A version of Frank Sinatra's "Where Are You" wakes bittersweet New York feeling right at the beginning of "Greta". The subway's silver cars rush past; a restaurant sinks in the dim candlelight. And hovering above all those breathy lines, thematically fittingly sung by a female voice: "Where are you? / Where've you gone without me? / I thought you cared about me / Where are you?"
Two women, Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert) and Frances McCullen (Chloe Grace Moretz), wander through this New York, which sometimes seems like a mask. Manhattan and Brooklyn need to be differentiated by fewer settings. One, two shots of the bridges that connect the two parts together in order to orient themselves.
That works. And it makes clear how familiar New York is in its geographical identifications. So familiar that a director like Neil Jordan, who is an Irishman, does not even have to shoot in New York to make a movie that plays in New York. Only a few outdoor shots are enough to create the effect. Most of what is seen in "Greta" was staged in Dublin and Toronto.
photo gallery
10 pictures
"Greta" by Neil Jordan: TrappedJordan, whose most famous film is perhaps "Interview with a Vampire" (1994), skilfully staged here, placing not only on urban recognition effects, but also on the expectations of a public accustomed to the psycho-thriller genre. And moreover, playing with a horror subgenre that hears the beautiful name Psycho-biddy.
In him, a witch-like old woman teaches fear. The special feature: in most cases it is about very glamorous phenomena. Like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in Robert Aldrich's "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" (1962), or, less well, Shelly Winters as a love-hungry kingdom with child under the roof in Curtis Harrington's fairytale "Who Slew Auntie Roo?" from 1971.
Isabelle Huppert has a lot in common with Greta Hideg, especially with this Auntie Roo. Both have to bear the loss of a daughter. And both lure orphans - in the case of Frances a half-orphan - into the house to alleviate the loss, if not compensate. Warb Auntie Roo with opulent Christmas celebrations for the favor of the poor children from the next home, Greta puts out her traps in the form of handsome women's handbags, which they placed, provided with an address card, in subway compartments. There they lurk, apparently successful, at young girls like Frances.
"Greta"
Ireland / USA 2018
Director: Neil Jordan
Book: Ray Wright, Neil Jordan
Performers: Isabelle Huppert, Chloe Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe
Production: Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Lawrence Bender Productions, Little Wave Productions
Rental: Ascot Elite Entertainment Group
FSK: from 16 years
Length: 98 minutes
Start: 16 May 2019
And, unquestioningly, after meeting Greta, an elderly but distinctive Frenchwoman (or at least she pretends to be one of them), she is immediately ready to go for a coffee with her and trade risotto recipes, as Frances did initially. Only their best friend Erica Penn (Maika Monroe) seems to be a bit odd.
And as Greta's advances intensify, she's the one who knows, "The crazier they are, the harder they cling." Erica is the third installment in this strange girlfriend-adversary knot, a sexy yoga fanatic who gives Neil Jordan a bit more room to maneuver than a hand scorpion posture.
Anyway, here is next to the escalating story about stalker Greta (which was also provided with some necrophilic bonds), much more to discover than it initially makes the appearance. For example, the red star nailed to the wall, under which Frances settles in her spacious apartment in the district of Tribeca, and announces the threat of disaster. Because a short time later, a surprising fainting spell ensures that the Hungarian, which is Greta in reality, the well-off American from Worth Street to the east, so Brooklyn, can delay.
In the video: The trailer for "Greta"
capelight pictures / Ascot Elite
For example, "Greta" may still be strumming on a completely different keyboard, which is political in nature. It is also possible that this impression is due to a paranoia working in the background, which is not perfect, but always pleasurable in this film.