Greta Garbo: Siren of the Close-up

Abstract

“That face, that face, what was it about that face? You could have read into it all the secrets of a woman’s soul. You could read Eve, Cleopatra, Mata Hari. She became all women on the screen. Not on the sound stage. The miracle happened in that film emulsion. Who knows why? Marilyn Monroe had this same gift. That same trick of flesh impact – that is to say, their flesh registered for the camera and came across the screen as real flesh that you could touch, an image beyond photography.” – Billy Wilder