{"id":4714,"date":"2025-09-09T09:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/4714\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T09:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T09:36:09","slug":"critics-call-it-sultry-and-tessa-thompson-riveting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/4714\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics call it ‘sultry,’ and Tessa Thompson ‘riveting’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hedda<\/a> reviews are trickling in, and critics are liking what they’re seeing.<\/p>\n

Written and directed by Nia DaCosta<\/a> (Candyman, The Marvels), the Amazon MGM Studios<\/a> film is an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic Hedda Gabler play from the 19th century. DaCosta’s modernized version stars Tessa Thompson<\/a>, who also serves as a producer, in the titular role. She is joined by a supporting cast that includes Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock, and Nina Hoss.<\/p>\n

Hedda made its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday. It will also be featured in competition at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 12.<\/p>\n

\"Debbie<\/a> \"'The<\/a> <\/p>\n

Ema Sasic (Next Best Picture<\/a>) calls the film a “sultry period piece” and adds, “DaCosta’s reverence for the 19th-century play Hedda Gabler is on full display, with rich crafts and gorgeous cinematography, but she also has plenty of fun with her reimagining. At the core of this elegant film is a seductive and scornful lesbian love story that’s brought to life by powerhouse performers Tessa Thompson and Nina Hoss, who demand your attention up until the very end.”<\/p>\n

Thompson is “riveting in every moment,” raves Kate Erbland (IndieWire<\/a>), who predicts, “Words like ‘bold’ and ‘daring’ and ‘wild’ will be thrown around in regards to Nia DaCosta\u2019s Hedda, one of the more original and thrilling adaptations of a classic work in recent memory.”<\/p>\n

Shelagh Rowan-Legg (ScreenAnarchy<\/a>) writes, “A sultry and vibrant story of repression and desire, DaCosta smoothly and smartly brings Hedda into the 20th century and shows how its story of women’s ambition and men’s power still reflects and resonates.”<\/p>\n

Richard Lawson (The Guardian<\/a>) is mixed in his review, noting, “It’s an impressive feat of technical filmmaking, which has now become a hallmark of DaCosta’s work. But she caves to baser impulses in reinterpreting an old and, some might say, crusty play.”<\/p>\n

The film’s logline reads: “Hedda Gabler finds herself torn between the lingering ache of a past love and the quiet suffocation of her present life. Over the course of one charged night, long-repressed desires and hidden tensions erupt \u2014 pulling her and everyone around her into a spiral of manipulation, passion, and betrayal.”<\/p>\n

Thompson currently comes in eighth place for a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Hedda, per the Gold Derby predictions<\/a>. This would be her first Academy Award nod, though she does have an Emmy bid to her name for producing the TV movie Sylvie’s Love (2021).<\/p>\n

Best Actress<\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

\"Jessie <\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

\"Renate<\/p>\n

Renate Reinsve <\/p>\n

Sentimental Value<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

\"Cynthia<\/p>\n

Cynthia Erivo <\/p>\n

Wicked: For Good<\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

\"Emma <\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

\"Rose<\/p>\n

Rose Byrne <\/p>\n

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You<\/p>\n

6.<\/p>\n

\"Julia<\/p>\n

Julia Roberts <\/p>\n

After the Hunt<\/p>\n

7.<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Jennifer Lawrence <\/p>\n

Die, My Love<\/p>\n

8.<\/p>\n

\"Tessa <\/p>\n

9.<\/p>\n

\"Kate<\/p>\n

Kate Hudson <\/p>\n

Song Sung Blue<\/p>\n

10.<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/p>\n

Emily Blunt <\/p>\n

The Smashing Machine<\/p>\n

Ibsen’s classic play Hedda Gabler debuted in 1891, depicting the story of a newlywed aristocrat who grows bored with her life and starts seeking power and influence within her social circle. The story has been adapted several times before, including in 1917 as a silent film, in 1963 as a made-for TV movie starring Ingrid Bergman, and in 2016 with Rita Ramnani in the lead role.<\/p>\n

Following its festival run, Hedda is scheduled for a limited theatrical release in the United States on Oct. 22 to qualify for awards, before it begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Oct. 29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hedda reviews are trickling in, and critics are liking what they’re seeing. Written and directed by Nia DaCosta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5877,146,2219,5878,85,46,397,5879,5880],"class_list":{"0":"post-4714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-amazon-mgm-studios","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fyc","11":"tag-hedda","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-nia-dacosta","16":"tag-tessa-thompson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}