That kindly older lady? Turns out she’s a psycho stalker in ‘Greta’ | Movie review

The theme song of Greta is Franz Liszt’s famous piano piece “Liebestraum,” inspired by epic German poems describing saintly love, erotic love, and mature love.

Greta, though, goes for what’s behind door number four: creepy love.

Let’s face it, that’s the thriller fan’s favorite kind, having inspired a hundred enjoyably trashy movies from Single White Female to Swimfan and also entire cable networks.

Neil Jordan gives us a fancier version of the Lifetime staple in Greta, starring Chloe Grace Moretz as Frances, a lonely girl in the big city (purportedly Manhattan, but actually Dublin and Toronto), who finds a purse on the subway one day and returns it to its owner, a kindly older lady named Greta (Isabelle Huppert).

A kindly older lady who lives in what looks alarmingly like a lair — a dark, woody place, set back from the street, where Greta hammers at her vintage piano and explains away the weird bumping noises that come from the walls.

“Neighbors!” says Greta.

Frances doesn’t seem to notice any of the warning signs, which include the demented gleam in Greta’s eyes, put there by Huppert, who seems to know what kind of movie she’s in and, subsequently, has fun with it.

Less certain is Moretz, who was a lively presence in that Seth Rogen Neighbors sequel, but who seems strangely detached here, though in fairness the role requires her to be almost impossibly gullible. Most of the energy seems to have been drained from her body and transfused into Maika Monroe (It Follows), who plays Frances’ hyper and hypervigilant roommate. She spots stalker tendencies in Greta, and her hunch is, of course, correct. Greta turns out not to be respectful of boundaries, showing up uninvited at Frances’ home and job and continuing to loom even after being hauled away.

Greta modernizes this familiar scenario by showing how Frances’ cell phone is usurped as a means of harassment, an avenue worth pursuing. We see how the idea that your phone can monitor, follow, and photograph you, and thereby compile and disseminate a dangerous amount of private information that can be useful to a Greta, not to mention Mark Zuckerberg.

But that turns out to be a subject for another thriller. Greta goes for something clammier and more claustrophobic, and a little less satisfying. Jordan regular Stephen Rea limps in for a cameo, perhaps hoping to win the Martin Balsam Psycho award for private detectives with an unfortunate capacity for underestimation.

The ending has some table-turning energy, and makes innovative use of the Eiffel Tower, but has the disadvantage of being almost completely illogical.

Greta. Directed by Neil Jordan. With Isabelle Huppert, Chloe Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, and Colm Fiore. Distributed by Warner Bros

Running time: 1 hour, 38 mins.

Parents guide: R (violence).

Playing at: Area theaters.