I cannot tell you had good this is. Maybe it's best to quote the theatre critic of London's "The Guardian", who, when he saw the theatre production this film is based on opined: "the word, I think, has to be mind-blowing". And so it is: this production saves "Hedda Gabler" from the mire of over-familiarity and reconfigures it, not through a radical, wilful over-turning of the text, but through a real re-examination of the story. There is not one lazy moment, not one second where anyone plays the conventions and the clichés - and the result is a piece of cinema that is as mind-blowing as the stage production. In Fiona Shaw's performance as Hedda, you see what I would suggest is certainly the greatest performance of this great role there has been - and I would suggest, one of the greatest performances ever filmed. It is THAT good - and no, I'm not related to the magnificent Ms. Shaw... She is superbly supported - notably by Stephen Rea as Eiljert Lovborg - in a production that will live in my mind forever. This is a must-see. A superb piece of work.
Review of Hedda Gabler
