‘Hedda’: Ibsen’s ‘female Hamlet’ in new light

Classic text, a terrific performance not just by its lead heroine Tessa Thompson but other actors too, writing which is both faithful to the original plot and takes its own leap of faith and imagination — ‘Hedda’ is certainly not your average film. Neither is it a frame-by-frame adaptation of the OG. Reimagining famed Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s play ‘Hedda Gabler’, giving it a queer spin, ‘Hedda’ is obviously held together by its titular character.

Tessa as Hedda is in turn gorgeous and terrifying. Early scenes tell you she has no love for delicate things and throws flowers in the dustbin. And she is no “pretty thing” either. The very first scene also reminds you something dreadful has happened. Rewind to the momentous night and the grandeur of 1950s captivates you. The devil lies as much in Hedda’s mysterious, whimsical ways as in every single detail. From decollete gowns to ornate candle stands and crystal chandeliers, classic modernity meets the mid-century aristocratic looks; it’s a world that once was and in a way is.

Hedda is an illegitimate child of a late General and seems to have married into money as her mansion and the extravagant party would delude us into believing. A surprise invitation, an even more surprising arrival of an uninvited guest and things begin to turn topsy-turvy.

Before yet another central character — Eileen Lovborg (Nina Hoss), an author whose sexual orientation is no secret — makes an entry, appears her co-author Thea Clifton (Imogen Poots). Here onwards, the atmosphere bristles and is pregnant with sexual intensity.

Unlike the original, it is a triangle with three women as its three edges. Menage a trois… more like a conflicting trio. Hedda sure is one of them, scheming and edging her rival out of the new relationship matrix. Even though Eileen keeps calling her a “coward at heart”, Hedda is tough as nails, and vengeful too.

A woman rebuffed can unleash destruction like no other. The moment she lays hands on Eileen and Thea’s unpublished manuscript, you know the monster within her is taking a hideous shape. A Machiavellian plan is fleshing out on her torturous and tortuous mindscape. Hedda is as much a heroine as an anti-heroine, often dubbed the “female Hamlet” and the first fully developed neurotic female protagonist of literature.

Production design by Cara Brower and camerawork by cinematographer Sean Bobbitt not only take you to Ibsen’s layered and complex world, but also the 1950s when few women had the gall to be themselves. “Do something,” Eileen admonishes Hedda, who in turn scoffs, “What, become a professor, how many women are teaching at the university?” “Two,” comes the answer, “presumably white.”

Hedda is a woman of colour herself. Eileen, however, is eyeing a position of professorship which makes her a direct competitor to Hedda’s husband, who wants the same job. Complications galore. Since drinking has been Eileen’s undoing, it’s a matter of time before Hedda will exploit this raw nerve. Why, Eileen herself says, “You are never cured of your vices, you can only resist them.”

Writing by director Nia DaCosta possesses the same cutting edge as its women, especially Hedda. The sharp and edgy Tessa takes Hedda to another level… you abhor her and then not quite. Either way, she sure is in control of not just the party she has organised, but holds dominance over her husband George Tesman (Tom Bateman), and even her lustful suitor Judge Roland Brack (Nicholas Pinnock). She has power, “the kind intelligent women wield when they are catastrophically bored”.

Nina Hoss as Eileen Lovborg, this bright, outspoken bestselling author who becomes another person under the influence of liquor, is no less brilliant. Especially in the scene where she regales and teases men with sexually charged anecdotes, she is remarkably electrifying. Any wonder her performance won her the TIFF Tribute Performance Award and a few other honours.

After premiering at the Toronto Film festival, ‘Hedda’ had a limited theatrical run, before streaming this week on Prime Video. Clearly, the much acclaimed director, Nia DaCosta of ‘The Marvels’ fame, views the time-tested play, staged and adapted on celluloid several times before, with a new lens. Feminist gaze acquires more urgency and energy. The entire proceedings are set in one night, everything happens in the gamut of this one party, vivacious and raucous at once.

It holds within its fold so many worlds, so much drama of the high society that the complex psychological analysis of the human mind — yes, a woman’s, already superlative in Ibsen’s sterling writing — becomes a fascinating beast of Nia’s making.