Hedda Gabler (1981)

Returning from an extended honeymoon, the wife (Diana Rigg) of an academic (Dennis Lill) feels bored and trapped in a stifling marriage with a man she doesn't love. When an ex-lover (Philip Bond) shows up after writing a best selling book, she seizes on an opportunity to not only manipulate the outcome of his relationship with a married woman (Elizabeth Bell) but his very fate. Based on the classic play by Henrik Ibsen and directed by David Cunliffe. Hedda Gabler is one of the greatest parts ever written for an actress in the theater (perhaps only equaled by Blanche in STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE) so it has attracted many great actresses. Among them Ingrid Bergman, Glenda Jackson, Maggie Smith, Eleonora Duse, Claire Bloom, Isabelle Huppert. Here, the great Diana Rigg takes on the challenge and acts the hell out of it. Rigg has a splendid voice and she uses it to perfection here. Just the slightest intonation or lowering of pitch can reveal so much about this complex, neurotic woman. A woman so unhappy that she can't stand the thought of others being happy so she must destroy it. A woman who would rather die than not be free. One can see why she married her husband, she can control him but the idea of being under someone's thumb is anathema to her. It's not the best production I've seen of HEDDA GABLER but Rigg's performance should be seen. With Kathleen Byron and Alan Dobie.