Hedda Gabler, one of the theater’s great schemers, is transported to 1950s England in Nia DaCosta’s deliriously fun, intelligent and impassioned spin on the classic Henrik Ibsen drama. One needn’t know anything about Ibsen’s 1890 play to enjoy Hedda. Like Clueless and Bridget Jones’ Diary before it, Hedda, in theaters Friday, is a film that works entirely on its own terms. It might even inspire some curiosity about its source material.
Vibrant and lush with a fiery engine under its hood, Hedda unfolds over the course of an increasingly debaucherous martini-fueled party hosted by Hedda (Tessa Thompson) and her prim academic husband, George Tesman (Tom Bateman), at their opulent country estate. Lives are destroyed, guns are pulled, promotions are promised, hearts are broken and behind it all is Hedda pulling the strings with deliberate, gleeful menace.
Hedda is, after all, the most dangerous type of person: Brilliant and “catastrophically bored,” as observed by a pivotal character. On the surface, the gathering is a celebration of Hedda and George’s return after a six-month honeymoon, but Hedda has more than small talk on her mind. She needs to ensure her husband secures a promotion to get them out of debt — but her plan takes on a heightened maliciousness with the entrance of Eileen Lovborg, who is not only vying for the same spot as George, but happens to be Hedda’s former lover.
Eileen (a transcendent Nina Hoss) is a top academic mind who managed to break into an impenetrable boys’ club but had fallen out of esteem after one too many embarrassing drunken antics. Now, Hedda is devastated to learn that Eileen is sober, in a new relationship (with Imogen Poots ‘ Thea) and is putting the finishing touches on a manuscript that is sure to be culture changing. Simply put, Eileen deserves the post over George, which even he seems to understand, but for Hedda, that is simply not going to do.
