Greta Garbo's career had some highs and lows. A WOMAN OF AFFAIRS, CAMILLE and QUEEN Christina are some of her highs. CONQUEST, THE TEMPRESS and TWO FACED WOMAN are some of her lows. The lowest of the lows concerning Garbo's career is AS YOU DESIRE ME, a near total disaster from every aspect. The film's failure is not due to Garbo, of course, but due to the wacky, unfocused and corny direction of an almost improbable story.
The story is about this woman, who suffers from amnesia of sorts and when the movie begins, Garbo plays Zara, a famous singer in Budapest(!). She's convinced by this total stranger that she's actually another person and decides to follow him, wanting to run away from her cruel manager/lover, badly played by Erik Von Stroheim. Once Zara, or Maria, arrives at her new (or old) place, the film is nearly unwatchable. It's so corny and badly acted by everyone that the silly plot seems that much sillier.
The direction is horrendous, shifting gears from comedy to serious melodrama to thriller of sorts. It just doesn't know what it wants to be and we the viewer suffer from watching this. The beginning (including the opening credits) is upbeat like a comedy. Once the story moves to the estate, it becomes uber melodramatic (think of daytime soaps but much worse!) and then changes tone completely during the climax. What's amazing is the director didn't get one good performance from any of the actors, including the usually reliable Greta, who really overacts here. The whole cast, with Melvin Douglas and the actress who played the sister, were really bad. Cringe inducing bad.
It's sad that AS YOU DESIRE ME is as bad as it it. Garbo didn't make many movies and one disaster is one disaster too many regarding her short career. And the story does have an interesting concept but in the end it was all for nothing. Aside from the fact that Garbo looks stunning(just look at the publicity stills from this movie), there's no point in watching it. Skip this one. You're not missing much.
The story is about this woman, who suffers from amnesia of sorts and when the movie begins, Garbo plays Zara, a famous singer in Budapest(!). She's convinced by this total stranger that she's actually another person and decides to follow him, wanting to run away from her cruel manager/lover, badly played by Erik Von Stroheim. Once Zara, or Maria, arrives at her new (or old) place, the film is nearly unwatchable. It's so corny and badly acted by everyone that the silly plot seems that much sillier.
The direction is horrendous, shifting gears from comedy to serious melodrama to thriller of sorts. It just doesn't know what it wants to be and we the viewer suffer from watching this. The beginning (including the opening credits) is upbeat like a comedy. Once the story moves to the estate, it becomes uber melodramatic (think of daytime soaps but much worse!) and then changes tone completely during the climax. What's amazing is the director didn't get one good performance from any of the actors, including the usually reliable Greta, who really overacts here. The whole cast, with Melvin Douglas and the actress who played the sister, were really bad. Cringe inducing bad.
It's sad that AS YOU DESIRE ME is as bad as it it. Garbo didn't make many movies and one disaster is one disaster too many regarding her short career. And the story does have an interesting concept but in the end it was all for nothing. Aside from the fact that Garbo looks stunning(just look at the publicity stills from this movie), there's no point in watching it. Skip this one. You're not missing much.