A towering character for women, Hedda Gabler, has received a queer imagining in Nia DaCosta’s postmodern screen adaptation, Hedda. The star of films in the Creed franchise, art-house flicks like Passing, and known to Marvel audiences as bisexual superhero Valkyrie, Tessa Thompson dons Hedda’s bustiers to play parlor games with a group of elites, academics, and a woman with whom she shares an intimate past. Tár’s Nina Hoss plays Hedda’s former lover, Eileen Løvborg, an alcoholic writer whose sole manuscript for her book goes missing during a party hosted by Hedda and her husband, George Tesman (Tom Bateman), a mousy university professor. Meanwhile, Eileen has seemingly moved on from Hedda into a stable relationship with Hedda’s former classmate, Thea (Imogen Poots). In an exclusive clip from the film, Hedda and Eileen’s chemistry is palpable as they thrust and parry over their past.
Tessa Thompson in Hedda Amazon MGM Studios
Hedda marks the third collaboration between DaCosta and Thompson. Their previous films together are the crime drama Little Woods (2018) and the women-led superhero flick The Marvels (2023). Based on Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler, first performed in 1891, the film finds Hedda preparing for a party upon her return from her honeymoon with George. It’s soon clear that the marriage is loveless. Envy and scheming begin when Hedda reconnects with Eileen, who’s taken a new lover in Thea. Hedda is one of the great roles of the stage;actors including Ingrid Bergman, Glenda Jackson, Kate Burton, and Cate Blanchett have played her. The screenplay for the film, which DaCosta wrote, introduces new dynamics regarding race and queer identity, as depicted in the clip.
When Eileen suggests Hedda take up meaningful work like becoming a professor, Thompson’s Hedda demands, “Tell me. How many women are at the university teaching?” Eileen sheepishly admits it’s only two women, and Hedda responds, “And they’re both white, I presume.”
Tessa Thompson, Nina Hoss, and Imogen Poots in Hedda Amazon MGM Studios
In her director’s statement, DaCosta addresses the decision to queer Hedda’s story.
“Making Lövborg a woman meant I now had three women at the center of the story who have found different ways to be — or try to be — free. Hedda colors within the lines of society to get her way —marry a good enough man, make him give you the life you want (even though it makes her even more unwell than she already is),” Da Costa writes.
“Eileen chooses her mind — be so brilliant that no one can tell you you’re not good enough (even though the constant fight leads her to drink). And Thea, perhaps the bravest of them all, chooses love, chooses truth — she leaves her husband for a woman and for a chance, just a chance, to be seen (and read),” she adds.
Watch the full clip above. Hedda is in theaters in limited release beginning Wednesday.
