Review: ‘Hedda’
2025 / Dir. Nia DaCosta
☆ 4/5
Watch if you like: The White Lotus, Saltburn, The Favourite, crushing your enemies, grinding their bones into dirt, and making them regret they were ever born.
In an I-Can-Do-It-All career move, director Nia DaCosta remixes a classic 1890s Henrik Ibsen play sandwiched between a Marvel movie and her upcoming 28 Years Later sequel. Tessa Thompson is deliciously wicked as the titular character, a former wild Bohemian who’s now recently married and throwing what will become a Gatsby-level party of decadence and decay. When her former lover (Nina Hoss, who commands the screen whenever she’s featured) shows up and is competing for the same professorship as her husband (Tom Bateman), Hedda schemes and manipulates the entire party for her own gain. Thompson slinks and purrs like a non-campy version of Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman, and it feels like a sinful treat watching her toy with her guests even when we know that there’s no way this party will end without it all crashing down.