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What a waste
of the best years of my life.

Always alone.

It was so stupid
not be able to partake more.

No.

Now I'm just a gypsy.

Living a life apart.

- Hello.
- Hello, Claire.

- This is Mr Green.
- Mr Green. Yes.

- Is Ms Garbo there?
- No, I'm awfully sorry, she's out.

She won't be back,

er, not before 12:00.

- Not before 12:00?
- No.

All right. Well, I'll try her
a little after 12:00, then.

- Thank you very much. Goodbye.
- Bye-bye.

Greta Garbo...

Sounds kind of familiar, right?

A Hollywood icon.

A poster girl from
the Golden Age of Cinema.

But as the years pass,

her fanbase gets smaller.

And like all once greats,

she'll become just

an iconic image.

We all have our time here on Earth.

The greats today
will one day be forgotten.

Only a few will achieve success so great

they'll be remembered
long after they're gone.

But as time passes,

so does the truth.

And what we are left with

is a myth.

In her time,

Garbo was the most
famous woman in the world,

smashed all the glass ceilings

and became one of Hollywood's
most bankable stars,

the highest-earning actor of her time.

And the most extraordinary part

is that she came from nothing.

A real rags-to-riches story.

Overcoming childhood poverty,

lining up at food banks,
relying on handouts.

Garbo went on to be scouted to model
while working at a department store.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

No one came close
to commanding the power

that she held in Hollywood.

She could have done anything she wanted.

But at the absolute height of her fame,

she disappeared.

One day, the world's biggest star.

The next day... gone.

Why she stopped and where she went

have remained a mystery to this day.

When a queen gives up her throne,

she becomes a private person.

She frees herself from all the myths
and legends that burden majesty.

She gradually passes into history.

But a film star like Greta Garbo

finds that her stardom
will not let people forget her.

What is the Garbo legend?

Why would
one of the world's most famous

and most talented actresses

just stop like that?

She was a clever lady,

and she had decided
to withdraw from publicity

and from public life, and that was it.

Everybody else just wanted
to make more movies and stay on top,

and she just wanted to get out of there.

She never thinks
she's gonna be a big star like she became.

She wanted to be like anyone else.
She just wanted to act.

It was obvious
to everybody in the industry

that she was going to be transformative.

She is perfectly charming.

- Very humorous, very conscientious.
- Mmm.

Not very happy and genuinely shy.

- Were you competitors?
- No.

Nobody was ever a competitor.

- Is that true?
- Not with Garbo, no.

- Oh.
- No.

No, no.

She had a real mystique
and a real, real gift for movie acting.

You don't become
that famous for no reason.

Maybe to a young generation now,
who are into films,

Garbo is just a name.

When I went to Stockholm years ago,
they showed me in their...

in their film institute there,

two commercials for bread that
she made to be shown in movie theatres.

There was this great galumphing...

Swedish cow...

...having a picnic.
There was nothing to show you

that you were looking at
the most divine creature

who would ever be on the screen.

And two years later, she was Greta Garbo.

Now, I have no explanation
whatsoever for that.

Act One, June 21st, 1925.

A small tearoom in Stockholm, Sweden.

Sat in the back of a busy café,

a young Greta excitedly writes a letter
to her best friend, Mimi Pollak.

Darling, Mimi,

a few days ago Stiller called me
for the first time in months

and informed me about the trip to America.

How I would have loved
to talk to you before this.

If you knew how good
it feels to have a person

who's so sweet towards me.

You're the only one, darling,
that I have really talked to

about what hurts.

Thank you for everything
you've done and been for me.

Until we'll meet again.

Don't forget me.

My grandmother,
she was from a rich family,

but Greta, she was in a poor family.

They met when they were 12, 13 years old.

They were close, very, very close.

When they don't have school,
they go outside and...

They picked up cigarettes
from the ground and smoked.

Oh, my God.

They played like all children.

They were so tight.

More tight than
a brother and sister, maybe.

They were... twins.

Er, they talked about everything.

The Gustafssons
lived in a Stockholm slum.

Both parents were
from rural farming communities

and moved to Stockholm looking for work.

Her father worked multiple jobs
to keep food on the table.

And at six years old,

Greta started working
as a newspaper seller.

I spent a lot
of time with the Gustafsson family.

Greta and her sister, Alva,
slept in the kitchen,

while their parents slept
in the living room.

Greta's father worked nights
and slept during the day,

so we had to be quiet
and mostly kept to the kitchen.

She grew up in part during World War I,

which was very difficult,
economically, in Sweden.

She had not had the chance
to go on to high school

because she was a working-class woman.

And that's when school ended,
unless your family had resources

for you to go to high school.

She worked in a number of barbershops.

Young women would lather up the guys
who were gonna get shaved,

and that was basically the job.

"They've written
a lot about me working

as a child at a barbershop,

lathering the faces of men to be shaved."

"But I didn't just work at one, but three,
mostly where they had the most customers."

"No one forced me to work."

"I gave all my earnings to my mother."

Greta was
obsessed with the theatre.

And from as young as six,

spent hours hanging outside
of stage doors in Stockholm,

desperate to get a glimpse
of the actors inside.

She and her friends
would put on their own plays

whenever they had the chance.

And at 13, they formed their
own theatre company called the Attic.

Her father became
very sick with a kidney disease,

and he died when she was
in her early teens.

"God, God, what a feeling."

"Someone you love is here,
then he's gone."

"Gone where you can't see him."

"Can't talk with him."

"Same flesh, same blood."

"Yet he's... he's gone...

never to return."

She was 14
when her father died.

Her sister, Alva, said she cried
herself to sleep every night

and had to stop herself
returning to his grave to check

he hadn't been buried alive.

So, it was just
her and the mother

and her sister,
whom she loved dearly, and the brother.

So, it's Alva was the sister,
and Sven was the brother.

They had dreams, both she and Alva,
of being actresses.

She was very charismatic,
and she got a job

when she was like, I don't know,
14, 15 working at PUB,

which was a department store
in Stockholm, and she was selling hats.

Can you imagine me
as a shop girl?

But don't worry,

I haven't given up
my dreams about the theatre.

I'm just as faithful as before.

Working for a department store

was considered a really
prestigious working-class job,

because it wasn't as physically
rigorous as working in a factory.

"It was only a few days
from my 15th birthday

when I started the job at PUB,

and my mama said it was
the best birthday present I could get."

"My future would be assured."

"I would be able to work at PUB
for the rest of my life,

mmm, which might have been just as well."

"Ms Gustafsson was very ambitious,

quiet, self-restrained."

"Starting to dress herself
more ladylike," okay.

"Even lost some weight."

Of course.

"The 14-year-old helped
her family with her salary,

all while never giving up
her dreams of the theatre."

Okay.

She had only been there
for a couple of months,

and she ended up as the hat model.

Almost immediately after that,

she ended up cast in a film

that Ragnar Ring was making
for the store as a promotional film.

That's when
she got her first job acting,

if you want to put it like that.

She got a great
opportunity, and she seized it.

And then a director comes by,

and just sees her and picks
her out for her first feature.

At 15,
director Erik Petschler saw Greta

looking through the window of a shoe store

and offered her a small part
in his film, Peter the Tramp.

But her boss refused to let her
take the two weeks off for the shoot.

The director even went in and asked
the head of the company personally,

but they still refused.

"Miss Gustafsson, in spite of her youth,

is one of the best saleswomen
in my entire company."

She asked her mum what she thought,

and with her blessing,
she left her job at the department store.

"After we'd finished,
with no other filming prospects,

she was broke and unsure of what to do,

so I took her out to lunch and told her

that she should audition for a scholarship
to the Royal Dramatic Theatre."

"She was only 16
and not from a theatrical family

but was so anxious to succeed,

we all wanted to help her,

so we picked out
the parts for the audition

and spent hours in rehearsal together."

"It didn't matter
that she had no training."

"What really counts
in an actress is an ability

to feel and understand everyday life."

"In that sense, Greta Gustafsson
was extremely well-equipped."

She managed,
with the connection she got in the film,

to get into the theatre school,
which was a big, big deal.

This is
a book about the theatre school

at the Royal Drama House.

And on this book,

we have the picture
of Garbo and Mimi Pollak,

but here is the picture
of the whole class of 1922.

And it's a wonderful book, really,

which gives you all the information
about the theatre school.

And here you see Mimi Pollak,
there she is there, with the black hair.

And if I see it now,
upside down correctly,

I think that's Garbo over there.

And I think that's her.

My grandmother
gave Greta self-confidence,

and she always go to my grandmother
when she was feeling sad, or...

Maybe she wanted some help.

And they have those letters,
and they talk on the phone,

and then she feels safer.

"She was very quiet in the classroom."

"I remember that now and again,
she seemed very depressed."

"So when we were discussing
things she didn't understand,

which wasn't down to her intelligence,

but the fact that
her schooling had been meagre,

she was really self-conscious of that."

They think it was so fun.
It was so fun to act.

Greta and Mimi,
they were like all the other people,

like us.

But they have this passion
and created something big.

Acting, they love it.

And she has herself

said that this was probably
the happiest time in her life.

She never thinks she's gonna
be a big star like she became.

She wanted to be with other people

in the same Dramaten
and, you know, playful.

But then someone told her,

you have to be bigger than that,
and you can't be that in Sweden.

When she started,
she had a different view of...

The outsider's view of what acting was,

or what the career was,

or what her interests
in the field would be.

Those clearly evolved,
and a lot of that goes to Stiller.

In the summer of 1923,

Stiller was gonna film
the Tales of Gösta Berling.

And Stiller asked Gustaf Molander

at the acting school
if he had any actresses that he could use.

One actress that was
called Mona Mårtenson,

and then there was the other
actress called Greta Garbo,

but she was a little fat.

He's looking for someone
to play Elizabeth Dohna,

which is a critical supporting role,

because you're sort of the pivot
of the plot without being a star.

And you can see in his writing
to his co-author of the script

that he's considering using Garbo,

but he's worried, like,
is she gonna be able to do it?

Hmm.

"The school sent two students,

Mona Mårtenson,
the prettiest girl in the school,

and Greta, who although
wasn't considered pretty,

apparently had a lovely figure."

"They both tested."

"Everyone in the studio raved
about Mona, all except Stiller."

"He fell in love with Greta
and insisted on casting her

as the lead female
character in Gösta Berling."

"We nicknamed them 'Beauty and the Beast'
because she was really very attractive,

especially her figure."

"That's what attracted people in Sweden."

"Not her face."

"I can still see Stiller
and that young girl

forever pacing up and down
outside the studio."

"Stiller was always
teaching and preaching."

"Greta listening and learning."

"I never saw anyone more
earnest and eager to learn."

"With that hypnotic power
he seemed to have over her,

he could make her do extraordinary things,

but we had little idea
that right there and then,

he was making over her very soul."

Stiller was a... He was a really,
in a way, mean old bastard.

He was a sort of
dicta-tyrannical kind of director.

And he picked her up
for Gösta Berlings Saga.

And he tortured her, you know,
but he saw her potential.

But the potential of what? I mean,

what she had was she had beauty,
and she had terrific charisma.

One day during
a break from filming,

Stiller asked Greta to think
about changing her name.

He wanted something shorter, more modern,

something that could be
pronounced easily in any language.

On November 9th,

Anna Gustafsson signed a petition

to allow her daughter
to change her name to Greta Garbo.

You couldn't ask for a better mentor
in the sense that, you know,

she is clearly the younger,
less experienced person.

He's been successful,

he has a vision
of not just what he can do,

but what she can do.

She trusts him.

I don't want to say
anything bad about him,

but he was not good for her.

No, not at all.

She want his comfort.

"Take care of me.
I'm so lonely. I need a father figure."

That's why.

But he didn't see it like that.

He was older than her,
and she was a young girl.

And he wanted to make money off her,

of course,

because he'd say, see, he's a director,

he can see, "Wow,
I can make you a movie star."

And she's young,
"Oh, of course," she said.

But he was no good for her.

No.

The Gösta Berlings Saga

premiered on
March 10th, 1924, in Stockholm.

And Stiller was
by her side at the premiere.

At 22 years her senior,

their relationship became
the talk of the town.

He bought her a new fur coat

and helped her build
a more refined, glamorous wardrobe.

He drove her around in his sports car,

escorted her to social events,

and introduced her
to his large circle of friends

from the film and art world.

It's there, as they're doing this,

that Stiller realises that
she has just more talent

than anybody has realised.

Garbo was the light, light in the dark.

It's a kind of magic,
which of course, Hollywood recognised

and was looking for.

Elizabeth is played by a young woman

who will be a serious rival to the claim
of world's most beautiful film actress.

Her name is Greta Garbo.

And in the film,
she shows herself to be an artist

of extraordinary talent.

I'm told that both Greta and Lars Hanson
have just been snapped up by Hollywood.

"One of the
happiest days in my life

was when I got my first real film pay for
my role in the story of Gösta Berling."

"The first thing I did was
to buy a pearl necklace

and a ring for my mother."

Well, they
clearly were lovers at times.

I think it was kind of an
off-again-on-again relationship.

Stiller was gay.
I mean, he was gay

as the day is long,
but he fell in love with her.

Maybe he was in love with her,
but maybe he also was gay.

Maybe he was bi.

But you have to remember, in 1916,

he did the first movie about gay people,
about men falling in love.

Louis B. Mayer shows up.

Stiller was a famous director,

and he wants to get into Hollywood.

He was also a very
narcissistic type of guy,

you know, he wanted
to make it big, big, big, big, big.

And here comes Louis B. Mayer,
serves everything on the platter.

And he said, "Well, on one condition,
that I can bring my muse with me."

And reluctantly, Mayer allowed that.

So, Stiller and Garbo go together

to Hollywood.

"It was strange,
a very strange feeling.

"I was looking forward to something

that I've never seen."

"I did not know how it would turn out."

"My mother didn't say very much."

"She reassured me that I would be happiest
pursuing my dreams, wherever it took me."

"Alva was so upset
that I was going without her,

but I told her that
I'd be back in a year."

I didn't know anything
when I arrived in America.

I couldn't speak any English.
Stiller didn't either.

We stayed for ages
at the Commodore Hotel in New York.

I was able to borrow a dictionary,
a Swedish-English one.

In the beginning, I found it difficult
dealing with even the simplest matters.

Act Two, September 12th, 1925.

Exterior Los Angeles.

A steam train arrives from New York to LA.

Enter Garbo and Stiller,
ready to make their American debut

in their first Hollywood
production together.

One star leaves, another arrives.

Greta Garbo comes to California in 1925,

as a protégé of the great
Swedish director Mauritz Stiller.

Unknown in America at this time,

Garbo shows no evidence of shyness,
poses long and willingly, kisses babies.

This is Hollywood.

A place, an industry, a state of mind,

world capital and small town
all wrapped into one.

Hollywood is more than a trade name,

it is a symbol for magic,
entertainment and make-believe.

Here, magic carpets fly,
Rome is built in a day,

flowers bloom in profusion
throughout the seasons,

and romance is just around
the corner, any corner.

Let's have a good look
at the most publicised,

glamorised, criticised town on earth
where movies are made.

And of course, movies made Hollywood.

After months
of contract negotiations

and a new Garbo look in place,

it was now time to find her first project.

Stiller and Greta had been
hoping to work together

on her first American film.

But due to hold-ups with production,

MGM wanted her to take on the leading
role in Monta Bell's film, The Torrent.

Stiller persuaded her to accept,

and coached her daily
before filming began that November.

Garbo writes back to Sweden

that the American director
really doesn't have a conception

of her character's
internal thought process

the way Stiller would have,
and so she has to create it herself.

She's the one creating her character,
and all the nuances of her character

that so captured the women
who watched the film right from the start.

The Torrent premiered in both
New York and Los Angeles.

And for the first and last time,

Garbo attended the premiere
of one of her films.

The critics were blown away
and sure that she would become a big star.

"This girl has everything,"
one critic at Variety wrote.

Dearest Mimi,
I started my first film

with an American director.

Up at 6:00 and home at 6:00 or 7:00,
fall into bed and sometimes I can't sleep.

I never go out at night.
I'm just home at my dreary hotel.

If I only had
a little money, I'll go home.

But to come home without it,

then the old boring ball starts again.

The only thing that gives me happiness

is when I can wander down to the bank
and send something home to my family.

Oh, I've gotten a large
and elegant role, which is rare here.

I'm so... I'm so curious,

but... also anxious about it.

Little Lars,

you've been sweeter to me
than you can realise.

I think that fate sent you to be
my little guardian angel.

For what would I have done
if I'd not had Lars?

I tell you a simple but big, big thank you
for all the pleasure you've given me.

And thank you for all and everything.

I don't know if it's correct, but I think
we will see each other very soon.

My name is Anders Saxon.

I am the son of Lars.

I have a rather nice...

photo of my father.

This is... I just want to show
another picture of him here.

My grandfather was very nice
because he said to my father,

"Any time you want,
you can use my car, my Packard."

I have this card of the Packard.

I think he made a lot of acquaintances

because people like to be
driven around the city.

And I'm not certain
how he got to know Greta,

but that had something to do with the car.

She lived in the south of Stockholm

and he used to come along
with a car and fetch her.

They often went to the theatre

where she was practising.

And then he came and took her back home.

But sometimes also
they made trips around Stockholm,

and I think she was a bit
impressed about his car.

I heard that one of her first jobs
was that she was a soap girl,

and I wondered whether

maybe my father met her in that way.

That he wanted to, you know,

have his hair cut and he was shaved.

Maybe she was the one
who helped a bit with the soap.

It is so sweet of you
to remember me so often.

I'm not worth it.

I have so much,
and I'm so boundlessly unthankful.

Thank you, Lars,
for the letter and flowers.

It was so lovely, everything.

Even though you were
here such a short time,

there's an emptiness after you.

Think, Lars, for three years,
if they keep me,

I shall divide my time
between this work with film,

which is very difficult here,
and the hours I'm free to sit at home.

That is not a very happy prospect.

But... but when freedom comes,

it may make up for everything.

If you call my sister,

don't forget to tell her that
I'll be coming home very soon.

Tell her also that she can
be happy by living in Sweden,

and shouldn't think that
everywhere else is paradise.

I wondered a little about their relations,

if they were in love
with each other or not.

Saxon has been here,
as you must know.

He's very decent, and I always like him,
except for when he wants to marry me.

I have been, and continue to be,
unhappy regarding my heart.

I have humiliated myself,
been bitter, mean, mad.

But I will never escape
what fate has decreed for me.

I don't want to,
and I can't seek American company.

Therefore, it would be
an unbelievable improvement

to have someone love me.

I'd gladly bring over my sister

because you could probably never come.

But my mother will
certainly be sad and alone,

so I can't possibly do that.

I'm starting to work with Stiller soon.

I'm thankful and...

and afraid.

After delays, on March 24th,
Stiller began directing The Temptress.

On the first day of photography,

the director walked onto
the production stage

and was surprised to find
50 people awaiting his instructions,

and had no idea what most of them did.

For the first time in his life,
Stiller was not in control... of anything.

Thalberg tried to encourage him
to work within their studio structure.

He made the mistake
of thinking it was his film,

but it was their money and their film.

A huge and elaborate
Parisian circus set was built.

Hundreds of extras, colourful costumes,

trained trapeze artists performed
on whirling wheels of fire.

Suddenly, I saw a messenger boy
push through the crowd.

He handed his message to Stiller
who raised his arm to stop the action.

Garbo walked over, and silently
he handed her the message.

She sank into a chair crying,
his arm supporting her.

The message told her
that her sister, her beloved Alva,

only 23 years old,

was dead.

What Garbo will never know is that

Stiller held onto
that message for 24 hours

before delivering it to her.

Why he chose that moment,
only he will ever know.

They finished filming the scene,
and then she was allowed to go home.

She didn't come to work
for the next few days.

MGM sent her a message telling her

that they felt sorry for her
and for her loss,

but the show must go on,

and she would not be able
to travel to Sweden for the funeral.

I do want to try,

and I have promised myself
not to complain,

but... but I think that God has sent

all these sad, horrible
things that happened

over me simply because
I used to walk around unhappy

without a reason.

Suddenly, it feels as...

as if something has died inside of me.

After everything she did for me
to help me get where I am,

I was not even given the chance
to do something for her.

I was not given the chance
to be good to her, give her joy,

make her happy.

Eventually the show did go on,

but tensions on set
reached an explosive high.

Stiller's conception of The Temptress

was at odds with what Irving Thalberg
wanted the film to look like.

And by the time Stiller had filmed
about three-quarters of a film,

he and Irving Thalberg
had a long discussion

that ended in Stiller leaving MGM

and being replaced on the film.

And the film was shot again
from the beginning.

Mayer, you know, it takes,
I don't know how long it takes

before he even allows them to film.

And then they don't film together,
and he's separating them from each other.

And he discovers...

he discovers Garbo also, Mayer,
and he takes her from Stiller.

It's not so great that
Stiller went to another studio,

but it's probably best for him.

I would happily follow him
if I wasn't committed.

'Cause MGM is pretty rotten.

Many of the directors here
know nothing about emotional life.

It is not like when Stiller

was with and motivated me
to feel something.

In two days, I have to start
a new film with John Gilbert.

I'm swearing under my breath over it.

It is not the art I crave.

Louis B. Mayer sat behind his desk
and Greta looked up from her chair.

Mr Mayer,

I am tired.

I am sick.

I cannot take another picture right away.

I've had no time
to mourn my sister's death,

and I'm too nervous and anxious right now.

Also, I don't like the script,

and I do not want to play
another bad woman, or a...

vamp.

Mayer played the good guy

and acted as if he understood
how she was feeling,

then firmly told her

she should return to the studio
right away for costume fittings

or be considered in breach of contract.

Garbo walked out of his office
and went missing for two weeks.

When she finally returned,
she went straight

into rehearsals with Gilbert
without saying a word to anyone else.

Filming began without
any further problems.

When he and Garbo met
on the set of Flesh and the Devil,

it was really kind of true love.

I think they really resonated
with each other as personalities.

Their friendship would extend
far past their romance.

Sometimes their love scenes were so intense,

they didn't even hear
the director shout "cut."

After a while, everyone knew
there was something going on between them.

And Brown thought he had made
the greatest love scenes in movie history.

By the fall,
Garbo and Gilbert were inseparable.

He showed her what life
was like as a Hollywood star,

with all its excess and glamour.

Gilbert said that at one point in time,
Garbo had said to him,

"You're in love with Garbo the star."

And he'd said,
"Yes, I'm in love with Garbo the star."

"That's who I'm in love with."

"I want to be in love with Garbo,

and she just wants to retire
to a farm and have 11 children,

and that's our problem."

You ask about Gilbert.

Yes, there's been a lot in the newspapers,

but I can't do what everyone expects.

I'm not suited to be married to him.

I'm too temperamental, too nervous.

And soon enough, the man who married me

will discover that I'm brainless
and we want different things out of life.

He has a very attractive home
with everything you can want.

Tennis, swimming pool, servants, cars,

everything to make life easier.

But I still return home
to my old ugly hotel room.

Stiller hasn't said anything to me

about everything
that's been in the newspapers.

He's a strange, sweet person,
and thank goodness he hasn't asked.

Oh, I have a great deal
to tell you when we meet, darling.

But I hope it's the last time
Garbo goes in search of a love affair.

I hope to keep Stiller as he is,

for if he would leave me,
I don't know what I would do.

I assume that you've seen in the newspaper

that a certain actor and I
are going to be married, but I am not.

But they are wild for news,
so they have pounced on me.

I long for home so wildly sometimes.

It is so childish to be this way
when you still can't go home,

and instead,
should be thankful for the place

that millions would thank God for.

The Temptress premiered
at the Capitol Theatre in New York

on October 10th, 1926.

In its opening weeks,
it broke all box office records.

The consensus of opinion
was that Greta Garbo

was in great measure responsible.

Everyone had thought
it would take years for Greta

to be known in the United States.

But within a year of arriving,
she had exceeded everyone's expectations.

Garbo had arrived.

There is no question
after Flesh and the Devil

that she is one of
the leading stars in Hollywood.

The problem comes in
at this point in that MGM

realised they really
didn't have her services

under contract for very much longer,

and they wanted her
to sign a new contract,

and she didn't really want
to sign a new contract.

They were at loggerheads.

I have now been forced
to work with an American director.

I was actually considering
running away from it all.

But now I'm thinking, you know,

if my movie's a success...

...then I can bring
all my loved ones over here,

and then I could stay for two more years.

I do not earn much at the moment,
only enough to live all right.

But if it's a success, I might earn more,
and I'm hoping for a raise.

I do hope that I will get rich.

Garbo was not happy
with MGM at that point in time,

though she also really
understood that Hollywood

was where movies were made,

because in the end,
the compromise she would make

would be to sign a five-year deal.

It allowed for her to go back
to Sweden after a couple of movies.

She got paid well.

She only had to make three movies a year.

Everybody else was making
at least four movies a year.

So MGM really did a lot to keep her

as part of their stable of actors.

"Last night, Flesh
and the Devil premiered in New York City."

"Crowds were lining up Broadway and 51st."

"Even with a capacity
of 5,000 seats per show,

the Capitol was having
to turn away business."

"The leading contributor to this mania
is Hollywood's new sensation,

Greta Garbo."

My dear Greta,
I'm now leaving Hollywood.

You may, when I'm gone, bloom again.

The calm may return to your face.

Your eyes will not wrinkle so often.

Struck from your life, you are free.

I shall pray for you
that you may be protected from all evil,

and you should not think about me.

When they
went to the United States,

when they went in 1925,

with the Swedish American Line
from Gothenburg to New York,

there was like... Stiller was the head man
and Garbo was just a newcomer,

but during their stay
in Hollywood, it changed.

So, Stiller was in the eyes of Hollywood,

a difficult person,
but Garbo was the rising star.

So, Garbo's star was born then.

It was a tragedy for him

when he followed Greta Garbo to Hollywood,

and was not the big star any longer.

How awful this distance
and this longing for you are.

But why this letter to me?

Shouldn't everything be forgotten?

You know very well that you are free
and can act as you please.

But if you mean anything
by what you are writing to me,

I need to know.

What do you want?

I need to hear.

Because I wanted to leave you,
and this most of all for your sake.

But I will not do this, dear Greta,

not until I know how you feel,
what you are thinking.

If we should stay together,

we have to, which at first,
I was against, get married.

If not, there is no need
for you to explain why.

I will understand.

And I will keep you in my heart forever.

Farewell, Mauritz.

He was destroyed,
not by her, but by his love for her.

I mean, Mayer destroyed him.

And he was a great, great filmmaker.

It was during
the filming of Wild Orchids

that the telegram was
delivered to her dressing room.

"She never forgave me for not
being the one to tell her when he died."

"She took his death as an incredible blow
and couldn't even mention his name after."

"Always referring to him as,

'someone I have a great
devotion for, and always will.'"

"His death hit her
even harder than her sister's

because she felt guilty
for his painful and humiliating decline."

Greta lost two
very important people in her life.

The first one was her sister,
Alva, who died from cancer.

And the second blow was Stiller.

And I think she felt guilty also,

towards Stiller.

After both had died,
she didn't want to stay.

She wanted to go home.

She was his conception
of what he could create as an artist.

It's like his gift to the film industry
wasn't a film, it was Garbo.

The Garbo-Gilbert affair
translated into screen magic

and excited audiences
with their offscreen antics.

They were partnered up again in Love

and A Woman of Affairs.

Garbo's success
during this stage of her career

was not only based
on her looks or her talent,

but also on the public's
interest in them as a couple.

Away from factory life, I am tired
and I'm not interested in anything.

I'm hardly dreaming any more.

I'm currently working
like crazy on a new film.

As soon as it's done, I will travel

with or without permission
from this factory.

Do you think any audience
would like to see me?

Oh, I think I've turned into
a Swedish-American monster.

Lars, please write a couple of lines
before I'm crossing the Atlantic,

so I know if it's possible for us
to meet up in Paris.

This was a real invitation from her side

to be with him and maybe start,
you know, a more,

shall we say,
physical connection with him.

Mimi, it will be fun to see you.

I can't wait.

Do you think people will be
curious and come to the station?

I hope they don't.

Garbo finally managed to escape
and sail back to Sweden, full of dreams

that she could slide back
into her old life

with her friends from drama school
and the anonymity that preceded stardom.

Instead, she was mobbed upon arrival.

She come to Sweden
in 1928 to meet my grandmother.

They were going to a restaurant,
like ordinary people,

but, you know, people were,
"Woo-hoo, Greta Garbo. She's here now."

People were crazy.

I don't think she knows before

how it should be, how big she would be.

And I don't think she wanted to be that.

She wanted to be like anyone else.
She just wanted to act.

She goes to Sweden

and literally people
are following her down the street,

which is the last thing she expects.

She thought, at least
in Sweden, she'd be left alone.

Photographers are taking her picture,

which is new 'cause
the technology is changing.

Before that, a celebrity
would be photographed

standing at the place to be photographed.

Now they're being
followed through the park,

being followed on the street,
and it's very intrusive.

Seeing her friends
and family waiting for her

made any concerns about her privacy
with the press disappear.

She hugged her mum and her friends
tightly on the station platform,

surrounded by journalists
and photographers.

She enjoyed Christmas with her family

and reminisced with Dramaten friends,
Mimi, Mona, and Vera,

and spent time with her mother.

Greta arranged to view
Stiller's belongings

before they were sold,

then visited his and Alva's graves

before reluctantly returning to Hollywood.

It seems that they met in Paris,

and I think it was a bit curious

that when she came back to Sweden,

that they didn't seem to have met at all.

How come, when they were so near?

Strange.

I think it depended on
probably that he had

gotten engaged to another woman.

So, then it was finito.

"I'd been given
quite a few bits of good advice

about how to behave

if I ever got the chance
to meet Greta Garbo."

"Mostly these concerned the need
to avoid certain topics of conversation."

"Garbo was not, for example,

prepared to talk about her films
nor about her time in Hollywood."

"Her childhood and adolescence
were never to be touched on."

"Basically, you weren't allowed
to talk to her about anything."

I was working with Sven Broman.

He was the publisher
and was editor-in-chief

of the magazine, Året Runt.

It was glorious days.

It was like printing money
instead of printing magazines.

You could do almost anything
as long as you delivered.

Important content in the magazine

was celebrity stories
and celebrity pictures,

and we often published stories
about Greta Garbo and pictures.

There was a problem,
though, with those stories.

She never talked to journalists.

So, freelance journalists
invented captions from Greta Garbo,

and paparazzi photographed her,

you know, running like this
with black things

over her head, and so on.

Sven and I were talking about,
"Can't we do something better than this?"

Could it be possible to meet Greta Garbo?

To get in contact with Greta Garbo?

And that lighted a light within Mr Broman.

And he said,
"I will do that before I die."

The year 1927
brought to a close

the era of the silent film,

and the years in which unrestricted
by any language barriers,

Hollywood and its stars monopolised
the picture screens of all the world.

Late in '28, the talkies
get a firm grip on Hollywood.

Production methods
and equipment are revolutionised.

Cameramen are locked in soundproof booths,
ironically nicknamed ice boxes.

A new figure, the sound engineer,
dominates the set

and actors quail before him.

Crude microphones hang from the ceiling

or are concealed,
not too well, behind some prop,

like this one into which
Junior Coghlan is talking.

Life becomes more
complicated for everyone.

And for the poor cameraman,
shut up in his ice box,

it's one long Turkish bath.

Everybody was waiting for it.

What kind of voice would she have?

Not everybody could make the transition.

Part of it was the voice,
you had to have a voice that people liked,

and people loved Garbo's voice,
and it fit her so well.

And it was commented on by reviewers

how her voice was just the most
natural voice for her to have.

She has this quite dark voice,

but very sensual.

Her first line is classic.

Gimme a whiskey. Ginger ale on the side.

And don't be stingy, baby.

Well, shall I serve it in a pail?

Well, that suits me down to the ground.

She does Anna Christie,
which is a Eugene O'Neill film.

It's a very serious film, won a Pulitzer.

It's a very sophisticated play
that they film basically as a play.

It doesn't have a lot of fancy costumes.

There are no sets to speak of.

And it's a hit. It's a huge success.

Her popularity burst forth
from a Eugene O'Neill play.

It's hilarious.

You know that Swedish word...

Skol?

I guess I know that word
all right, all right.

Anna Christie.

Romance.

Where does she think she is, Russia?

Ah, here we have it.

The film where she first uses
what became her infamous line.

I want to be alone.

Where have you been?

I suppose I can cancel
the Vienna contract?

I just want to be alone.

You're gonna be very much alone,
my dear madam, this is the end.

She plays a ballerina
whose career is fading

in the Grand Hotel.

At this point, she'd become so famous
she started to be billed just "Garbo."

Mata Hari, Queen Christina,

both mildly scandalous for their treatment
of blatant eroticism and bisexuality.

Funnily enough, they went on
to become her most successful.

Before she was so big,

she was like anyone else,

but she was more like, hee,

you know, she was funny, happy.

Like anyone else, she wanted a boyfriend,
and she wanted to go to a restaurant

and eat and drink and dance
and like anyone else.

But then she was famous,

then, "Oh, no,
what's happening with my life?"

She wasn't happy then.

This was a woman who didn't have
an easy time being happy,

but she managed to get there.

And then because of her dreams

and the dreams of others, i.e. Stiller,

she was taken to a place

which destroyed her happiness, really.

But she couldn't resist it
because it offered her

what she had always dreamed of.

But that wasn't where she was happy.

Where she was happy was halfway there.

Sven was very enthusiastic
about finding Greta

and the enthusiasm spread
into the editorial offices of Året Runt.

And we formed a group called Letta Greta,

which means "finding Greta,"
it translated into that.

We gave each other ideas of expeditions
where we probably could find her.

So, one expedition went to Tista Slott

with a photographer and a reporter
to see if she appeared.

She didn't.

Sven and I decided to try another thing,
which was a little more glamorous,

and that was going to New York

and try to get into her house.

So, we took a yellow cab to the house,
and there was a doorman standing outside.

And we said, "Good morning,
we are going to visit Greta Garbo."

And he said, "Who?" He said, "Who?"

"Greta, you know, Greta Garbo,
she is living in this house,

you're the doorman."

"I've never heard of a person
called Greta Garbo."

So, we had to see that
this was also a failure.

This went on for a couple of years

and the Letta Greta group more and more
become a wining and dining group.

We looked and looked and looked.

We Letta'd and Letta'd and Letta'd,
but we didn't find Garbo.

Sven Broman, on his hand,
he didn't give up.

What is it? What does the gentleman want?

Accommodations for the night.

Why, only now this gentleman
has taken our last room, the best one.

Ever loyal,
Garbo insisted that her one-time lover

return to MGM and star
opposite her in Queen Christina.

She knew his contract was over

and his career was in a steady decline
due to his struggles with alcoholism.

I'm really mortified, sir.

The film is a fictionalised account

of the final years of the reign
of Queen Christina of Sweden.

In character, she spends
the first half of the film

dressed as a man.

When the Spanish courtier
mistakes her for one,

they end up sharing
a room together at an inn.

When he finally realises she's a woman,

they make love with her
still dressed in her male disguise.

This film is seen by many
as an example of early queer cinema.

Of course, it had to be.

I felt it. I felt it.

A presence.

Oh, life is so gloriously improbable.

Hmm.

God, it's been a difficult time.

It all went wrong.

I'm half done with Christina now,

and half done is what
she's going to be when she's finished.

It's impossible
to try and achieve anything

out of the ordinary here.

This is the last time I'm trying to do
something radical and artistic.

If only those who dream about Hollywood

knew how hard it is
to make anything truly creative.

On top of all the other absurdities,

they're marrying me for the 759th time.

Can you think of anything
lower than the people

who are in charge of this
so-called art I'm part of?

The closing scene
of Queen Christina

captures the full power
of a Garbo performance.

As Queen Christina
prepares to sail to Spain,

she stands stoically
at the front of the ship.

Her character leaving Sweden

knowing she can never return.

Three years after the film's release,

Jack Gilbert died from a heart attack.

He was only 38 years old.

The liner Kungsholm
sails into New York,

accompanied only by
a ship full of news reporters,

Garbo returns to America.

True to her silent reputation,

the Swedish star offers
nothing to the eager press,

though she barely gets
the chance to speak.

Here is where you see
a slightly more isolated Garbo

because of just the effects of celebrity.

It was clearly transitioning
because of the nature, I think,

of film and... and the nature of celebrity.

I mean, both of these things
are evolving at a breakneck pace.

In some ways she was
a curmudgeon, she didn't like that.

She wanted that separation.

She thought her art
should stand for itself,

and clearly fans thought otherwise.

There are people standing in her yard.

There are people following her in cars.

She was hounded
by the press and she couldn't...

She was a person
who needed to be by herself.

I give them
everything I got on the screen.

And why do they try to invade my privacy?

I've never done
anything to invite them in.

I don't do interviews.

I don't answer to their lies.

I don't play tennis
with the press, it leads to nowhere.

Yet still they chase, chase, chase.

In the paparazzi era,

this sort of almost meme
about her was created as this recluse.

Paparazzi talk about how
they would wait to get certain images

because they were selling a story.

They could sell a photo
for a hundred dollars,

but they could sell a story for 5,000.

And the story for Garbo was,
"Oh, she's hiding from us."

So they would literally
wait for her to cough

and put her hand up and sell that picture.

Now she also tried to ruin
pictures by putting her hand up,

so that it became a bit
of a game between them.

And then she started ignoring them.

She was called
the "Mysterious Woman" by so many.

And I think that helped, of course,

to create her identity as a star

more than as an actress,

but as the star during this period.

What is it you like about me?

My mind?

Mmm, no.

Oh...

You Desire Me.

The Painted Veil.

It's enchanting, nothing else.

I didn't know you were
going back to St Petersburg...

Anna Karenina.

Why this change of plan?

Why? To be where you are.

I could kill you for this.

Camille.

I'm not worth killing, Armand.

I've loved you as much as I could love.

If that wasn't enough.

Ninotchka.

A farce in which Garbo proved herself
a highly capable comic actor,

and for which she was Oscar-nominated.

It was the role closest
to her actual personality.

There's less acting
in Ninotchka in a sense

that she's just being herself.

Good evening, comrade.

This man is very old.

You shouldn't make him work.

He takes good care of that.

He looks sad. Do you whip him?

No, but the mere thought
makes my mouth water.

The day will come when you will be free.

Go to bed, little father.

We want to be alone.

Sort of this sly humour,
that's what comes through in Ninotchka.

The screen gets a new Garbo,
warm, human, beautiful.

Audiences laughing so hard,

there were patrons complaining
they couldn't hear the film.

Garbo catapulted back to the top
of the female MGM contingent.

Outside of love, everything else
seems to be a waste of time.

I like men.

Jumping right
off the back of Ninotchka,

the studios rushed forward
with another comedy

called Two-Faced Woman.

This time the budget was slashed,

the wardrobe designs
were not up to scratch,

and the studio refused
the director, George Cukor,

sufficient time to work with the actors.

The National Legion
of Decency rated the film

as "C" for condemned.

Citing its alleged immoral
and un-Christian attitude

toward marriage and its obligations.

Archbishop Spellman, the powerful
leader of the Church in New York,

published a letter
urging all faithful Catholics

to not go see it.

Other Church leaders soon followed.

It did okay in a box office sense.

It was not by itself an unsuccessful film,

and there's no indication
she ever intended to retire.

It was a dreadful movie.

Oh, no, no, this is a sign
for me to stop right here, now.

Her last movie,
she was not happy with that.

And... and then she said,
"I'll retire." She retired.

Oh, you frightened
the life out of me, Larry.

Aren't you under a misapprehension?

Larry, please.

I'm not Larry, I'm his twin brother.

Oh, darling Katherine.

In this harsh new world,
there's no place for me any more.

The most
beautiful woman in the world,

24 movies for MGM under her belt.

It's hard to believe that she deliberately

decided to stop acting
because of one lousy film.

She continued to keep producers hanging,

contemplating scripts,
and even testing for a few,

only to back out at the last minute.

She moved to New York, and in 1951,

became an American citizen.

And then the world's greatest movie star

became known
as the world's greatest recluse.

In 1955, she was awarded an honorary Oscar

for her luminous and unforgettable
screen performances.

Over the next 30 years,
despite what was said in the press,

she wasn't alone.

She had a long-term lover, George Schlee,

and partied with her friends
that were protective of her

and loyal, such as Charlie Chaplin,

President Kennedy and Onassis.

But the paparazzi never stopped following,

desperate for a scoop.

The story of my life
is about back entrances,

side doors, secret elevators,

and other ways of getting
in and out of places

so that people won't bother me.

She had had what I would think of as

much more intimate
relationships early in her life

with Stiller and Gilbert.

And then she meets Schlee, he was married,
and they had a very open relationship.

They travelled together frequently.

They were in New York, both of them
living in apartments in the same building.

I think their relationship
was very important

because it went on until Schlee's death.

Act Three,

New York, 1972.

Amongst the bustling crowds,
we spot Garbo.

Impeccably dressed, using a newspaper
to shield her face from the press.

Everything they had made up
about her, she had now become.

With Schlee and her brother,
Sven, now gone,

she retreated into herself.

Close friends rallied around her.

Cécile de Rothschild
set about finding her walking companions

and younger men to keep her company.

Enter Sam Green.

Hello, Claire.

- Er, Mr Green?
- This is Mr Green, yes.

- Just a second.
- Thank you.

- Hello, Mr Green.
- Well, hello.

Did you happen to see
my latest splash in the paper?

Yes, I did.
Well, splash is the right word.

- Are you mad?
- Er...

How about this...

And it leaves the impression
that I disrobed in public.

I couldn't even go bathing in public.

How did the photographer get you?
You must have been out and about.

Yes, thank God it's a long lens camera.

Otherwise, they would
have seen all the things

that are hanging with his...

With long lens camera
you don't see it so well.

In his social life, he was straight.

And he had to be straight

because he lived off very rich,
somewhat damaged women.

You'd visit some rather
vulnerable old grand dame

and there, of course, was Sam.

Somehow, he'd got in.

On the streets of New York, Garbo walked.

Locals would spot her
as she shopped at Bloomingdale's

and browsed the flea markets in SoHo.

Sightings of Garbo
around New York were common.

Most people in her
neighbourhood had stories

of interactions with her.

It was said that the watchers
were divided into two categories,

passive and active.

Some people would follow,

but most watched and let her be.

When Garbo walked,
it was convenient for her

to have a companion
because of obsessive fans.

Erm, you know, they did exist,
and she didn't hire security.

And so, a Sam Green
or a Raymond Daum walking with her,

or a Cecil Beaton, is a form of defence.

She was pretty clear
that they wanted to leverage

the relationship socially.

There was no shortage
of lovers vying for her attention.

Cecil Beaton,
who she cut out of her circle

after multiple leaks of her private life,

Mercedes de Acosta, a poet,

an apparent affair with Marlene Dietrich,
although Marlene claimed they'd never met.

Even at 80, she wasn't short of offers.

The only one
I wanted there was you.

I wanted you, we could have rented
a car and just run around the desert.

- Why me?
- Oh, because.

I... Er, you know why.

- [Garbo] No, I don't.
- Well, you do.

- I apparently don't.
- Well...

After all,
you don't know me very much.

Well, what I know I like,
and there's a great sort of, er, chemistry

- that I think is kind of fun.
- Is that all?

I... I really am terribly cheered up

- and have fun with you.
- That's all.

And... and you must know that.

You're an awfully
flippant young man, I must say.

- I... There's a...
- Just talking, talk...

about things and without knowing
anything about anything. That's terrible.

- Well...
- How do you know?

I have a feeling that...

Yeah,
and you get your head cut off.

When are we
going to walk in the snow?

I haven't the foggiest idea.

She was savvy with her money,
investing in property and art.

She had a huge collection,
which included three Renoirs.

As she receded from public view,
she quickly adapted into her new life,

partying with close friends

and holidaying under
an invented new persona

she called "Miss Harriet Brown."

Witty, talkative and apparently
flirtatious and charming,

under this guise,
she could do all the things

that she had always wanted to do
that fame had taken away.

After 1960, she would go
to Klosters, it's off-season,

she had a circle of friends there,

another group of people
who didn't talk about her.

So, she had sort of this
circle of activities that she did.

We got a clue, and the clue was

Ms Garbo seemed to go
to Klosters every summer,

'cause she wanted to avoid the heat.

And we got paparazzi pics
from Klosters every year

when she was running in the mountains and...

Terrible pictures, but it was Greta Garbo.

And she stayed every year
at the same hotel.

It was called Hotel Pardenn,
and she stayed in the same room.

Room 4110.

So, we were pretty close.

We knew she is there every summer
and maybe next summer.

So, Sven Broman and his wife, Si,

went to Hotel Pardenn
in Klosters and checked in.

And went to the dining room
to have luncheon.

And, oops, Greta Garbo was sitting there.

So, Sven started to nod at Greta Garbo,

and after one lunch or two,
she nodded back.

Then it was a matter of timing
when he should approach her,

because, I mean, he couldn't
sit there nodding for two weeks.

That wasn't the purpose of the trip.

It was to win her confidence

and made the first interview ever
after she had stopped meeting journalists.

"She was alone at lunch that day."

"When we had finished eating,
I went over to her table,

bowed and said,

'Would you like us to give
your love to Sweden?'"

To my taste I didn't think it
a very good line, but it worked.

Oh, so you are Swedish.

I have been sitting here looking at you.

But there are rarely any Swedes here,
So I was unsure.

A drink, perhaps?

Well, I don't know.

Are you staying here at the hotel?

His wife told me,
"I've never seen him so nervous."

"Ever."

Punctually at three o'clock,
a telephone call.

And when she called, she never said,
"It's Greta, or something,"

she always said, "It's me."

So, Si Broman, Sven Broman,
went hastily to the bar

and after couple of minutes,
Greta Garbo arrived.

"So, there we were,

sitting, waiting in the bar."

"In a quarter of an hour,
it would be five o'clock."

"I was sitting there as though
I had been turned to stone

looking at the entrance to the bar."

"Suddenly Garbo was
standing in the doorway."

Sven had prepared a better line
this time for the afternoon.

He rehearsed and said,

"When she's sitting down,

I would say, 'Would you
like to have a whiskey

with lots of ice on the side?'"

Unfortunately, she was faster than him.

So she ordered a vodka martini.

But he used his line anyway.

Imagine yourself that you are from Sweden,
but you've never met anyone from Sweden.

I can barely remember
when I last spoke Swedish.

Are you from Stockholm?

Yes, we live in Stockholm.

I miss Sweden so much.

But I can't return home.

I don't dare.

They chase me too much.

In this bar,
in this Hotel Pardenn,

in Klosters, Switzerland,
their friendship started.

Sweden was where she was happiest,

but she couldn't go back because

she was more famous
in Sweden than in the States.

And her fame lasted longer
in Sweden than in the States.

She couldn't get back her old life,
which you never can.

Once you make big decisions in life,
you can never go back, really,

and she couldn't.

She was anonymous in New York,

so that's where she stayed.

She had a circle of friends in New York.

She would come out to visit
my mom in particular, and us.

I think when you get
to when she's much older,

she becomes more frail.

She has pernicious anaemia,
which is a lifetime condition,

and, you know,
somewhat debilitative over time.

She's had a heart attack.
She's had breast cancer.

And so, yeah, her life
becomes somewhat more narrow,

and a lot of her friends pre-deceased her.

Greta had
to cut out a lot of friends

and acquaintances throughout her life,

mainly because they were using her
or selling stories for their gain.

I thought I could
trust you a little bit,

but I don't think so any more.

You're just like
the rest of the commoners.

It's not true.

What are you talking about?

One of your friends at some party.

- Yeah?
- And telling a story about me.

- It makes me sad.
- Are you sure?

- Are you really sure?
- Yeah.

I asked you specifically
not to tell it to anybody,

and it's all belittling
and making idiots out of people always.

And that's the sad part.

Right. Think of all of the stories

I could have told
to people all of these years,

- and I haven't told any.
- What stories?

I mean, there's nothing much to tell.

Well, there's nothing
much to tell, exactly.

I don't discuss my life

- or my anything with anybody.
- Oh, I know.

There were a lot of people
on the street that saw...

- You remember...
- Ah, Mr... Er, no, no, no, no.

No, I'm not trying to get out of anything,
but I don't know what I'm into.

That's what's so sad, you see.

It just makes things so contributing
to all the rest of the lies about one.

Greta's private world continued to narrow.

"In the summer of 1986,

the second year I had
the opportunity of meeting Garbo,

I put the inevitable question to her,

'Why was it that you stopped
filming so abruptly?'"

"I was tired of Hollywood
and did not like my work."

"There were many days
where I had to force myself

to go to the studio."

"I did not get any good scripts,
any good ideas for films."

"I actually went on filming
longer than I intended."

"I really wanted to live another life."

"I wanted to stop earlier,

but I'd been bound
to the terms of my contract."

"Were you so disappointed
with your last film, Two-Faced Woman,

that you gave it all up because of that?"

"No. That film was hardly
any worse than any other,

but I had started to abandon
my career a long time before that."

"But I still don't understand."

"Your films were a success
the whole world over."

"It must have been tempting
to continue when people idolised you."

"I always wanted to do my best."

"I got nothing free, I had to work hard."

"But I also got pursued and persecuted."

"I could never be left alone,
and I dreamt of being left in peace."

"I was only a girl when I started,

and after all, I never thought
that I had a childhood

like any other people."

"Then there was the press,
of which you, Mr Broman,

has been a representative,
which pursued me and never left me alone."

"That was no kind of life."

"It was not worth the price."

The acquiring,
the satisfaction of her dreams

really did make her unhappy, I would say.

And she left the only way
she could, by just abdicating.

She wanted Greta Gustafsson.

Not change her name.

Stay in Stockholm,

play in Dramaten,

and meet my grandmother and other friends,
Vera Schmiterlöw and so on.

Just have fun.

"Today I can really see that

at times I was both difficult and stupid."

"I regret the way I behaved."

"If I'd been able to make
some decent films,

if I'd been more in a position
to make the important decisions,

I would have been more fulfilled."

"I do realise now that
I was way too sensitive

during those first years in Hollywood."

"Nowadays, you can almost
fly back and forth every day."

"It's difficult for young
people to understand

how isolated you could feel."

"Sweden was far away,
and it was impossible to go home."

Sven and his wife were invited
to the Hudson apartment

where we had been
messing with the doorman.

They also met in Klosters every summer

until the last summer before she died.

The result was a book
called Conversations with Garbo.

It's uncertain if she ever read it,

'cause she died before
the book was published.

And by that, you can say
the Letta Greta expedition is over.

There are many different
versions of who Greta Garbo really was.

Funny and smart,
the life and soul of a party.

Sad and lonely, a bizarre hermit.

Everyone's interpretation
of who she was is just that.

Only Garbo knows the truth
behind the Garbo myth.

She never gave that away.

Perhaps that's why we still find her

so endlessly fascinating.

Maybe she got the most
she could out of life, you know.

Considering her...

The baggage from childhood,

considering the fact that
she became world-famous

based on beauty and charisma,
not so much on acting.

Considering she had wealth,

maybe this was
as good as it could get for her.

Maybe her capacity even
for love relationships

was not that great.

I mean, if she had stayed in Sweden,

I'm not sure
it would've been so much better.

I know she was very happy

when she was
at the drama school, that's for sure.

And she said it,
and you can see it from her letters,

and from people's descriptions of her,
but could she have sustained it?

I'm not sure.

The truth was

Garbo had become
a legend in her own lifetime,

and a legend is
the hardest thing to live with.

People have a need
for something mysterious

and inaccessible and romantic.

Most film stars are
only too happy to return the love

they feel their fans show them.

It's what keeps them going over the years.

But when Greta Garbo
had been Greta Gustafsson,

serving behind a Stockholm shop counter,

she never dreamed that stardom

could be such a heavy,
heavy weight to bear.

Now, even when she fled from her fans,

she only increased her
fascination for them.

All she ever asked for was a private life.

"I want to be let alone,"
she said over and over again.

I was born, I grew up,
I live like every other.

Why must people talk about me?

We all do the same things
in ways that are just a little different.

We go to school, we learn,

we're bad sometimes, we're good sometimes.

We find our life's work and we do it.

That's all there is
to anyone's life story, isn't it?

The film I like best from her,

I've seen them, it's Gösta Berlings Saga.

She is so natural.

That's the woman she was.

That's the beauty of a person.

Not only this, you know, inside too.

You can see it in the movie.

That's the most adorable film, I think.

I think Gösta Berlings Saga,

because it goes very much
to the Swedish soul.

I mean, it's a national ethos,

and in Gösta Berlings Saga,
you see a star is born.

One of my favourite Garbo films

from early on is As You Desire Me,

where she looks completely different.

You can almost sense the kind of
freedom she feels in that part,

not having to look like Garbo.

To be honest, I don't think
any of her films are very good.

But I think obviously that

Queen Christina is very daring.

It really, I mean, it's so queer in 1930,

what, two or three.

I, of course, have to say Christina,

because I've been
fascinated by Queen Christina.

It's probably not because
of the quality of the acting

and the quality of the film.

It's because of the quality of the theme.

The thing about Christina
is a favourite story of mine.

So, that's why Garbo's movie,
Christina, that's why I like the movie.

Anna Karenina is a great film.

She's really good in it,
and it's a good story for her.

You know, clever cinematography,

the scene with her face
emerging through the smoke from the train.

It's just such
a great way to start a film,

and then was cribbed by everybody.