Greta, 2019.
Directed by Neil Jordan.
Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Isabelle Huppert, Maika Monroe, Colm Feore, and Stephen Rea.
SYNOPSIS:
A young woman befriends a lonely widow who’s harbouring a dark and deadly agenda toward her.
Logic goes out the window when watching Greta, the latest film by Neil Jordan. Plot holes appear like vast chasms and the silliness factor is ramped up to 11; but none of this detracts from a fantastic performance from Huppert as the unhinged Greta.
Frances (Moretz) has moved to New York and is living in a trendy loft apartment with friend Erica (Monroe) and is one of the most naïve characters to ever grace the screen. Having recently lost her Mother she’s vulnerable and looking for support. One day she finds a bag on the subway and returns it to the owner; a lonely lady called Greta. What starts as a sweet friendship dramatically escalates to stalking and kidnapping when Frances rejects Greta after finding out she’s not all she seems.
Greta is a fun psychological thriller which has some great moments thrown in amongst an implausible plot and some seriously stupid characters. As the vulnerable Frances, Moretz is well cast and decides to play it serious against the hammy nature of the material. This works well and makes Frances a sympathetic (albeit frustratingly stupid) character that you root for. But Greta is all about the wonderful performance from Huppert who goes full on Annie Wilkes throughout and doesn’t hold anything back. Whether she’s whimsically dancing after committing an act of violence, going crazy in a restaurant or playing the loving surrogate mother, it’s a great performance from a wonderful actress.
But there are a lot of flaws in Greta. First off the police appear to be non-existent throughout the whole thing. Whether this is supposed to be a commentary on how impractical stalking laws are I’m not sure, but the entire third act could have been rectified in a matter of minutes if someone had just called 911. Secondly, Greta feels like a film that isn’t sure what it wants to be. At times it’s pushing for full on psychological thriller levels of fear, the next moment it’s throwing in a fake out dream sequence and at times it feels like a black comedy. Whilst none of this detracts from the enjoyment of the film, it does give the feeling of it being unbalanced and a constant see saw of ups and downs.
Greta somehow manages to feel refreshingly new and like something you’ve seen a million times before at the same time. Focusing on a mother daughter relationship brings a new dimension to the story and could have been explored more. We get a brief few lines of dialogue explaining Greta’s behaviour but there’s no real explanation other than her being evil. There are moments of surprise throughout but it relies on visual tropes that we’ve seen in much better films in the past.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Helen Murdoch
Originally published April 22, 2019. Updated April 21, 2019.
