Tiff 2025: Nia DaCosta’s Spin on ‘Hedda’ Is a Sexy and Messy Tale of a Woman Bored to Death

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It’s true, this story, set firmly in the 1950s, is a modernized version of its source material. Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler premiered in the nineteenth century, and Nia DaCosta has plucked it from its setting and placed it within the oppressive walls of a 1950s mega-mansion. In her version, Hedda ( Tessa Thompson ) is a Black woman experiencing the boredom that comes from a life of security and marriage. Desperate to spice things up, Hedda plays wicked games with party guests coming to gaze at her new home, and the mess she orchestrates creates a night of blood, war, and shattered chandeliers.

Hedda is recently married to an academic vying for a professorship and

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