A Chillingly Effective Psychological Thriller

Kaleidoscope’s latest is on Focus Features & Sidney Kimmel Entertainment’s production of “Greta”.  Co-written & directed by Neil Jordan, the movie stars Isabelle Huppert, Chloe Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, Colm Feore, & Stephen Rea.  Rated ‘R’, it has a running time of 1 hr., 38 min. 

Frances (Moretz) is a young woman who is employed as a waitress & shares an apartment with her friend Erica (Monroe) in New York City.  Her mother has recently died from cancer.  Altho she still has her father, Chris (Feore), she still feels alone since he is a workaholic in his career.  One day, Frances is riding the subway & sees an abandoned handbag on a seat.  Concerned that the owner is in distress over losing it, Frances takes the bag & looks inside for identification.  Finding that it belongs to a Greta Hideg (Huppert), Frances travels to the accompanying address & meets Greta who is a piano teacher.  The 2 start to spend more time together as Frances looks at Greta as a type of mother-figure.  Erica explains to Frances that she thinks that Frances is growing too close to a woman whom she does not really know.  One day, as Frances is looking for something for Greta, she discovers a number of purses in a closet that are identical to the one Frances found.  Each has a girl's name & address inside, including the one that Frances found.  Frances confronts Greta over this & explains that she cannot see Great anymore.  Soon, thereafter, Greta begins stalking Frances: texting her, calling her, & standing outside Frances’s restaurant for hours.  This leads to Acts II & III & how Frances & Greta spar throughout. 

Veteran writer/director Jordan (‘The Crying Game’, ‘The Brave One’) directs with a style that is both classy & noirish.  Although set in bustling NYC, Jordan is able to achieve a claustrophobic atmosphere that well complements the film’s palette.  He has chosen locations that display how even in a city of 8 million, people such as Frances & Greta can lead solitary, lonely existences.  It is because of Jordan’s style that the film is elevated somewhat above the genre’s predictability.  The screenplay by Jordan & Ray Wright slowly builds suspense.  One is caught up in Greta’s mania and Frances’s fear & plight despite the writing’s use of familiar tropes.  Veteran French actress Huppert, who has had a long & distinguished career mostly in French cinema, paints a chilling & convincing portrait of a seriously disturbed, sociopathic/psychopathic woman.  One is convinced that if one were to meet such an unhinged woman, one could easily be sympathetic because of her sociopathy.  It is a performance that should be considered at Oscar time but probably will not because of the film’s genre aspects.  Moretz continues to show that she is one of our better young actresses & has transcended the curtain that many times prevents child actors from transitioning to adult roles.  She nicely persuades the audience of her vulnerability although she seems a bit too naïve, at times.  Still, Moretz is our effective surrogate.  Monroe is the liveliest character as she vainly tries to convince Frances that she is going down a ‘rabbit hole’ that may be irreversible.  Monroe’s Erica acts almost as a Greek chorus, commenting on & warning Frances of her actions.   Seamus McGarvey’s cinematography is a perfect adjunct for Jordan’s vision of isolation within an outward, bustling environment.  His camera focuses & pans, thus acting as a character of its own.  Javier Navarette’s score is moody & effective while not standing out in any area.  Nick Emerson’s editing is smooth & precise, eliciting jolts at appropriate times. 

I give “Greta” 3 out of 5 nuggets.  It is an effective psychological thriller that will keep one engaged in spite of some poorly executed actions by 1 or 2 of the characters.  One will also be mesmerized by Huppert’s stunning performance as the unhinged Greta.  You may not look at handbags, or solitary, older citizens, the same way after viewing this film.