Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young woman who has recently moved to New York City, finds an abandoned bag on the subway. She decides to return it to its rightful owner, who turns out to be Greta (Isabelle Huppert), a friendly French piano teacher who is very grateful to the younger woman for her act of kindness. The two become good friends, especially considering they both represent someone the other has lost – for Frances, the charming and endearing older woman reminds her of her mother, who unfortunately passed away recently from cancer, and for Greta, Frances represents her daughter, who is apparently studying in Paris and isn’t in contact with her mother much. They become surrogates for important people both have lost, and find kindred spirits in their quiet, down-to-earth sensibilities that draws them together, despite the major age difference that is derided by those who find out about their friendship. However, Frances soon discovers there is a much darker side to Greta, with her friendly nature being a facade, used to hide a much darker personality that points towards a sinister history of abuse, manipulation and even murder. When she tries to cut ties from Greta, she begins to be taunted by the mysterious woman, who goes to any lengths to terrorize the younger girl by stalking her and ensuring that she is suitably intimidated, all to satiate her very sadistic desires. Frances is caught in the middle of Greta’s predatory trap, and it is only a matter of time before she is the next victim of a truly deranged individual who will do anything to keep her friends close, and her enemies closer.

Greta is the kind of film I feel was tailor-made for all of us that are self-professed devotees to the cult of high camp. There are few films that I found to have such an entertaining premise as this one – and the idea of Isabelle Huppert, one of the greatest actresses of her generation and the very epitome of the high standard of arthouse filmmaking, spending an hour and a half terrorizing Chloë Grace Moretz, an actress who has not been at the receiving end of much acclaim especially due to her history of forgettable performances, is almost too good to be true – but thankfully, someone was deranged enough to fund this glorious piece of nihilistic trash. Neil Jordan’s career may have taken a bit of a downturn, with his days of masterpieces like The Crying Game and The End of the Affair being far behind him, but he did manage to make a captivating dark comedy that serves as a return to the pulpy, B-movie thrillers of the 1990s, and along with Ma, Greta manages to establish itself as a worthwhile revival of a genre that is defined by disrepute and poor critical response but still retain a dedicated cult following. This film is one that is never going to receive wide acclaim, nor a viewership nearly as extensive as more well-made films featuring these two actresses in more traditional roles, but it is not that it even aimed to achieve some place amongst the folly of the cerebral and the highbrow it after all. It is a film that understands its limitations, even going so far as to openly celebrate the fact that it is, in no uncertain terms, nothing more than trashy fun that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and neither should the audience. It is a guilty pleasure of the highest standard, a film that is very much poorly-written, and a deeply convoluted mess, but purposefully so – and had it been more serious, Greta would not have been nearly as fun as it was, and whether this is due to Jordan’s decision to make something so extraordinarily insane, or the exceptionally campy performances from the two actresses remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: this is an unforgettable film, and whether that’s a positive or negative remains to be seen.

Isabelle Huppert is the only actress working today that could’ve effectively played the titular role in Greta without making it a farce – the role requires someone who can, for half the film, play the character with such maternal warmth and unrelenting elegance that we too fall victim to her charms, and then suddenly descend into an unhinged, uncontrollable frenzy of pure insanity that turns her into amongst the years most fearful, intimidating villains, all the while never appearing anything less than deeply authentic. She has played these kinds of unrestrained characters before in films such as The Piano Teacher and Elle, but not nearly with such ferocious lunacy – this is Huppert disregarding absolutely everything that made those other two performances so deceptively charming, and rather focusing on playing the titular character in a way that was more deranged than reality would normally allow – and considering she has the ability to play each of her characters with such steadfast conviction, it is hardly surprising that she gives a truly delicious performance that is never excessive, even when she is gloriously over-the-top. It’s doubtful that there is anyone alive that would call Greta career-best work for Huppert, especially considering her long history of great roles. However, this is the rare film that allows her the chance to actually have some fun, because like any great dramatic actress, seeing Huppert let loose is always entertaining, because when audiences would naturally expect her to show nuance, she goes the opposite direction, delivering an unbridled, hilariously intemperate performance that is truly entertaining, and the complete antithesis of her usual subtle style, which makes this an unexpectedly great performance that absolutely anyone who appreciates camp actressing will truly adore.

Acting across from Huppert in the other leading role is Chloë Grace Moretz, who is not necessarily the first choice of co-star for someone as towering in her talents as Huppert. In no uncertain terms, I have always found Moretz to be truly mediocre, an actress whose complete lack of subtletly results in the proverbial cogs being clearly visible in every single performance she gives. She’s not a particularly great actress, but she definitely is hardworking, and no matter how dull her performances may be, she does put in effort – Greta is the perfect film for Moretz, because people who enjoy her peculiar acting style will be happy to find her on top form, and those who have yet to be swayed by her unique charms will enjoy the idea of seeing her terrorized to near-insanity by the greatest actress of her generation. Regardless of what one thinks of Moretz, she certainly does what is required of the role, and for once she seems to develop some semblance of a personality rather than just playing another archetype, which does help us empathize with her and allows her final victory to be all the more triumphant. Moretz is clearly not a bad actress, but one that relied too much on the child-actor quality of being energetic and memorable, rather than developing skills that help her transition into an effective adult performer. Greta is one of a few films she has done recently that represents a considerable step forward for the actress, with her work in arthouse films like The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Suspiria showing that when given the opportunity, she is not entirely bad. Its a clear case of the opportunities she is given, and while Greta may not be particular audacious or the definition of quality filmmaking, it does give her the chance to not only act across from someone who is the epitome of prestige like Huppert (which helps elevate Moretz simply by association), but also to take on a more mature leading role, which does bode well for her future – she’s not quite there yet, but she is well on her way, and if this represents a new start to her lacklustre career, I’m fully in support of Moretz being given another chance to prove that she is not just another former child actress, but someone who can function as an independent performer of her own.

What is it about Greta that makes it so endlessly entertaining? I spoke about it extensively in my review for Ma (which I’ve already mentioned is the perfect companion piece to this film), but it almost feels like a nostalgic return to a bygone genre. In 2018, we saw a revitalization of the B-movie action film, with Hotel Artemis and Bad Times at the El Royale being brilliant homages to the pulpy exploitation films of the 1970s, with films like Assault on Precinct 13 and The Warriors being potent inspirations for these films. We’ve seen something similar here, with a revival of trashy psychological thrillers made in the late 1980s and early 1990s, usually those relegated to late night cable television and direct-to-video releases, which thrived on their predictable plots, poor writing and stilted acting. Greta is a film that pays tribute to all of these elements – the plot is so contrived, its almost impossible to be surprised by how this story transpires in any way, not to mention how this is amongst the most poorly-written films of the year. It would appear as if Neil Jordan, someone who used to be renowned for his fascinating blend of character-driven drama and noir-inspired crime storylines, almost intended to write an awful script, one where lines are repeated verbatim (“are you sure you’re not from the IRS” is said several times in a single scene) and the dialogue is awkward and uncomfortable. I’d sincerely hope that this was intentional because if someone who wrote something as magnificent as The Crying Game thought what he was writing in Greta was of the same standard, there’s cause for concern. This doesn’t mean it wasn’t without merits – Greta was nothing more than a diverting piece of trashy entertainment, so it only seems logical that the script would be purposefully poor to accommodate the glorified garbage underlying the film. Had this film been more well-written, the results wouldn’t felt almost unnatural. In many ways, Greta is effective precisely because it is deliberately bad – and just like with any of the pulpy masterpieces it pays tribute to, it wouldn’t have been as fun had it tried to be good.

You have to admire the conviction of everyone involved for their absolute dedication to composing this manifesto of absolute trash. In the end, Greta is not a film that going to be remembered for very long – it’s just a footnote for everyone involved, and will never be seen as the definitive work in their careers. However, it is a film worth watching precisely because it is one of the year’s most fun experiences, and everyone should be able to get some entertainment from it in some way. For fans of Huppert, it provides us with another terrific performance from the actress, who abandons all restraint and delivers a knockout performance that is almost a camp masterpiece all on its own (her glorious delivery of “I deserve better!” while causing a path of destruction through a restaurant still resonates through my mind) and serves to be one of her most entertaining turns. In terms of Chloë Grace Moretz, Greta proves to be one of her better performances where she is given a character with some depth and shows some range in terms of playing the role. Ultimately, Greta is not a particularly good film in traditional terms – in fact, it’s very often a convoluted mess, but one that thrives on this disorderly approach to filmmaking, where every bit of subtletly or restraint is effectively disposed in favour of excessive, pulpy thrills. This film isn’t very good, but its certainly a lot of fun – I will admit that it could’ve gone further in terms of the madness, but even in terms of what we received, this was still a positively energetic, frenetic piece of pure trash, and I adored its reckless disregard for decency in favour of cheap thrills and predictable narrative turns that served to make Greta one of the years most audacious films.