Respond to these rapid questions in our Greta quiz and we will tell you which Greta character you are. Play it now.
If the great Isabelle Huppert can emerge from her acclaimed performance in “Elle” with enough industry clout to land a supporting role in a project that would almost certainly not exist if she hadn’t said yes to it, it’s a sign of progress. It is the year 2019, and “Greta,” a thriller directed and co-written by Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game”), is a modern take on a popular sub-genre from a specific period in film history, the 1980s and 1990s. Multiplexes were never short of absurd thrillers about law-abiding people who were threatened by agents of chaos who had sympathetic backstories but were so cruel and frightening that the audience could cheer their deaths without feeling bad about themselves. Fatal Attraction, “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,” “Unlawful Entry,” Martin Scorsese’s remake of “Cape Fear,” “Basic Instinct,” and other films in this vein were heaven-sent for talented actors looking for a chance to let their hair down and have some naughty fun on the big screen. ‘Greta,’ a film that could have been released during the era of MTV veejays and VCRs, appears to have given Huppert a wonderful time in her role as the title character.
After discovering a designer handbag on a subway car and returning it to its owner, Frances McCullen (Chloe Grace Moretz), a young single New Yorker who lives with her wealthy friend Erika (Maika Monroe), the plot of the film is set in motion. Greta is a French-born piano teacher who recently became a widow. She lives alone in a beautiful old house where she enjoys playing Chopin and Beethoven. It just so happens that Frances has recently experienced the death of her own mother. The women settle into a relationship that is a facsimile of a mother-daughter one (a dynamic that Jordan has explored in other films, notably “Byzantium”). Frances even assists Greta in the adoption of a dog.
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Greta Quiz
Without a doubt, this film would not have been marketed as a thriller if Greta had been a sweet but lonely woman simply looking for companionship. Sure enough, Frances discovers that Greta is a malicious figure who has lured others into this type of trap in the past—but by the time she has done the mental calculations, it is too late to save herself from the situation. Greta digs her claws into the ground. And Huppert is given the opportunity to let her hair down and deliver the kind of impish, over-the-top, and at times brazenly self-centered performance that allowed Jack Nicholson to buy himself a few more houses.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this Greta quiz.
About the quiz
Besides portraying unconventional relationships in a sophisticated manner, Jordan is also a fan of various genres of film. He made his feature film debut with a werewolf film (“The Company of Wolves”) and has successfully incorporated horror elements into non-horror films. He enjoys staging jump scares and filming sensuous images of mangled flesh and blood spilled on the screen. “Greta” possesses a great deal of it. If Huppert weren’t there, pirouetting her way through the script, the film might feel a little too mechanical. That’s because all of the characters except Greta are thinly drawn (including Frances, who is a distressed ingenue that not even Moretz can save). She’s always on the lookout for the unexpected detail that will elevate a scene, such as the absentminded, sing-song tone she adopts when telling Frances, “A woman is known by her shoes and her gloves, and we are nothing if not ladies!” or the way she literally dances while dishing out violence, with the camera dipping to floor level to capture her footwork, among other things.
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This is a ridiculous film that is made with the intent of being ridiculous. It’s difficult to tell whether Jordan or Huppert winks at the audience more frequently. Greta endures physical punishment that would render a team of Clydesdales immobile and keeps on going—but it’s a lot of fun, especially near the end when the plot’s noose tightens, drawing in supporting players (including a police detective played by longtime Jordan repertory company member Stephen Rea) and transforming Greta’s home into a de facto haunted house, complete with secrets and traps. You can see Jordan’s lips trembling slightly as she comes up against the edge of Huppert’s face during a terrifying scene near the end of the film. She has a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth and her lips are slightly trembling too. It’s the expression of a woman who is struggling to keep her laughter in check.
For more personality quizzes check this: The Lighthouse Quiz.
