TORONTO – Isabelle Huppert doesn’t make films in the English language that often, but when she does it’s always a treat for her legion of non-French speaking fans. There is a cult that worship at the altar of the iconic actress and, hey, you can’t blame them. Few can captivate the screen without saying a word like Huppert can. After a dreadful misfire earlier this year (we’re looking at you “Eva”) we’re happy to report she’s given her fans another role to relish as the title character in Neil Jordan’s “Greta,” which debuted at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday.
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The movie begins with Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz, pretty close to miscast), a struggling Manhattan waitress, finding a distinctive looking handbag on a subway car. She brings the purse home to the gorgeous loft she’s sharing with her wealthy college friend, Erica (Maika Monroe Buckley, scene stealer). Who thinks she should keep the wad of money inside it and the bag itself. That doesn’t sit well with Frances who insists she return it to its owner, Greta (Isabelle Huppert), whose ID in the purse includes her street address.
When Frances enters Greta’s secluded Brooklyn apartment it’s clear to anyone who has seen at least one horror movie in their lives that something is way off. Both Greta’s husband and daughter are dead. There are strange noises from the wall behind the piano (of course the neighbors are renovating) and Greta seems intent on becoming a bit too chummy with Frances a bit too quickly. The screenplay has already informed us earlier that unlike her roommate, Frances is kind and trustworthy because she is from Boston (um, sure). So, when the idea of assisting the Greta suggest Frances help her find a dog at a local shelter we already know to assume our heroine is just being polite when she agrees to accompany her.
Erica, on the other hand, sees red flags everywhere and wonders if Frances is doing this just because she’s hasn’t come to terms with the recent passing of her own mother. Hurt by Erica’s on point observation, Frances storms off and helps Greta pick out a dog anyway. After finding an adorable dog, the two women begin to hang out here and there. While spending one night making dinner Frances begins a search for some candles in Greta’s cabinets. That’s when she comes across a treasure trove of handbags identical to the one she returned. To make matters scarier, each bag have a post-it of a different girl’s name on them. As you’d expect this freaks Frances out and she leaves Greta’s place as quickly as she can. In fact, after explaining what happened to Erica, she attempts to cut things off with Frances, never intending to see her again. Oh, but you guessed it. Greta doesn’t give up so easily.
As the film progresses Greta begins to stalk Frances to dangerous extremes and nothing Frances does will stop her. She’s told by a police officer a restraining order will take months and even a batsh*t moment at her restaurant doesn’t slow Greta down. It’s when Frances tries to take things into he own hands that the film really takes a turn.
“Greta” is one of those thrillers where you see almost every twist coming, but the actors are so into it that you still get sucked in. Jordan and co-screenwriter Ray Wright are completely aware you’re figuring out where the movie is going so they throw in some unexpected twists upon twists upon twists that are surprisingly effective. Then again the filmmakers really aren’t really trying to reinvent the wheel.
The film is an actors showcase for Huppert who appears to be having a grand old time when Greta enters a psychological mode somewhere between Jennifer Jason Leigh in “Single White Female” and Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction.” To say the movie will eventually provide a wealth of meme worthy gifs because of Huppert’s performance is purely intended as a compliment.
Jordan throws in a few stylistic flourishes, but he’s in absolutely in slick commercial mode here. This movie is meant as entertainment pure and simple. He’s assisted by some fine camera work by Seamus McGarvey who, in particular, seems to enjoy lighting the elevator in Frances’ apartment building like it’s an Instagram photo op.
The only weak link in the movie is Moretz. The 21-year-old actress isn’t necessarily bad, but she also isn’t exactly noteworthy either. Moreover, as the film goes on you begin to wonder who else could have played this role and that’s because at time passes you want to root for Greta more than our gutsy heroine, Frances. To be fair, Huppert isn’t necessarily blowing Moretz off the screen, but it’s hard to believe that’s what Jordan intended.
Huppert is a marvel though. And at one point, after a devious move, Frances twirls around the room as Chopin plays in the background and you simply can’t help smiling. She knows she has the audience hooked and is enjoying every campy moment of it. [B]