Review | Greta film review: Isabelle Huppert terrorises Chloe Grace Moretz in campy horror
- Huppert’s hyperactive performance is the best thing about Greta as she moves from a mentally disturbed character into a full-blown Cruella De Vil
- But the film lacks originality, the scary scenes are duller than they should be and characters do the usual dumb things when under threat
2.5/5 stars
Greta may benefit from elegant cinematography and a typically intense performance by Isabelle Huppert, but that can’t hide the fact that it’s a basic B-movie dressed up to look like something more meaningful.
The story begins as a credible psychodrama, but gradually gets so absorbed in its own derangement that it ends up as a campy horror fantasy. That could be fun, but Irish director Neil Jordan always goes for the obvious. The scary scenes are therefore duller than they should be, and the ending is a bore. There are also many bewildering plot holes that even genre addicts will find annoying.
The story is set in a by-the-numbers version of New York that completely misses the feel of the city – mainly because most of it was filmed in Ireland. Frances (Chloe Grace Moretz) is a young Bostonian who is relatively new to the city, where she’s staying downtown in her best friend’s luxurious Tribeca loft.
Although Frances has been told to be careful in New York, she personally returns a handbag she finds on the subway to the home of its owner, the lonely Greta (Huppert). Greta’s lovelorn persona, and her mastery of Liszt’s passionate solo piano work Liebestraum No. 3, intrigue Frances, who has recently lost her mother, and the two strike up a close friendship.
But a chance discovery in Greta’s house leads Frances to believe there is something dangerously wrong with Greta. Disturbing events escalate after that.