Toronto Film Festival: Nina Hoss in Ibsen-Neuinterpretation “Hedda”

A house, a night, a festival – and a whirlpool of intrigue, desire and self -destruction: in Nia Dacostas “Hedda” Henrik Ibsen’s stage classic becomes an intensive chamber game about female rebellion, repressed passions and social constraints. The drama, in which Nina Hoss plays a key role, celebrated its premiere late Sunday evening (local time) at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Previously, Hoss was awarded the Tiff Tribute Performer Award at the film festival.

At the center of the film is Tessa Thompson, who embodies a hedda that is as charming as cruel, vulnerable and yet unapproachable. “She is a woman who wants to drag the animal sides of her surroundings,” said the director in Toronto.

The action has been moved to England in the 1950s and still works. Hedda is freshly married, but bored, and begins to manipulate her environment. What begins with a festive evening tilts into the abysmal: old longings, repressed feelings and destructive energies develop. Dacosta does not only show Hedda as a moody salon lady, but as a woman with deep inner emptiness, driven by a desire that she doesn’t seem to understand herself.

Love triangle among women

The reunion with Eileen Lovborg (Hoss) is like a dark forecast in the air from the start. Hoss, who has already played Hedda on stage, rushes through every scene with a powerful presence. After a crash fighting for recognition, Eileen not only competes with Hedda’s husband professionally, but also confronts them with their past: the women were once loved.

Together with Imogen Poots as Thea Clifton, a love triangle is being created that finally falter hedda’s world – a game of power and vulnerability that the male -dominated society is all too happy to determine, but also pushes to the edge. Atmospherically charged, visually opulent, plus the suggestive music of the Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir takes the tragedy in the night.

Tiff Tribute Performer Award for Hoss

“Dacostas has created female characters who are incredibly complex and nuanced, full of ambiguities. I love it,” said Hoss. Before the premiere, the German actress accepted the Tiff Tribute Performer Award. “The award underlines its versatility and international radiance,” said Tiff-Coo Cameron Bailey at the award.