October 20, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Nia DaCosta
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1950s England, the dramatic film “Hedda” (based on the play “Hedda Gabler”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Newlywed socialite Hedda Tesman, formerly known as Hedda Gabler, hosts a dinner party, where various manipulations and love triangles culminate in someone getting shot.
Culture Audience: “Hedda” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the play on which the movie is based, and well-acted dramas that creatively re-imagine well-known classic stories.
Writer/director Nia DaCosta’s “Hedda” not only creatively re-imagines Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” play by changing the ending and some racial and gender dynamics, but this drama also skillfully captures how glamour can be a mask for ugly manipulation. The acting is above-average, although some of the performances look a little too self-conscious when they should’ve looked more natural. The movie takes some bold swings that don’t always hit their mark, but “Hedda” is worth watching, regardless if viewers know about the original “Hedda Gabler” story.
“Hedda” is one of several movie adaptations of Ibsen’s 1891 play “Hedda Gabler,” which has been made into countless stage productions. DaCosta’s “Hedda” (which had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival) changes the story location from 1890s Norway to 1950s England. The basic premise of the story remains the same (a greedy socialite manipulates her husband and other people around her), but the tone of the movie is much more of a dark comedy and less tragic than the original “Hedda Gabler.”
DaCosta’s “Hedda” takes place over the course of 24 hours at a mansion in an unnamed city in England. “Hedda” was actually filmed at Flintham Hall, a stately manor built in the 10th century and located near a wooded bank of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire, England. This river plays a key role in certain parts of the story, particularly a “full circle” moment that is not in the “Hedda Gabler” play.
In the beginning of the movie, newlywed Hedda Tesman, formerly known as Hedda Gabler (played by Tessa Thompson), is being questioned by police investigators about someone getting shot at the mansion in the early-morning hours. The shooting took place after an all-night dinner party hosted at the mansion by Hedda and her ambitious academic husband George Tesman (played by Tom Bateman), who is currently an unemployed professor. George in this version of “Hedda” is madly in love with Hedda and is needy about her reciprocating that love.
The mansion used to be owned by aristocrat General Gabler, Hedda’s widower father, who was heavily in debt when he died. The mansion was put up for sale, but George borrowed money to buy the mansion and to grant Hedda’s wish to keep the mansion in the family. (Hedda is General Gabler’s only child.) George borrowed the money from predatory Judge Roland Brack (played by Nicholas Pinnock), who is a longtime bachelor friend of the Gabler family. Judge Brack is expecting George to pay back this debt after George finds a job.
Hedda is smirking and trying to look calm during this police interview. However, it’s obvious she has a lot to hide. The investigators want her to tell them everything that happened at the party, from the beginning. The rest of the movie is a flashback to the previous 24 hours. It’s eventually revealed in the movie if the person who was shot either died or survived.
The flashback part of the movie begins by showing Hedda standing stoically in the lake and submerged up to her head. She quickly gets out of the lake and goes back to the mansion when someone shouts that Eileen Lövborg (played by Nina Hoss) is on the telephone and wants to speak to Hedda, who seems elated that she’s gotten this phone call. Observant viewers will notice that when Hedda gets out of the lake, she drops several stones that she had put in her clothes. It’s an indication that she had intended to drown herself in the lake before getting this phone call.
Whatever suicidal thoughts Hedda might have been having are pushed aside as she almost breathlessly takes Eileen’s call. Hedda candidly tells Eileen, “I thought you never wanted to speak to me again.” Eileen has called to tell Hedda that Eileen has accepted Hedda’s invitation to a dinner party that Hedda and George will be hosting that evening. It’s an invitation that Hedda did not tell George about, but Hedda tells George only after Eileen accepts the invitation.
George isn’t thrilled that Eileen will be attending the party because Eileen has a reputation for being a drunk troublemaker who hangs out with other rowdy substance abusers. What George doesn’t know is that Hedda and Eileen had a torrid affair years before George and Hedda got married. In the original “Hedda Gabler” play and in other previous movie adaptations of the play, the third person in this love triangle was a man named Eilert Lövborg.
Eileen is an out-and-proud lesbian during a time when it was extremely rare for people to be openly queer. She is considered to be a brilliant non-fiction writer who squandered her potential because of her alcoholism. Eileen’s first book was a smash success. She has since sobered up and completed the manuscript for her second book, which she describes as a “sequel of sorts” to her first book. Eileen hopes her second book will be her spectacular comeback.
Not much is detailed about the love affair that Eileen and Hedda had, except that Hedda broke Eileen’s heart by deciding to end the relationship and pretending like it never even happened. Eileen had been hoping that she and Hedda would make a life together, but Hedda chose to marry George so that Hedda could present herself as a traditional, heterosexual society wife. Based on the way that Hedda acts in the movie, Hedda doesn’t really love George because Hedda is still in love with Eileen. The only thing that Hedda seems to love about George is whatever George can do to get Hedda what she wants.
During the course of the movie, conversations reveal more about the main characters’ backgrounds, motivations and entanglements. Hedda married George because Hedda is terrified of losing her status in society. Hedda only knows the life of being an aristocrat (it’s mentioned that her father spoiled her), even if she’s a financially broke aristocrat.
Hedda keeps her dire financial situation a secret from most people. (George knows, of course.) At one point, Hedda confides in someone at the party that the only inheritance item that she got from her debt-ridden, deceased father was a pistol. And at this point, you know that will be the pistol used in the shooting.
The lavish party is partly a celebration of George and Hedda’s recent wedding and partly a way to impress a very important guest at the party: Professor Greenwood (played by Finbar Lynch), the decision maker of who will get a prestigious fellowship position at the unnamed university where George wants to work. George desperately wants this job because, as he reminds Hedda, George has gone into debt because of the money he spent on the mansion and the party. “I hope you’re happy,” George tells Hedda at the party. Hedda says, “I am,” but her tone of voice and the expression on her face indicate that she’s not happy at all.
Before Eileen arrives, an uninvited female guest shows up because she’s looking for Eileen. Her name is Thea Clifton, formerly known as Thea Ellison (played by Imogen Poots), who is a former acquaintance of Hedda’s because they used to go to the same secondary school. Hedda greets Thea warmly and says she has fond memories of their school friendship. Thea has very different recollections and reminds Hedda that they were never friends because Hedda bullied Thea when they were students at the same school.
Thea looks frazzled and disheveled, so Hedda gives Thea a “makeover” by letting Thea borrow a formal gown and some of Hedda’s makeup so Thea can look “presentable” at the party. While they spend time together, Thea (who doesn’t know that Hedda and Eileen used to be lovers) excitedly tells Hedda that Thea left her husband to be with Eileen, who is Thea’s lover and writing collaborator. Thea is at the party because she wants to tell Eileen the news that Thea left her husband and is now free to move in with Eileen. Whether or not Eileen wants the same thing is shown later in the movie.
Thea says she was an uncredited co-author of Eileen’s first book, but Thea will be credited for co-authoring Eileen’s second book. Thea also tells Hedda that Thea is the main reason why Eileen recently gave up drinking alcohol and promised to live a sober and healthy life. Thea has plans for Thea and Eileen to be a power couple in the literary world. You can easily guess how Hedda will react to all of this information.
Eileen makes her big entrance by showing up not with one guest, as she had told Hedda over the phone. Eileen shows up with six or seven people, most of whom already look and act intoxicated. Eileen has also brought the manuscript of her second book with her. She foolishly tells people (including Hedda and George) that it’s the only copy of the manuscript.
Eileen’s presence at the party becomes extra-worrisome for George because he hears that Professor Greenwood is interested in hiring Eileen for the job that George wants. Meanwhile, party attendee Judge Brack notices the tension at this soiree and delights in stirring up a bit of trouble. That’s because Judge Brack and Hedda had their own secret affair before she married George. Now that George is in financial debt to Judge Brack, this corrupt judge wants to use it to his advantage.
The race and gender swaps for this version of “Hedda” are intriguing ways to re-interpret the story because there’s more at stake in the social-climbing motivations of many of these characters. Eileen is very aware that being known as a lesbian can prevent her from getting many opportunities because of homophobia. Hedda is unwilling to be open about her own queerness because of fear that she will be shunned by upper-crust society. It’s in contrast to Thea, who has chosen to be open about her own queerness and knows she will have some social stigma because Thea has left her husband for Eileen, and Thea wants to be Eileen’s live-in partner.
“Hedda” isn’t a “color blind” movie that switches the race of a main character and doesn’t acknowledge the racial switch. There are quick but noticeable references to the prejudices that Hedda experiences for being biracial. After Hedda is introduced to Professor Greenwood’s much-younger pretentious wife Tabitha Greenwood (played by Mirren Mack), Tabitha snidely whispers to her husband that Hedda looks “much duskier than I thought she would.” It’s also briefly mentioned elsewhere that Hedda is a “bastard child” because her parents were not married.
Women’s maiden surnames and married surnames are used by various people to claim identities or assert power. Hedda doesn’t mind if people still call her by her maiden surname Gabler because the Gabler name has much more clout in this community than the Tesman name. By contrast, George is visibly annoyed when people refer to Hedda as Hedda Gabler and keeps reminding those people that her name is now Hedda Tesman. Meanwhile, Thea no longer wants to be associated with her husband and tells people that she’s gone back to using her maiden surname Ellison.
Although “Hedda” has great production design and impeccable costume design, the movie’s best assets are the performances of the principal cast members—particularly Thompson and Hoss as two former lovers whose unresolved feelings for each other are the catalyst for much of the turmoil and chaos that happen at this party. Kathryn Hunter has a memorable cameo as George’s aunt Bertie. DaCosta’s “Hedda” screenplay is mostly lively and filled with a lot of sarcastic wit. Thompson and DaCosta (who previously worked together on 2019’s “Little Woods” and 2023’s “The Marvels”) are two of the producers of “Hedda.”
“Hedda” is told in five chapters, announced as Roman numerals. The middle part of the movie tends to drag. However, the last third of the movie ramps up the tension and concludes in a way that will be unexpected to people who are expecting a recycling of the original “Hedda Gabler” play. “Hedda,” much like the title character, can make someone’s head spin with an enticing tale, but it’s not the kind of story that’s designed to make everyone feel good.
Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures will release “Hedda” in select U.S. cinemas on October 22, 2025. Prime Video will premiere the movie on October 29, 2025.
