Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Chloe Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, Jane Perry, Jeff Hiller, Parker Sawyers, Brandon Lee Sears, Arthur Lee, Rosa Escoda, Jessica Preddy, Thaddeus Daniels, Raven Dauda, Colm Feore, Zawe Ashton, Nagisa Morimoto, Navi Dhanoa, Elisa Berkley, Stephen Rea.

We befriend people in many ways, sometimes we find ourselves with a group of people based on need, desire, or common interests, we keep those people with us, the shared history becoming a tight bond, a hopefully long lasting and mutual love that sees goals accomplished and tears wiped away by a considerate mate, a pal to whom has your best interests at heart.

The problem in the modern age is that of isolation, we have become entrenched in a society that is either all or nothing with no place in between to stave of the scourge that loneliness can bring. The identifier of many social issues comes from this, a kind of psychosis being one into which stalking of either sex takes the guise of obsession and it becomes a dangerous game steeped in control.

A few films have studied this sense of seclusion but none perhaps had the absolute opportunity afforded to the film Greta and yet see it destroyed by the very hands that were supposed to build it up to a story that could have rivalled any number of films which seek to explain a darker side to a person’s actions.

When young waitress Frances McCullen returns a lost handbag she found on a train to a widow, the need for comfort is very much in evidence and yet as we have learned to expect in such moments before, rarely does such friendship end well, and in Greta, the exposition of loneliness and madness  is magnified by Isabelle Huppert in the title role.

It is to the impeccable Isabelle Huppert that the film is raised to one from dull routine to a place of near intrigue, a performance that captivates and frames the insanity that is brewed by the disease of loneliness, of wanting to maintain a face of calm collection, instead of showing that you have caved to the ruination of psychosis. If not for this incredible reading it surely must be conceded that the film lacks energy, it falls into meaningless dialogue and well-worn expressions, and because of this it flatters to deceive, and to corrupt the words of Greta when asked about her relationship with the young waitress, it is all promise that means nothing.

It is not seemly to speak ill of the dead, and to talk over the barely breathing is just as awkward a discussion to be had but if Greta is the only way we can discuss the fear that comes from such a premise, then perhaps we fail to understand what loneliness is, a disease brought in by society, one that can manifest itself in the ugliest of ways.

A good film not realised, a shame for all concerned.

Ian D. Hall