Comme tu me veux

At the end of the first epoch of Greta Garbo's sound work came the adaptation of a 1929 play by Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello. The not-so-happy resolution of the substance failed in the opening chapter supposedly set in Hungary in 1925 (originally set in Germany). In fact, it almost even hilariously failed wherein Garbo was supposed to be styled as a cabaret singer (Lola Lola style), and also sadly failed in the all-too-implausible ending. Nevertheless, As You Desire Me deserves some rehabilitation. The film, which was made despite Greta’s reluctance to remain in Hollywood, opened the way for the pleasant Garbo/Douglas couple. The two later sparkled together twice more, in Ninotchka and in Two-Faced Woman. Though they began as a beginner and a legend respectively, with the novice Douglas being led by a sovereignly passive performance from Garbo, giving a lot of space to the bold theme of amnesia and the return to one's former life without the recovery of coveted memory. However, it took only a few years and he became much more confident. He picked up experience alongside Marlene Dietrich in Angel and was the star of Arsène Lupin's comeback. As You Desire Me thus offers various good aspects, including a genuinely interesting decadent costume that exposes Garbo's back or gives her a rare opportunity to wear her hair blonde, but if history willed it and Garbo never returned to Hollywood, then that wouldn't be enough. Luckily, the next year Queen Christine arrived, but that's another story... (16/10/2016)