Greta

Name: Greta
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Released: March 1, 2019
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 54
Cast: Angela Thompson, Arthur Lee, Brandon Lee Sears, Chloë Grace Moretz, Colm Feore

2019

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 78 Ratings

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6.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 78 Ratings

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Greta

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Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: March 1, 2019 | R

Starring: Angela Thompson, Arthur Lee, Brandon Lee Sears, Chloë Grace Moretz, Colm Feore, Graeme Thomas King, Isabelle Huppert, Jane Perry, Jeff Hiller, Jessica Preddy, Maika Monroe, Parker Sawyers, Rosa Escoda, Stephen Rea, Zawe Ashton

Summary: A sweet, naïve young woman trying to make it on her own in New York City, Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) doesn’t think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. HavingA sweet, naïve young woman trying to make it on her own in New York City, Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) doesn’t think twice about returning the handbag she finds on the subway to its rightful owner. That owner is Greta (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher with a love for classical music and an aching loneliness. Having recently lost her mother, Frances quickly grows closer to widowed Greta. The two become fast friends — but Greta’s maternal charms begin to dissolve and grow increasingly disturbing as Frances discovers that nothing in Greta’s life is what it seems.… Expand

Director: Neil Jordan

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Horror

Rating: R

Runtime: 98 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Steve Pond

Nov 19, 2018

While it sometimes feels as if it’s just not enough fun, once you get to the twin switcheroos and then the insane ending, you have little choice but to buy into horror-audience protocol and embrace it for the bloody hoot it is. Read full review

Jake Cole

Sep 17, 2018

Neil Jordan’s deft control of pace and tone elevates Greta past mere gimmickry, resulting in a comic thriller whose goofy humor only compounds its mastery of suspense. Read full review

Peter Travers

Feb 26, 2019

Jordan, working from a script he conjured up with Ray Wright, is in it for suspense tinged with laughs. But with these two dynamo actresses front and center, this nail-biter keeps you riveted. Read full review

A.O. Scott

Feb 26, 2019

The point, and the fun, is the wild mischief of Huppert’s performance, which grows lighter and more joyful as Greta’s behavior slides from menacing to murderous. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Apr 18, 2019

In all her signature deadpan intimidation, Huppert somehow gives the impression of being an exceptionally intelligent and self-possessed person who has never before acted in a film. Read full review

Richard Lawson

Feb 28, 2019

Huppert and Jordan are certainly capable of turning up the volume, but for whatever reason they pull back in Greta, getting stuck somewhere between shlockly art and arty schlock. That’s not a good place to be, even if it is a Greta one. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Feb 28, 2019

Greta is petit Guignol trying to pass for Grand, a horror flick made by people who forgot to have fun. One of them, the director, Neil Jordan, made a memorable film called “The Crying Game” almost three decades ago. This is the groaning game, an inept tale of danger, entrapment and dismemberment. Read full review

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User Reviews

NoahMorrison766

May 15, 2019

This movie was very good!! The acting was magnificent, the cinematography was excellent, the quality was great, the story was unique.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

6PereiraNicolas

Nov 17, 2019

O filme acerta em vários pontos, em sua filmagem, na criação de personagens e situações. Elenco perfeito! Atua e entrega exatamente o que a cena quer nos passar, o ambiente de paranóia e obsessão é criado perfeitamente fazendo desse filme uma grata diversão.

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qbase

May 20, 2019

«Η Χήρα» δεν κομίζει ουσιαστικά τίποτα καινούργιο σε ένα μάλλον κορεσμένο είδος, αλλά αυτό δε σημαίνει πως δεν είναι μια διασκεδαστικότατη, απολαυστική, αλλά και επίκαιρη προσθήκη, ειδικά σε μια εποχή που το stalking έχει γίνει χάρη στα κινητά τηλέφωνα πιο απειλητικά οικείο. Ενώ, όμως το«Η Χήρα» δεν κομίζει ουσιαστικά τίποτα καινούργιο σε ένα μάλλον κορεσμένο είδος, αλλά αυτό δε σημαίνει πως δεν είναι μια διασκεδαστικότατη, απολαυστική, αλλά και επίκαιρη προσθήκη, ειδικά σε μια εποχή που το stalking έχει γίνει χάρη στα κινητά τηλέφωνα πιο απειλητικά οικείο. Ενώ, όμως το σενάριο που υπογράφουν ο ίδιος ο Τζόρνταν και ο Ρέι Ράιτ, αποδεικνύεται συμβατικό και προβλέψιμο, ο σκηνοθέτης και η πρωταγωνίστριά του αναβαθμίζουν τελικά την ταινία και την οδηγούν σε νέες κατευθύνσεις.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Bertaut1

May 4, 2019

Insubstantial and forgettable, but Huppert makes it moderately entertaining

Written by Ray Wright and Neil Jordan, and directed by Jordan, Greta is a schlocky B-movie through-and-through, with a completely ridiculous plot and over-the-top final act, all infused with a ludicrous genericInsubstantial and forgettable, but Huppert makes it moderately entertaining

Written by Ray Wright and Neil Jordan, and directed by Jordan, Greta is a schlocky B-movie through-and-through, with a completely ridiculous plot and over-the-top final act, all infused with a ludicrous generic campiness. It's one of those films that's so utterly horrendous in almost every way, it's actually kind of enjoyable. Very much in the tradition of stalker-thrillers such as Body Double, Fatal Attraction, and Single White Female, although nowhere near as good as any of them, there's precious little of anything going on in the film, as Jordan seems to have nothing to say. It is, however, good for a few laughs (not all of which are intentional).

Frances McCullen (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young Bostonian, is sharing an apartment in New York with her college friend Erica Penn (Maika Monroe). Having recently lost her mother to cancer, she is all-but-estranged from her workaholic father Chris (Colm Feore). When he finds a handbag on the subway, she returns it to the owner, Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert), who explains her husband died some time ago, and her daughter is living in Paris. The two strike up a friendship, with each filling an emotional void in the other's life. However, when Frances makes a discovery which changes the nature of their relationship, she tries to cut ties with Greta, who has no intentions of allowing Frances to walk out of her life.

Neil Jordan's eighteenth film, Greta is a B-movie before it is anything else. And although Jordan doesn't seem to be in on the joke, taking the material relatively seriously, Huppert is clearly having an absolute blast with the part - whether it's literally dancing across the set as she commits homicide, spitting chewing-gum into Frances's hair, gleefully engaging in some DIY emergency medicine, or overturning a table as if her life depended on it. She practically winks at the camera a couple of times.

Thematically, the film flirts with a few issues, but never really penetrates any of them. One could read it as a satire of NYPD inefficiency, the ineffectiveness of the justice system, and the misnomer that in a post #MeToo society, it's easier for women to report instances of stalking and harassment and be believed. However, none of these themes are explored in any significant way.

From an aesthetic point of view, the film looks great. Anna Rackard's production design contrasts the dark brown classical feel of the interior of Greta's house with the bright, grey, modernist look of the girls' sleek apartment. There's a really well-mounted scene where Greta is following Erica, and neither Erica nor the audience ever actually sees Greta, but we know she's there, because she keeps sending Frances picture messages of her pursuit. Nick Emerson's editing is especially impressive here, cutting rhythmically between Erica, Frances, and inserts of the picture messages. It's a very unsettling scene, and a unique way to stage a chase.

On the other hand, the aesthetic lets the film down in terms of location. Although set in New York, it was shot primarily in Dublin, and it shows; from the sequence of the traffic lights to the side of the road on which the cars drive to the street signs. It's very distracting, and really wouldn't have required that much effort to fix.

And there are a myriad of other problems. For starters, there's the script, wherein none of the characters are given much in the way of interiority or psychological verisimilitude. There's little emotional complexity anywhere in the film, no real sense of any of the characters having an unconscious. Frances comes across like a cog in the screenwriters' machinery, only behaving in such and such a way because the plot dictates it, with scene after perfunctory scene doing only enough to get us to the next scene and nothing else. Neither Moretz nor Monroe are able to escape the generic moulds of their character-types; the bright-eyed and innocent newbie whose kindness will be her downfall, and the tough friend who seems churlish and cynical but who ultimately proves to have been right all along.

Greta is a rote stalker-thriller that looks great, but offers nothing we haven't seen before; it's essentially a potboiler in a nice suit. No different from any of the late 80s/early 90s obsession thrillers, it's hard to figure out what Jordan was aiming for with this. You can't call it a psychological thriller about obsession and loneliness, because it does nothing with these themes, but you can't call it a self-aware B-movie, because Jordan doesn't seem to be fully cognisant that it's campy schlock. Huppert's performance elevates the material significantly, but even she can't paper over all the cracks. It's been 23 years since Jordan has made anything significant, and on the evidence of his last few films, it's going to be a while before he does so again.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GreatMartin

Mar 5, 2019

Greta, in the studio synopsis, is described as an 'eccentric French piano player' and Isabelle Huppert playing her could have taught Baby Jane Bette Davis a few things in playing/being crazy. This is a female dominated film with, more or less, cameos by Stephen Rhea as a private detectiveGreta, in the studio synopsis, is described as an 'eccentric French piano player' and Isabelle Huppert playing her could have taught Baby Jane Bette Davis a few things in playing/being crazy. This is a female dominated film with, more or less, cameos by Stephen Rhea as a private detective andan estranged dad played by Colm Feore. His daughter, Francis, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, rooms with Erica, played by Maika Monroe, her best friend who has a spacious brick apartment bought by her father in New York City. Francis finds Greta's purse on a subway and returns it to her and to say anything more would spoil the craziness, that makes no sense but is a lot of fun to watch and all will be forgotten by the time you leave the theatre. Well, not all, because watching Isabelle Huppert flipping a table, no spoiler as it is in the preview as is something she does with music that you will laugh at with guilt feelings, maybe!

Neil Jordon, a favorite director of mine since "The Crying Game", adds his very odd take on people of all kinds and he has willing accomplices with his actresses, especially, again, with Isabelle Huppert. His direction, and her acting, certainly aren't Oscar winners let alone contenders, but they are certainly entertaining.

There are many holes in the screenplay written by Jordon and Ray Wright and many scenes you will laugh at which I don't think was intended. Plus if you want violence and jump out of your seat surprises you may or may not find them here depending on your ability to suspend belief at the movies.

Did I like "Greta"? Do I recommend "Greta"? Yes and no--how's that for being definite? Or is it a 'red herring' you might find in the movie?… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Brent_Marchant

Mar 2, 2019

Is it a psychological thriller? A campy romp? Well, that's what the film itself is unable to decide. While it does each of those things well, it doesn't mesh them together at all effectively, abruptly switching gears from the former into the latter in the final act. Had director Neil JordanIs it a psychological thriller? A campy romp? Well, that's what the film itself is unable to decide. While it does each of those things well, it doesn't mesh them together at all effectively, abruptly switching gears from the former into the latter in the final act. Had director Neil Jordan decided which of these approaches he wanted to use, he would have had a much better picture on his hands. Alas, though, we have a film that's almost as schizophrenic as one of its two principals. Despite these issues, one can't help but commend Isabelle Huppert for her moxie in being willing to yet again take on a part where she's willing to do anything and do it well. It's too bad, though, that she didn't have a better vehicle here to show off what she can really do.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Tehemai

Mar 9, 2019

One of the worst movies of the genre I've ever seen. Nonsensical writing for the characters and to say there are major glaring plotholes would be the understatement of the century. How such a script ever got approved is beyond me, it genuinely feels like it was written by a child. And if itOne of the worst movies of the genre I've ever seen. Nonsensical writing for the characters and to say there are major glaring plotholes would be the understatement of the century. How such a script ever got approved is beyond me, it genuinely feels like it was written by a child. And if it weren't for the music so desperately trying to sell you on the "standing around MENACINGLY" type scenes, you may find yourself pondering whether the movie was originally intended as a spoof of the genre.… Expand

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

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