an otherwise male dominated field. Her interactions with Thompson’s Hedda are emotionally charged by their shared past, with the sparks flying between Hoss and Thompson that will have the temperature rising in your living room, but also with a distrust as Eileen knows that Hedda is only looking out for Hedda. Poots is charming as Eileen’s new companion Thea Clifton, radiating an innocence as she finds herself in the wolf’s den of Hedda’s creation, galvanizing a strength as the film progresses as Thea tries to protect Eileen from Hedda’s maneuvers. Bateman brings the right amount of masculinity to Hedda’ husband George as he tries to secure his place in society with the professorship and the salary that comes with it while still being malleable enough for Hedda’s own purposes, making him a strong pairing opposite Thompson even if his moral compass is much stronger than his wife’s; while Pinnock is equally as untrustworthy as Thompson and they share some deliciously dark moments between their characters, even if Judge Roland Black is capable of darker and more hateful acts than Hedda.

Capturing the excitement and elegance of the film’s soirée is the production design. Flintham Hall creates the perfect stage for the story to unfold in with a grand opulence to its interior with its high ceilings, walls of bookshelves and conservatory, which is transported back to 1950s England with wonderful set decoration and Lindsay Pugh’s stunning costuming. The makeup design and hairstyling is immaculate, ensuring that every member of the cast is ready for the big event and that there is not a visual element out of place. Sean Bobbitt’s cinematography weaves the audience through the party, with lots of long sweeping shots that allows the chaos of Hedda’s doing to unfold throughout her husband’s home, ensuring that it is an immersive experience from start to finish. Aiding the visual experience of the film is Hildur Guðnadóttir’s musical score that has so many different elements to it. There are great jazz arrangements that capture the energy of the party, the music that such an event would have featured in the 1950s, and the chaos of Hedda’s action; its percussion dominating tracks captures the ticking time bomb nature that Hedda’s actions are causing within the party that keeps the audience waiting for everything to come crashing down, and the more atmospheric sounding compositions highlight the internal conflict within Hedda as she grapples with the ramifications of professionally destroying her former lover and her feelings for her. Under DaCosta’s careful direction that not only ties together all the below the line elements of the production and to create a rip roaring 1950s party, but a lavish production that becomes an all encompassing experience.

Don’t let the original text’s age deceive you into thinking Hedda is going to be a snoozy film to turn on for your parents, because it is anything but!  In what can only be described as the twisted love child of Downton Abbey and Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, Nia DaCosta lights the fuse and sets off a propulsive cinematic experience and updates a classic stage play with an extravagant production led by a stellar cast that will have audiences’ hearts racing from start to finish. Viciously diabolical, sensually intoxicating and wickedly fun from start to finish thanks to a stunning performance from Tessa Thompson, supported by an excellent supporting cast of Nina Hoss, Imogen Poots and Tom Bateman and outstanding writing and direction from Nia DaCosta, Hedda enters twenty-first century society with an explosive concoction of backstabbing, deceit, and alcohol that makes for one unforgettable cinematic party!