Since Nia DaCosta’s feature film debut Little Woods, she has found herself working for massive productions under the studio system. First tackling a new Candyman film before finding herself attached to The Marvels, the sequel to the 2019 film Captain Marvel set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These experiences had made DaCosta feel restrained in her voice in the lack of agency she had to wrestle away some control. These massive productions often took away from her own intentions of what she wanted them to be, and as a result led to this new pivot within her career.
With Hedda, DaCosta took full control and even worked on the screenplay herself. A passion project based on the acclaimed play, Hedda Gabler. A passion project of hers and a way for her to showcase visuals as they relate to the story.
Reuniting with her go-to cinematographer for a few years, Sean Bobbitt, the visuals are very strong out the gate and have crisp and vibrant colours to go with them. The use of wide angle shots to devastating close-ups sell each emotion of the premise. Hedda finds herself in a home she doesn’t want and a marriage she feels nothing from, and the visuals reflect the emptiness of her life but how isolated the property is. Wide shots help illustrate how lonely the location is, while the close-ups reveal how claustrophobic it can feel as well.
The film like the play of the same name is divided up into 7 parts. Keeping this convention kept the pacing interesting and helped segment what the character was going through. Tessa Thompson delivers a strong and captivating performance as Hedda while Nina Hoss plays a gender-bent Eiler Loveborg, who still feels something for Hedda while also vying for the same academic position Hedda is reaching for. The film bounces between the complicated feelings of love and lust in a way that is reminiscent of a thriller or the erotic thrillers we received in the 90s. Although more subdued, Hedda keeps audiences entranced through the complicated feelings of love and the many conflicts it can create.
As for the score, Hildur Guðnadóttir, creates a score that is very operatic and powerful. Used to inform dramatic reveals and the importance of each scene, this is one of a long list of very strong musical scores. Each note is felt, and it is so intertwined within the film that is serves to boost all that it accompanies within the film. The visuals feel bolder, the strong performances stronger, as it guides along the pacing of an already strong film. Hedda as a film is very powerful as a result, and I wished audiences had the opportunity to watch this in a theatre as I did.
Through Hedda, I truly believe Nia DaCosta is onto greatness ahead. A very strong visual eye and filmic identity, this film shows a side of her we only glimpsed at the start of her career. While her next film is back into adapting a franchise with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, after this I am fully onboard with whatever she does next and how she fine-tunes her visual signifiers. Hedda has the visual fidelity of a seasoned veteran, and I feel we are only grasping at where she will go from here.
Watch the trailer right here.
All images via Amazon MGM Studios.
Directed by Nia DaCosta
Screenplay by Nia DaCosta, from the play Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
Produced by Nia DaCosta, Gabrielle Nadig, Tessa Thompson, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
Starring Tessa Thompson, Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, Nicholas Pinnock, Nina Hoss
Premiere Date: September 7, 2025 (Toronto)
Running Time: 107 minutes
Cinema from the Spectrum 
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