Poor Greta Garbo would turn over in her (lesbian) grave if she knew how her name was being taken in vain in this rather turgid queer Brazilian drama. Its the feature film debut of writer/director Armando Praça who claims he adapted it from a stage comedy, in which we think he means he drained every last bit of humor out of it.
It’s the story of 70-something-year-old-nurse Pedro (Marco Nanini) who we first see in an ambulance accompanying his transgender girlpal Daniela (Denise Weinberg) to hospital as her one remaining kidney is failing . The hospital is jam packed and they refuse to even consider Daniela for a bed in the women’s ward.
So Pedro takes it upon himself to find a spare bed in the men’s ward, but the latest patient has just taken the last one. Jean (Demick Lopes) is a desperate criminal wanted for murder so there is a policeman placed in the hallways to keep an eye on him.. However Pedro helps him escape so that Daniela can have the bed, and as Jean has nowhere to go, he lets him stay is his apartment for the night.
The one night turns into two and as a way of payment Pedro insists that Jean penetrates him whilst addressing him as Greta Garbo. At first it is a convenient arrangement which neither party really seems to enjoy but it is obvious it cannot last especially with the police investigating the escape moving in on Pedro.
The problem with Greta is that it is so hard to relate to any of the characters, or have the slightest sympathy for their plight, even poor dying Daniela. The only thing ‘Greta’ has going for it is the amount of full frontal nudity and explicit sex, but after all you can get from watching porn. And without all the angst.
