Hedda Gabler, played by Tessa Thompson in “Hedda” is a mercurial creature in the manner of Greek gods. Writer/Director Nia DaCosta wanted the audience to see the process of how she decides to meddle in the affairs of mortals—including the guests at the party she throws to boost her husband George’s (Tom Bateman) career prospects. But DaCosta also wanted to be true to his reading of the character: Hedda doesn’t even know why she’s doing what she’s doing, or necessarily knows she’s going to act until she’s already unlocked her father’s gun case.
Of course, much of Hedda’s alluring whimsy comes from Thompson’s performance. But DaCosta and her cinematographer Sean Bobbitt also put their finger on the scales when it comes to highlighting Hedda’s desires. The film uses playful visual techniques and some innovative technology to bring the viewer into Hedda’s fleeting, passionate perspective.
A tool that was used in several key shots throughout the film – or, as DaCosta put it in a recent cut of the film Filmmaker’s Toolkit Podcastthe gear torque — is it Cinefade. “It’s something that’s constantly evolving, and it essentially controls the amount of light that comes into the camera,” DaCosta told IndieWire. “You have the background that distorts and changes and the depth of field shifts, but everything else stays the same. It’s kind of like a contra zoom but it’s more subtle.”
As all fans of the Innie/Outie lift on “Severance pay” (or, you know, that shot in “Jaws“) is well aware that a contra zoom is an effect in the camera that induces a sense of visual vertigo. The camera moves in one direction when the zoom lens moves in the opposite direction, leaving the subject in the image captured in the shifting depth of field like a toy boat as the tide rolls out. The cinefade allows the depth of field to change in a light without changing the depth of field of the face. into the camera In “Hedda” see the result out as nothing so much as a spark of mischief that befalls the mistress of the house.
In a remarkable sequence, the viewer’s depth of field shifts into Hedda’s inner world as she sees Eileen (Nina Hoss) from across the dance floor. DaCosta and Bobbitt frame the moment so that nothing in the shot is larger or more centered than these two women are, suddenly locked into seeing each other. Hedda seems to be floating towards Eileen, as the whole company winds around her, tending to a double doll (putting both the camera and the actor on the trail).
“We’re doing it on the double dolly, which — was it invented by Scorsese? But then (it) was obviously popularized by Spike Lee. It’s a shot that I love and I was like, ‘OK, how do I want to get (Hedda) through the room?’ Because I know I didn’t want her to walk. I wanted her to be pulled by her heart. I wanted these moments in the movie that feel outside of reality, and that was one of them,” DaCosta said.
There’s still an emotional reality that even these moments are grounded in. DaCosta told IndieWire that her choices, from the behavior of the camera to the costumes, are about finding visual ways to express an understanding of the characters to the viewer that the characters themselves may never articulate.
“Sean is a very curious, exploratory, interested collaborator, and he’s so focused on emotion and stories, so that really helps as well,” DaCosta said. “(We’re) really trying to filter everything through characters and not reference other movies as much as we can, but reference other forms of art — painting, photography. It’s a lot of conversations, and Sean said this the other day, like every director is different, but the more you talk to them, the more they talk, the more they tell you what they want.”
For DaCosta and Bobbitt, they worked out what they wanted in rehearsals inside the already set-dressed English manor where the story takes place. “I’ll have these ideas, and it’s a lot of what ifs. What if we did a contra zoom but instead of distance and focal length, it was all about light and f-stop, you know? We built a new rig, basically, because I thought, ‘what if we took the head of the Trinity (camera stabilizer) and got rid of the pole but put it the right way on the body, and then we have this amazing, and we’ve said this amazing.’
Hedda herself would demand nothing less than a film that looks amazing and keeps the audience on their toes. Bobbitt and DaCosta’s camera choices give the protagonist exactly what she wants.
“Hedda” is now streaming on Prime Video.
