This is not your grandmother's 'Hedda'

In Hedda , an intoxicating headrush of a film written and directed by Nia DaCosta, party guests are descending upon an English estate when the 1951 Betty Hutton song " It's A Man! " begins playing. The needle drop is brief, but the lyrics you don't hear in the film reveal the song to be a pointed insertion.

"If it acts just like it's the boss /

When it knows that you are, of course … It's a man!"

"It's A Man!" is a cheeky ode to the ineptitude of manhood, poking fun at patriarchy's trappings while imploring women to half-heartedly accept them. How fitting for it to soundtrack this spirited take on Hedda Gabler , about a woman seeking to escape boredom with her bland academic husband by manipulating the affections and interests of everyone in her orbit.

Henrik Ibsen's 19th cen