With all the ingredients for Mamoulian magic in place—a strong, captivating woman at the center, an extended play on identity, and a controversial romance choked by society’s expectations—Queen Christina only needed the addition of Greta Garbo to give mesmerizing, subtle definition to the eccentric Swedish queen. Only loosely based on reality, Christina remains a striking role for a woman who preserves an intellectual, emotional and sexual independence throughout the film, not to mention an ironic flair and meltable heart. Garbo not only asked for Mamoulian to direct her but for her alleged former lover and struggling silent screen star John Gilbert to play the love interest, thus spreading another tender layer onto their famously sweet and intimate pre-Code bedroom scene. Christina—who at this point has removed only the first cloak of her disguise—spends an eternity in movie time tracing the contours of the place in which she has fallen in love. She explains, “In my memory, I shall live a great deal in this room.” And in film history memory, Garbo’s ineffable mystique lives a great deal in Mamoulian’s enchanting film.