Greta

Frances McCullen is a young waitress living alone in New York after her mother’s death. She returns a lost handbag to Greta Hideg, a lonely widow who seems kind and says that she teaches piano. Frances welcomes Greta’s attention because she misses her mother, but the friendship becomes a trap when Greta starts following her. Greta drugs and locks Frances away while Frances’s father and roommate Erica try to find her. The film mixes a grim stalker story with dark jokes, strange music, and fairy-tale images.

The film puts three women at the center of a thriller that usually uses a male stalker and a female victim. Greta and Frances build a twisted mother-and-daughter bond, and Greta tries to replace her dead daughter with Frances. The story gives its main danger, rescue effort, and fight for survival to women, while the police fail to help quickly. This female focus is a clear modern gender choice, but the film uses it as a thriller hook instead of a speech about politics or identity.