This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
What Would You Like in Your Tea?
Plot Overview
Frances McCullen (Chloë Grace
Moretz) is a recent grad from a school
in Boston. She's now working as a waitress in a tony restaurant in
New York City. One day she finds a dark green leather purse left behind
on the subway. Lost and Found is closed so she brings it home.
Her savvy roommate Erica Penn (Maika Monroe) chides her for her
unwarranted involvement. Undaunted Frances returns it in person to
its grande dame owner Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert) who invites her
in for tea. They bond in a girly kind of way.
I once had an old widowed landlady who one day brought home a Hungarian chef. He cooked us meals and regaled us with his stories. When I tried to photograph him, I found he was extremely camera shy; just did not want to have his picture taken. When he wanted to marry my landlady, she had him investigated and found that he had mob ties and had married a series of widows and then drained them of all their assets.
Greta claimed she was lonely because her daughter was back in France. When Frances manages to meet Greta's daughter's friend Alexa Hammond (Zawe Ashton), she finds that Greta's daughter had committed suicide and Greta is not French but Hungarian. Hmm. I'm thinking there are probably some skeletons in the old lady's closet and that Chloë is not the first girl she's done this to.
Ideology
Wise Solomon advises us to, (Eccl. 7:16) “Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?” Erica was a lot more suspicious of the found purse than was Frances and thought Frances was excessively polite to return it in person. Furthermore, Frances who eventually wanted to distance herself from Greta, was making herself overly wise by insisting Greta not refer to her as Cherie (French for dear) when ordering her restaurant meal from her. She was reading too much into the term. Although the Laws of Etiquette recommend against conversation with one's servers—“CHAPTER IX. DINNER. Never at any time, whether at a formal or a familiar dinner party, commit the impropriety of talking to a servant”—they do allow for necessary exchanges—“CHAPTER XIII. SERVANTS. Let your voice be composed, but avoid a tone of familiarity or sympathy with them.” In fact a perfunctory familiarity is de rigueur—“The perfection of manner, in this particular, is, to indicate by your language, that the performance is a favour, and by your tone that it is a matter of course.” As long as her tone isn't one of familiarity, Greta may call her waitress Cherie if she wants to. To be a weisenheimer about it, is to create a scene, ratcheting up the tension.
(Eccl. 7:17) “Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?” To go beyond the occasional white lie, used for social lubrication, and tell a whopper, as Greta discovered Frances doing about leaving town for a spell, can really push the crazy biddy over the edge, not recommended. And for Frances to have posted her home address on the Internet is foolish and possibly lethal.
For edification from the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, we read, (Sirach 9:13) “Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill; so shalt thou not doubt the fear of death: and if thou come unto him, make no fault, lest he take away thy life presently: remember that thou goest in the midst of snares, and that thou walkest upon the battlements of the city.” Frances was arguing with a very dangerous person in Greta. The purse Frances picked up was a snare such as one may find in big cities. The danger she was in was represented in the movie by a dream of a plunging elevator, and in Son of Sirach's book by a fall from the battlements of a city.
Production Values
“” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in the fall of 2018. It was released in theaters in 2019. It was written and directed by Neil Jordan, from a story by Ray Wright. It stars Isabelle Huppert, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Maika Monroe. They gave great performances all three. Moretz was well cast as a diminutive girl in a big city (“I'm an adult”) whom one feels like protecting.
MPAA rated it R for some violence and disturbing images. It was filmed in Dublin, Ireland, a country welcoming of the arts. A mellow score by Javier Navarrete permeated the background. “Greta” is a worthy psychological thriller that becomes a nail-biting horror flick halfway through.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
As if the world weren't frightening enough, now we've got to worry about returning ladies' purses. I'm not going to think critical thoughts about the TSA screening little old ladies any more. Go ahead and frisk them. You never know.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action-packed. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Special effects: Well done special effects. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone.
Works Cited
Scripture is taken from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software, print.
Apocryphal scripture taken from The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English. U.S.A.: Hendrickson Pub. Originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, Ltd., London, 1851. Print, WEB.
By a gentleman. THE LAWS OF ETIQUETTE; or, Short Rules and Reflections for Conduct in Society. Philadelphia: 1836. WEB.
bibles.n7nz.org