Thoughts on Garbo Talks

 On Hulu, I watched Garbo Talks, a 1984 drama by Sidney Lumet in which Anne Bancroft plays a woman dying of cancer whose last wish is to meet her idol Greta Garbo, and her son Ron Silver sacrifices his job and his marriage to search for the elusive star to make his mother happy.

It’s an 80s film that feels more like a 1970s film, the music has these Bacharach-like horns that feel very much like a 1970s TV show, and this style of drama and comedy feels out of place, it’s a little outdated even for its time. But I liked it a lot. It was a nice difference to see Ron Silver play a decent and nice person, even if he would go on to further excel in playing jerks and villains in movies like Blue Steel and Timecop.

Anne Brancroft is only in parts of the film, as most of the film is about her son on his quest and she’s in the hospital. It’s also a film of its time in which a doctor wouldn’t directly tell a woman she has cancer, but would tell her closest male relative, like a husband or son, instead, in a show of benevolent sexism. But she more than makes up for her limited screen time with this incredible monologue scene in which, after months of searching and getting blocked by gatekeepers, Silver finally meets Garbo (played by Tony-winning composer Betty Comden as a silent stand-in), brings her in to meet his mother, and Bancroft delivers this amazing scene in which she tells anecdotes of her life in which Garbo films just happened to be a part of. This excerpt from an IMDB review sums it up perfectly: “It is only then, in her emotional epiphany, that Ms. Bancroft reveals the delicate yet powerful theme of the film. It was never about Garbo. She was merely a symbol of the quest to find a unifying thread that gives meaning to a life remembered. The buildup may be tauntingly slow, but the payoff is astounding.”

Harvey Fierstein has a nice part in the film as a random guy that Silver meets while he goes to Fire Island to search for Garbo, it’s an endearing and sweet role in which he talks about his own connection to Garbo films as a charming and friendly stranger.