A new version of the Ibsen classic Hedda Gabler about a woman
in high society who marries for money and lives to regret it, it is a film that is at the top of cinematic
craftsmanship of the last decade. Few films have looked this spectacular and as
polished. It is a film where every moment is perfectly crafted for the maximum “wow”.
It is also a film that is so rigidly acted and tightly wound
that there is very little life in it. We aren’t watching actors we are watching
chess pieces being moved around the board. I would rave about the performances,
but they are so straight jacketed as to be marble.
The film feels like the sort of proper English theater
production that people would make fun of when they played on Broadway or PBS. While
I know the transposition of the story to Edwardian England and I could see that
in the party sequence, the scenes outside of that are just as rigid. It feels false-
though undeniably well-acted. I’ve never seen a version of the story this
buttoned up. We need to at least feel the emotion underneath and we don’t
genuinely feel it for any reason than the film points it out.
Speaking of PBS – this is best viewed as a stogy version that might on played Masterpiece Theater. If you like that- do see this.
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