Greta, psycho-drama

Director Neil Jordan created an unsettling psychological cat-and-mouse game with Greta, a stylish neo-noir with Hitchcockian overtones.

From its bleak Montreal settings, lined with rainbow-coloured autumn leaves, we are drawn into an intricate web of suspicion.

Isabelle Huppert is at her best in the sinister role of the title character, a mild-mannered French piano teacher who hides a monstrous obsession beneath her mannerisms.

In every scene, she hints at new layers of menace with her snaky smile and calculating glances.

Chloë Grace Moretz is equally compelling as Frances, the young woman who is drawn into Greta's webs and is on the verge of paranoia as she tries to break free.

The evolving power dynamic between these two extraordinary actresses engages from the start.

Jordan carefully dodges thriller clichés and keeps us expectant at every unsettling twist and turn down dark alleyways, displaying his mastery of simmering tension and frayed nerves.

Greta is a chilling modern fairy tale for the #MeToo era that gets under your skin. Masterful.

A perfectly tuned psycho-drama that proves psychological horrors can be as creepy as any slasher. Jordan and his stars deliver a moody, unsettling modern classic that demands repeated viewings to absorb its multiple layers of implied menace. Sadly, many of the major awards overlooked Greta, failing to recognise Isabelle Huppert's riveting, unsettling performance as one of the best in recent years. However, director Neil Jordan rightly received critical acclaim.

Financially, with a modest budget of $5 million, Greta was an unexpected success. It grossed over $35 million worldwide, proving that audiences appreciate a taut, sophisticated thriller in the midst of Marvel fatigue.

Huppert and Grace Moretz also received individual accolades on the festival circuit. Proving that Greta struck a chord with discerning cinephiles, attracted by Jordan's masterful manipulation of shadows and subtext.