Hedda is a welcome palette cleanser for Nia DaCosta, a small and contained Prime Video adaptation that swaps franchise noise for a clear, actor driven take on Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. Tessa Thompson plays Hedda with clenched poise and a slow leak of inner turmoil, the kind of performance that rewards close watching even when the screenplay keeps her buttoned up. I prefer Thompson when a film lets her be playful or mercurial, yet the self protection and calculation she finds here make sense for a woman who has walled herself into a life she did not really choose.
DaCosta’s smartest update is turning Eilert into Eileen, which brings in Nina Hoss and reframes the old rivalry as a charged, modern relationship between two women who know how much they mean to one another. Hoss is magnetic, precise with every glance, and her scenes opposite Thompson finally give Hedda the oxygen it needs. The rest of the ensemble is underserved. Imogen Poots, as Thea, feels stranded in sketchy characterization, another reminder that the movie gradually becomes a two hander whether or not that was the intention.
Formally, Hedda keeps faith with the play and with DaCosta’s unshowy craftsmanship. The camera glides, the blocking stays purposeful, and when Hedda’s composure begins to crack the film lets the space tilt and blur just enough to mirror her fraying control. It is tasteful, it is steady, and it rarely risks a choice that might divide the room. That restraint is both the virtue and the ceiling. The tone settles into something cool and airless, elegant rather than intoxicating, which makes sense for this story but also makes the streaming experience feel quieter than it should.
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As a reset for Nia DaCosta after Candyman and The Marvels, Hedda works. It proves she can still build performances and sustain mood without a corporate sheen. As a modern retelling of Hedda Gabler, it is respectful and intermittently gripping, lifted whenever Tessa Thompson and Nina Hoss share the frame, dulled whenever the film retreats to dutiful fidelity. I expect 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple will show DaCosta in a bolder mode. For now, Hedda is a careful, competent chamber piece that leaves you wishing it had a little more bite.
Score: 6/10
Hedda (2025)
- Cast: Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss, Imogen Poots, Nicholas Pinnock, Tom Bateman
- Director: Nia DaCosta
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Runtime: 107 minutes
- Rated: R
- Release Date: October 29, 2025
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