GARBO TALKS
US, 1984, 100 minutes, Colour.
Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher, Catherine Hicks, Howard da Silva, Steven Hill, Harvey Feierstein, Hermione Gingold.
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Garbo Talks is a pleasing New York fairy tale. It pays tribute to the great character actress of the '30s. It relies on her image on screen (especially during the credits sequences, but throughout the film) as well as her enigmatic retirement and her living a recluse life in New York. Anne Bancroft plays yet another Jewish mother who finds that she is dying - and asks her accountant son if she can see Garbo before she dies. Ron Silver plays the exasperated son - and his efforts to find Garbo seem rather far-fetched, even if there is a happy ending. Carrie Fisher is his wife and Catherine Hicks an actress who works at the office. There is a good supporting cast, including some guest roles by Howard de Silva as a photographer, Harvey Feierstein as a homosexual on his way to Fire Island and Hermione Gingold as an ageing actress. (Anne Bancroft was to play Harvey Feierstein's mother in the film of his Torch Song Trilogy.)
The film was directed by Sidney Lumet in the mid'90s, the period of his successful films like The Verdict, Daniel, The Morning After.
1. Enjoyable New York story, sentiment and warmth? Movie nostalgia?
2. The use of New York City, the variety of locations, the city as a character? Cy Coleman's lilting score?
3. The title: Garbo and the facts about her, her career, her charisma, immortality? The sequences from her films, especially Camille? The still from Mata Hari? Her movies and the animated credits? Estelle's response? The films of the '20s and '30s? Estelle's own life linking with Garbo's career? Her memories of Queen Christina, Anna Christie? The replaying of Ninotchka? Garbo as a character in the film, gracious though elusive, compassionate, definite in visiting Estelle, listening to her, her final talking to Gilbert? (And the irony of Gilbert being called after John Gilbert?) The effect of the movies on American life and myths?
4. Anne Bancroft's portrait of Estelle: the animated credits, her verve, weeping at Camille, the story of her life, her protests, Gilbert's name, the wedding and the divorce, socially-minded, going to jail? Her not liking Lisa and the irony of her absence from the wedding? The zucchini and making her point? The loud builders and her telling them off? Going to dinner with Gilbert and Lisa, her manner? Her illness, the doctor, angry that he didn't tell her? Stubborn about which hospital to go to? Her wish to see Garbo? Her decline, her husband visiting but her not seeing him? The interview with Garbo: the five-minute-long single take, her memory of her life, recalling the details of her life for Garbo, speaking to Garbo, paying tribute to her and her reminiscences? Her recalling this for Gilbert? Her life and personality?
5. Gilbert as the son of his mother, quiet, with her, with his father, passive, Lisa and her complaints about New York, wanting to go to Los Angeles, his work and his being passively moved to another office, the actress and her friendship? Going for a sandwich? Bailing out his mother, visiting his father and his wife? Arguing with Lisa? The pleasant encounters with the actress? Clashes with his boss? The quest for Garbo: desperate, buying the books, ringing up Angelo, visiting his eccentric agent, the vigil at Garbo's apartment, getting the job delivering the food, going to Fire Island and the encounter on the boat, talking with the homosexual, glimpsing her on Fire Island, going to see Ninotchka, the social, trying to get Elizabeth Remick’s address, the phone calls, the actress helping him, the rehearsals of Romeo and Juliet, the information about the market, seeing her, his speech to Garbo, her immediately going, his success? Frantic with Lisa and her departure? Sharing the experience with the actress, the affair? Telling off his boss and starting a new life? Garbo greeting him in the park - Garbo talks?
6. The actress, pleasant, eccentric, the bond with Gilbert, helping him with the phone number, at the end?
7. Lisa and her Gucci taste. complaints in New York, her relationship with her parents, with Estelle, trying, getting more frantic, returning to L.A.?
8. Work, the boss and his demands, making Gilbert come to work early, even though nothing to do?
9. Estelle's ex-husband, his reminiscences about his life, love for Estelle, his need for quiet, the marriage with Clare, his going quietly to the hospital?
10. Angelo and his photography, unkempt, advice about Garbo, helping out? The eccentric agent and her cats, getting the money? Harvey Feirstein and the pathos of the homosexual, the friendliness, the trousers, the information about Garbo? Hermione Gingold as the ageing and eccentric actress? The exasperation of the rehearsal?
11. A blend of humour and pathos, unreality and reality, a fable, life and the movies in the 20th century?
