What was Garbo's appeal?

I was never a fan of Garbo. She always looked gloomy and as if she was brooding and constantly dissatisfied with life.

I've tried watching her films but she just seemed too self-absorded.

I never understood her appeal. Of course, I'm no movie critic and my level of critical thinking is about as deep as a piece of cheap plywood.

Maybe someone could give me some insight to the Garbo's appeal.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by eddy on January 6, 2024 at 7:55pm

Far be it from me to champion Garbo. I do like some of her films....some not so much. It's a shame she walked away from the business after the critical panning of Two-Faced Woman. Would have been nice to have seen her go out with a triumph (same with Norma Shearer who had a bomb for her last film as well).

Here's a good, relatively recent article on her in the New Yorker which attempts to answer your question (lol) :

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/what-was-so-special-a...