Tessa Thompson Storms Into the Oscar Race With ‘Hedda’

With a mischievous glean in her eye that suggests she delights in twisting people into knots, Hedda Gabler (Tessa Thompson) is a woman not to be trifled with in Hedda, Nia DaCosta’s electrically sensual and sinister adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s acclaimed 1891 play.

From the first sight of her humoring detectives’ questions about murder while casually handling a cigarette, Thompson’s protagonist is a creature of imposing poise, cunning, and arrogance, and she proves to be the blazing star at the center of this highly charged tale of manipulation, desire, and despair. Even at its stagiest, it’s a film that, courtesy of both its director and star, burns with unbridled passions.

Hedda (Oct. 22 in theaters; Oct. 29 on Prime Video) relocates its action to an opulent 1950s English manor house