🎭 Hedda (2025) Review — Tessa Thompson Ignites Nia DaCosta’s Bold, Feminist Reimagining of Ibsen’s Classic

“If I cannot control the world, I will at least control how it burns.”

Cinema’s most intoxicating antiheroine returns — this time, through the visionary lens of Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels). Hedda (2025) transforms Henrik Ibsen’s iconic play “Hedda Gabler” into a hypnotic mid-century drama, where repression, desire, and destruction spiral together like smoke in a candlelit drawing room.

With Tessa Thompson commanding the screen in a performance that feels both dangerous and devastating, Hedda is one of this year’s most riveting psychological dramas — a film that redefines female rage for a new era.

💔 The Story — Desire, Decay, and the Danger of Control

Set in post-war England, Hedda (2025) follows Hedda Gabler (Tessa Thompson), the daughter of a decorated general whose life has become suffocatingly small. Trapped in a genteel marriage with the timid academic George Tesman (Tom Bateman), Hedda’s existence unfolds in rooms lined with expectation and polite despair.

Her world begins to crumble — or ignite — when her husband’s rival, the brilliant and sensual Eileen Lovborg (Nina Hoss), returns to London. The two women’s intellectual rivalry turns into a battle of obsession and control, pushing Hedda toward choices that threaten to consume everyone around her.

As DaCosta’s adaptation unfolds, it’s clear: this is not just Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler retold — it’s Hedda reborn.

🎬 The Power of Performance — Tessa Thompson’s Most Explosive Role Yet

Tessa Thompson (Passing, Creed) delivers a performance of startling precision — fierce, unpredictable, and terrifyingly human. Her Hedda is neither victim nor villain, but a woman standing at the edge of her own creation.

Every gesture, every glance feels loaded with suppressed rebellion. When she lights her cigarette or takes aim with her father’s gun, it’s more than performance — it’s prophecy.

Nina Hoss (Tár, Phoenix) brings her trademark intensity as Eileen Lovborg, a modern, liberated woman whose confidence terrifies and fascinates Hedda in equal measure. Their scenes together crackle with tension, part rivalry and part mirror reflection.

Imogen Poots, Nicholas Pinnock, and Tom Bateman round out the cast, grounding DaCosta’s stylized world in emotional realism.

🎥 Visuals, Sound, and Atmosphere — Decadence with a Knife Edge

Shot by Sean Bobbitt (12 Years a Slave, Widows), Hedda is a masterclass in visual storytelling. The film’s color palette — deep greens, amber golds, and blood-red accents — creates a world that feels at once lush and claustrophobic.

Production designer Cara Brower transforms London parlors into velvet traps, where elegance hides decay and beauty conceals cruelty.

Complementing it all is a haunting score by Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker, Women Talking), whose strings ripple like suppressed emotion — always threatening to erupt.

“Every frame of Hedda feels like a painting about to burst into flame.”

🕯️ Nia DaCosta’s Vision — Fire and Feminism

As both writer and director, Nia DaCosta reinvents Hedda Gabler not as tragedy but as a rebellion against repression. Her adaptation shifts Ibsen’s 19th-century critique of patriarchy into the mid-20th century — a time of supposed progress still ruled by men and manners.

DaCosta’s Hedda isn’t simply self-destructive; she’s suffocating in a world that denies her agency. In DaCosta’s hands, every act of destruction — from a whispered insult to a gunshot — becomes a cry for freedom.

🌟 Cast & Crew at a Glance

Role	Artist
Director / Writer	Nia DaCosta
Based On	Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
Lead	Tessa Thompson as Hedda Gabler
Supporting Cast	Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock, Nina Hoss
Cinematography	Sean Bobbitt
Music	Hildur Guðnadóttir
Produced By	Plan B Entertainment, Orion Pictures, Viva Maude

🕰️ Release & Where to Watch

🎞️ World Premiere: Toronto International Film Festival (September 7, 2025)

📅 U.S. Theatrical Release: October 22, 2025

💻 Streaming Release: October 29, 2025, on Prime Video

🎬 Runtime: 107 minutes🎭 Genre: Drama / Psychological Thriller🌍 Language: English

💬 Critical Reception — Early Buzz

Hedda has drawn praise for its bold reinvention of Ibsen’s play and Thompson’s magnetic lead performance.

⭐ “Tessa Thompson burns the screen with quiet fury and tragic beauty.”

⭐ “A visually arresting, emotionally searing portrait of a woman trapped in her own brilliance.”

⭐ “Nia DaCosta reshapes the classic into a cinematic powerhouse of female rebellion.”

Audiences have described the film as “mesmerizing, unsettling, and utterly unforgettable.”

🎞️ Why Hedda (2025) Matters

In an era where stories of female rage are finally being told without apology, Hedda stands as a fierce declaration.It’s not just a period piece — it’s a mirror reflecting the modern condition: ambition restrained, brilliance punished, desire demonized.

DaCosta’s adaptation captures that contradiction perfectly, turning Ibsen’s words into a haunting elegy for every woman who was told to smile through the fire.

🧩 Related Features

If you love powerful performances and poetic direction, explore these acclaimed dramas next:

• 🦅 H Is For Hawk (2025) — Claire Foy takes flight in a moving story of grief and nature.

• 🎭 The Artist (2025) — A Gilded Age murder mystery where art meets ambition.

• 🌈 Good Fortune (2025) — Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen blend humor and heart in a story of redemption.

• 🎬 Rental Family (2025) — Brendan Fraser finds purpose in Tokyo’s quiet chaos.

Each story, like Hedda, explores transformation, identity, and the fight to break free from expectation.

❓ Hedda (2025) — FAQ

Q1. What is Hedda about?

It’s a reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, exploring power, desire, and destruction through the eyes of a restless woman trapped by societal expectations.

Q2. Who stars in the film?

Tessa Thompson leads the cast, with Nina Hoss, Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, and Nicholas Pinnock in key roles.

Q3. Who directed Hedda?

The film is written and directed by Nia DaCosta, known for Candyman (2021) and The Marvels (2023).

Q4. When was it released?

The film premiered at TIFF 2025 and was released theatrically on October 22, 2025, followed by streaming on Prime Video from October 29, 2025.

Q5. Where can I watch it now?

Hedda is currently available to stream exclusively on Prime Video in most regions.

🎬 Final Verdict

🔥 Verdict: ★★★★☆ (9/10)Tessa Thompson commands the screen with fierce elegance in Nia DaCosta’s Hedda — a visually lush, emotionally charged exploration of repression, power, and self-destruction.

It’s both timeless and daringly modern — proof that great literature, like great women, never truly fades.

“She wanted freedom. What she found was fire.”