I was speechless and devastated after my first viewing of this - many parts of GREY GARDENS are very funny and unbelievably surreal - documentary of not, this really gives Fellini or David Lynch a run for their money in the weirdsville sweepstakes. I kept focusing on how these women (who are clinically way beyond eccentric) reveal their own humanity in the most surprising of ways, and I wonder whether their retreat from the world was prompted by something beyond the stuffiness of life in the unreal blue-blood universe, perhaps some abuse, or perhaps simply a streak of defiance and rebellion that spiralled out of their control and took on a life of its' own. This might be one of the greatest ever films that comes dangerously close to exploitation, without going completely over the edge - as the Edies do their thing, I kept noting things like the empty gin bottles in the rubble-strewn bedroom, cats urinating on the bed, racoons emerging from holes in the walls, and the final scene seemed incredibly sad - like a child's birthday party gone seriously wrong. Very definitely worth seeing and seeking out - you'll never forget it, but very disturbing.
83 Reviews
Recommended
bart-11723 June 2006
I saw this film a couple of weeks ago, and it's been stuck in my head ever since. It stars two spellbinding characters in what is unfortunately a mediocre documentary. To get the true story of the Beales, I had to wade through all of the DVD's bonus material and commentaries and search the web.
Although the Maysles and their fans (not to mention Edith and Edie themselves) bristle at the suggestion that this film is exploitative, this is exploitation in the truest sense of the word. Very little effort is every made to explain the Beales or how they came to the condition they were in - the Maysles approach seems to be to just turn the camera on and wait for Edith and Edie to say something outrageous. The sound, even on the Criterion re-release is poor and difficult to follow. Although I appreciate this film was made somewhat early in the history of documentary film, it's ironic to compare it to Geraldo Rivera's (!) far superior series on the sexual abuse of mentally retarded patients at Willowbrook State School in Staten Island from 1972, four years before Grey Gardens was shot.
To paraphrase a review in the New Yorker, there were many things Edith and Edie needed in their lives, and a documentary wasn't one of them.
As for Edith and Edie, the thing I kept thinking while watching the film was "where the hell is their family"? They were living in dangerous, unhealthy, unsafe conditions. How is it that Jackie O, married to one of the richest men on Earth (or the wealthy Bouvier family themselves) couldn't afford to get Edith and Edie a decent home? Or at the very least hire a part-time housekeeper or caregiver to come in and keep an eye on them both? It's shameful and a lasting disgrace to the entire Bouvier family.
Although this review may sound negative I would strongly recommend Grey Gardens to anyone who enjoys documentaries. Perhaps someday someone will come along and do a documentary about this documentary - bringing in the rich backstory (and afterstory) of the Beales and the whole subsection of Hamptons society in the 1970's.
Although the Maysles and their fans (not to mention Edith and Edie themselves) bristle at the suggestion that this film is exploitative, this is exploitation in the truest sense of the word. Very little effort is every made to explain the Beales or how they came to the condition they were in - the Maysles approach seems to be to just turn the camera on and wait for Edith and Edie to say something outrageous. The sound, even on the Criterion re-release is poor and difficult to follow. Although I appreciate this film was made somewhat early in the history of documentary film, it's ironic to compare it to Geraldo Rivera's (!) far superior series on the sexual abuse of mentally retarded patients at Willowbrook State School in Staten Island from 1972, four years before Grey Gardens was shot.
To paraphrase a review in the New Yorker, there were many things Edith and Edie needed in their lives, and a documentary wasn't one of them.
As for Edith and Edie, the thing I kept thinking while watching the film was "where the hell is their family"? They were living in dangerous, unhealthy, unsafe conditions. How is it that Jackie O, married to one of the richest men on Earth (or the wealthy Bouvier family themselves) couldn't afford to get Edith and Edie a decent home? Or at the very least hire a part-time housekeeper or caregiver to come in and keep an eye on them both? It's shameful and a lasting disgrace to the entire Bouvier family.
Although this review may sound negative I would strongly recommend Grey Gardens to anyone who enjoys documentaries. Perhaps someday someone will come along and do a documentary about this documentary - bringing in the rich backstory (and afterstory) of the Beales and the whole subsection of Hamptons society in the 1970's.
Sad, depressing, but captivating documentary
tex-4219 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This documentary follows the lives of Big and Little Edie Beale, a mother and daughter, who lived as recluses in their family mansion in East Hampton, NY from the mid-50s through the late 70s. By the time the filmmakers find them, the mansion is falling apart, and the women, one 78 and the other 56, share a squalid room. The older Edie Beale is the aunt of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and the younger is her first cousin. The women were originally going to be evicted from the house due to its decrepit condition, but Jackie sent them money for repairs so they could keep living there.
At times this movie can seem exploitative, as neither woman seems in the best of mental health, but at other times, the movie is hard to look away from. "Little" Edie blames her mother for her current state, and her mother fires back that Edie was never going to be the success she thought she was. "Little" Edie often seems trapped in the past, focused on choices she made decades ago, and loves showing off pictures from her youth, where she clearly was a beautiful debutante. Her mother seems more resigned to her fate, to live out the rest of her life in terrible conditions. There are definite hints of the glamorous life both women once lead, from the pictures that show a happy family, to the grand portrait of the older Edie next to her bed. From what we see of the house, most of the rooms in it are empty, the walls are cracking and falling apart, and "Little" Edie leaves food in the attic for the racoons to feast on. And of course there are numerous cats running around.
At its heart, this documentary is incredibly sad. While neither woman seems particularly depressed by their lot in life, the squalor they live in is utterly awful. It's not particularly clear if there is even running water in the house, and you get the impression that they have essentially been abandoned by their family.
However, as a documentary, the film is a wonder to behold, and is highly recommended.
At times this movie can seem exploitative, as neither woman seems in the best of mental health, but at other times, the movie is hard to look away from. "Little" Edie blames her mother for her current state, and her mother fires back that Edie was never going to be the success she thought she was. "Little" Edie often seems trapped in the past, focused on choices she made decades ago, and loves showing off pictures from her youth, where she clearly was a beautiful debutante. Her mother seems more resigned to her fate, to live out the rest of her life in terrible conditions. There are definite hints of the glamorous life both women once lead, from the pictures that show a happy family, to the grand portrait of the older Edie next to her bed. From what we see of the house, most of the rooms in it are empty, the walls are cracking and falling apart, and "Little" Edie leaves food in the attic for the racoons to feast on. And of course there are numerous cats running around.
At its heart, this documentary is incredibly sad. While neither woman seems particularly depressed by their lot in life, the squalor they live in is utterly awful. It's not particularly clear if there is even running water in the house, and you get the impression that they have essentially been abandoned by their family.
However, as a documentary, the film is a wonder to behold, and is highly recommended.
Truth is stranger than fiction...
TuckMN3 August 1999
One question that must be asked immediately is: Would this film have been made if the women in it were not the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis?
The answer is: Probably not.
But, thankfully, they are (or were) the cousin and aunt of Jackie.
This documentary by the Maysles brothers on the existence (one could hardly call it a life) of Edith B. Beale, Jr., and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (Edie), has the same appeal of a train wreck -- you don't want to look but you have to.
Big Edith and Little Edie live in a once magnificent mansion in East Hampton, New York, that is slowly decaying around them. The once beautiful gardens are now a jungle.
Magnificent oil painting lean against the wall (with cat feces on the floor behind them) and beautiful portraits of them as young women vie for space on the walls next to covers of old magazines.
Living alone together for many years has broken down many barriers between the two women but erected others.
Clothing is seems to be optional. Edie's favorite costume is a pair of shorts with panty hose pulled up over them and bits and pieces of cloth wrapped and pinned around her torso and head.
As Edith says "Edie is still beautiful at 56." And indeed she is. There are times when she is almost luminescent and both women show the beauty that once was there.
There is a constant undercurrent of sexual tension.
Their eating habits are (to be polite) strange. Ice cream spread on crackers. A dinner party for Edith's birthday of Wonder Bread sandwiches served on fine china with plastic utensils.
Time is irrelevant in their world; as Edie says "I don't have any clocks."
Their relationships with men are oh-so-strange.
Edie feels like Edith thwarted any of her attempts at happiness. She says "If you can't get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead." To which Edith replies "I'll take a dog any day."
It is obvious that Edith doesn't see her role in Edie's lack of male companionship. Early in the film she states "France fell but Edie didn't.
Sometimes it is difficult to hear exactly what is being said. Both women talk at the same time and constantly contradict each other.
There is a strange relationship with animals throughout the film; Edie feeds the raccoons in the attic with Wonder Bread and cat food. The cats (and there are many of them) are everywhere.
At one point Edie declares "The hallmark of aristocracy is responsibility." But they seem to be unable to take responsibility for themselves.
This is a difficult film to watch but well worth the effort.
The answer is: Probably not.
But, thankfully, they are (or were) the cousin and aunt of Jackie.
This documentary by the Maysles brothers on the existence (one could hardly call it a life) of Edith B. Beale, Jr., and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (Edie), has the same appeal of a train wreck -- you don't want to look but you have to.
Big Edith and Little Edie live in a once magnificent mansion in East Hampton, New York, that is slowly decaying around them. The once beautiful gardens are now a jungle.
Magnificent oil painting lean against the wall (with cat feces on the floor behind them) and beautiful portraits of them as young women vie for space on the walls next to covers of old magazines.
Living alone together for many years has broken down many barriers between the two women but erected others.
Clothing is seems to be optional. Edie's favorite costume is a pair of shorts with panty hose pulled up over them and bits and pieces of cloth wrapped and pinned around her torso and head.
As Edith says "Edie is still beautiful at 56." And indeed she is. There are times when she is almost luminescent and both women show the beauty that once was there.
There is a constant undercurrent of sexual tension.
Their eating habits are (to be polite) strange. Ice cream spread on crackers. A dinner party for Edith's birthday of Wonder Bread sandwiches served on fine china with plastic utensils.
Time is irrelevant in their world; as Edie says "I don't have any clocks."
Their relationships with men are oh-so-strange.
Edie feels like Edith thwarted any of her attempts at happiness. She says "If you can't get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead." To which Edith replies "I'll take a dog any day."
It is obvious that Edith doesn't see her role in Edie's lack of male companionship. Early in the film she states "France fell but Edie didn't.
Sometimes it is difficult to hear exactly what is being said. Both women talk at the same time and constantly contradict each other.
There is a strange relationship with animals throughout the film; Edie feeds the raccoons in the attic with Wonder Bread and cat food. The cats (and there are many of them) are everywhere.
At one point Edie declares "The hallmark of aristocracy is responsibility." But they seem to be unable to take responsibility for themselves.
This is a difficult film to watch but well worth the effort.
The most beautiful, endearing eccentrics of all!
azeffer20 April 2001
The first time I viewed Grey Gardens, I was as mesmerized as the other people who have written comments. So many elements of this film are fascinating, there are so many things going on there. The ultimate passive-aggresive relationship of the mother and daughter. So co-dependent. One moment Edie is blaming Edith for her loneliness, the next she is about to swim in the ocean and saying out loud how she hopes her mother does not pass on anytime soon, she would miss her. Yet one has to wonder if Edie really wanted to leave so badly, why didn't she? Maybe Grey Gardens was where she most wanted to be after all.
Edie never leaves the home or rarely sees anyone, yet she still has the rich, white woman's concern over her weight. It is hilarious to see her peering at the scale through binoculars. When you see pictures of the women as young beauties, it takes your breath away. Edie is still a beautiful woman, and her coquettish behavior at times makes her seem like a young lady.
The language is entirely witty and it is hilarious to see the two women go on and on. Favorite comments -
"France fell but Edie didn't. Edie never fell for anyone." "Why didn't you marry Getty?" "I'm a staunch character! S-T-A-U-N-C-H!" "Lost in a sea of green leaves. I'll never see that scarf again." "This is the revolutionary outfit." "You don't say luh-ove! You're not Czechoslovakian!" "All I need is to find this Libra man!"
The cats and racoons are a site to see, as is the faded mansion. A wonderful window into the world of two compelling characters, their lives, and their memories. Yes it is at times sad, but at the same time, these two are fabulous!
Edie never leaves the home or rarely sees anyone, yet she still has the rich, white woman's concern over her weight. It is hilarious to see her peering at the scale through binoculars. When you see pictures of the women as young beauties, it takes your breath away. Edie is still a beautiful woman, and her coquettish behavior at times makes her seem like a young lady.
The language is entirely witty and it is hilarious to see the two women go on and on. Favorite comments -
"France fell but Edie didn't. Edie never fell for anyone." "Why didn't you marry Getty?" "I'm a staunch character! S-T-A-U-N-C-H!" "Lost in a sea of green leaves. I'll never see that scarf again." "This is the revolutionary outfit." "You don't say luh-ove! You're not Czechoslovakian!" "All I need is to find this Libra man!"
The cats and racoons are a site to see, as is the faded mansion. A wonderful window into the world of two compelling characters, their lives, and their memories. Yes it is at times sad, but at the same time, these two are fabulous!
Grey Gardens was riveting and almost unbelievable!
sigis8 September 1999
We stumbled upon the documentary, Grey Gardens, last Sunday and got "sucked in" without warning. Everyone who entered the room became transfixed on the television and the haunting images of Edith and Edie who seemed to be living out their lives in practically one room of a large filthy mansion on the beach, eating ice cream and corn on the cob (which was cooked on the bedside table)--and the cat urinating on edith's bed and her unbelievable words, "i thrive on it [the smell]." We had not seen the beginning and wondered what we were watching and how these aristocratic women managed to get in the position they were in. Spellbinding! a must see!!!!
Hard to watch
marysammons-4222023 April 2019
Very sad view into these women's lives. One reviewer said this documentary shows the House was not as bad as the legend claimed. Well this was after Jackie and Lee has it cleaned up. It was back to it's horrible condition by the time Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee bought it. Quinn said to get rid of the smell they had to rip up floors and tear down walls. You clearly see in the film cats going to the bathroom everywhere and no one cleans it up. The mattresses were filthy and they didn't even have sheets on the bed. These women were mentally ill. If you read the history, which you get none of in this film, the ex husband and sons tried to get them to sell years before but Big Edie refused.
A Great documentary
didier-2012 December 2005
This is why i so love this website ! I saw this film in the 1980's on British television. Over the years it is one i have wished i knew more about as it has stayed with me as one of the single most extraordinary things i have ever seen in my life. With barely a few key words to remember it by, i traced the film here, and much information, including the fact it's about to become an off-Broadway musical !
Interestingly, unlike the previous comment maker, i do not remember finding this film sad, or exploitative. On the contrary, the extraordinary relationship between the mother and daughter stuck in the mind as a testimony of great strength, honour and dignity. Ironic you may think, considering the squalor of their lives. Maybe it's because i live in Britain, where fading grandeur has an established language in the lives of old money, where squalor is often tolerated as evidence of good breeding; I saw it as a rare and unique portrayal of enormous spirit, deep and profound humour, whose utterly fragile and delicately balanced fabric gave it poise and respect. In a way i was sorry to see it being discussed as a 'cult'. Over the years, as it faded in my mind, it shone the brightest, above all others as a one off brilliant & outstanding televisual experience. It was such a deeply private expose, it seems odd to think of it becoming so public as to be a New York musical. But perhaps somewhere, the daughter will be amused by such an outcome. It is she who will have the last laugh maybe..(They made a musical out of her before you Jackie O' )
Interestingly, unlike the previous comment maker, i do not remember finding this film sad, or exploitative. On the contrary, the extraordinary relationship between the mother and daughter stuck in the mind as a testimony of great strength, honour and dignity. Ironic you may think, considering the squalor of their lives. Maybe it's because i live in Britain, where fading grandeur has an established language in the lives of old money, where squalor is often tolerated as evidence of good breeding; I saw it as a rare and unique portrayal of enormous spirit, deep and profound humour, whose utterly fragile and delicately balanced fabric gave it poise and respect. In a way i was sorry to see it being discussed as a 'cult'. Over the years, as it faded in my mind, it shone the brightest, above all others as a one off brilliant & outstanding televisual experience. It was such a deeply private expose, it seems odd to think of it becoming so public as to be a New York musical. But perhaps somewhere, the daughter will be amused by such an outcome. It is she who will have the last laugh maybe..(They made a musical out of her before you Jackie O' )
A mountain of regrets and questions unanswered...
AlsExGal5 September 2016
... such as what happened to the Bouvier/Beale money that bought the 28 room mansion that mother and daughter live in and is in disrepair? I know that Big Edie was divorced in 1931, and it sounded like "little Edie" had the advantages of an expensive education through college, which would have been right before WWII. What changed? There is no narration here, nor do the documentary makers ask questions. They just let the cameras roll and record whatever happens. Big Edie is in her late 70s yet retains a kind of beauty. However, she talks over little Edie whenever they are in the same room, making it difficult to understand either woman.
What is clear visually is that they are both living in squalor. A cat defecates behind a very old portrait of Big Edie and both Edies laugh about being glad somebody gets to do what they want? Nobody tries to clean it up. Big Edie spends her time on a filthy mattress with stuff she might need stacked on top, yet seems to have no trouble with mobility. They make food for the cameramen including pate on crackers that looks like cat food on crackers. I would want a tetanus shot first.
Little Edie has a mountain of regret. She talks about how she wanted to be a dancer, how somebody wanted to marry her but her mother drove him away, and how she has been taking care of her mother due to her health on and off since the second world war. She mentions how much she hates the country and misses the noise of the city. Little Edie is remarkably well preserved. When this film was made she was 56 but she could pass for forty. She color coordinates all of her wardrobes including her scarves and headdresses that hide her alopecia, yet she won't mop the floor. Shades of faded feelings of being aristocracy perhaps?
Another question I had that went unanswered was where were big Edie's sons? Both lived into the 1990's, yet they are nowhere to be found. Maybe they had the sense to get out of Dodge.
Why are these recluses the subject of a documentary in the first place? Because big and little Edie are Jackie Kennedy Onnasis' aunt and cousin, respectively, and because Suffolk County was trying to evict them based on the condition of the house and grounds - there was no running water at one point - until Jackie supplied the funds to get the estate up to snuff.
Don't look for lots of answers here, because there are really none. It is just a fascinating portrait of two recluses who have slipped into their own form of normality although it looks horrifying to outsiders.
What is clear visually is that they are both living in squalor. A cat defecates behind a very old portrait of Big Edie and both Edies laugh about being glad somebody gets to do what they want? Nobody tries to clean it up. Big Edie spends her time on a filthy mattress with stuff she might need stacked on top, yet seems to have no trouble with mobility. They make food for the cameramen including pate on crackers that looks like cat food on crackers. I would want a tetanus shot first.
Little Edie has a mountain of regret. She talks about how she wanted to be a dancer, how somebody wanted to marry her but her mother drove him away, and how she has been taking care of her mother due to her health on and off since the second world war. She mentions how much she hates the country and misses the noise of the city. Little Edie is remarkably well preserved. When this film was made she was 56 but she could pass for forty. She color coordinates all of her wardrobes including her scarves and headdresses that hide her alopecia, yet she won't mop the floor. Shades of faded feelings of being aristocracy perhaps?
Another question I had that went unanswered was where were big Edie's sons? Both lived into the 1990's, yet they are nowhere to be found. Maybe they had the sense to get out of Dodge.
Why are these recluses the subject of a documentary in the first place? Because big and little Edie are Jackie Kennedy Onnasis' aunt and cousin, respectively, and because Suffolk County was trying to evict them based on the condition of the house and grounds - there was no running water at one point - until Jackie supplied the funds to get the estate up to snuff.
Don't look for lots of answers here, because there are really none. It is just a fascinating portrait of two recluses who have slipped into their own form of normality although it looks horrifying to outsiders.
" I'm pulverized by this latest thing"
judge90908 June 2003
'Grey Gardens'(1975) is the Maysles' brothers bizarre documentary of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis'eccentric aunt and first cousin who live like pigs in a run down 28 room mansion on East Hampton, Long Island.'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale,78,witty and dry and her daughter, 'Little Edie' Beale,56,(emotionally about 13) a still beautiful woman who once had a promising future,live in isolation from the rest of the world except for their many cats and raccoons in the attic. They amuse themselves by bickering all day, listening to the radio or singing to each other(They dont even own a television) Their fall from society is amazing to learn of and the viewer is drawn to these two very special, although obviously, dysfunctional people.One of the better documentaries ever made and still a cult classic today.
Difficult to look away
wisewebwoman20 September 2023
I saw this doc many years ago on TV and had a recent viewing.
It's still challenging to watch it without enormous compassion for these obviously disturbed, mentally ill mother and daughter duo living in squalor and filth in a dilapidated old mansion on the coast. The aunt and cousin of the late Jackie Onassis.
Cats and racoons run amok in this horror of a place (and I understand it was cleaned before the film makers came to intrude and document the lives of the two women.
This time I found it exploitive. Today (not back then) we recognize that hoarding and living in such appalling surroundings, no running water, holes in the walls, cat urine, eating cat food (they spread it on crackers) is a sign of severe mental illness.
Edith and Edie are immune to it all, savouring the past - they were beauties in their time - and have a passive agressive endless argument going with each other. Clothing is optional.
Edie wears blouses and sweaters tied up around her head due to skin condition of baldness.
Like a train wreck, it's impossible to look away but I am shocked that a health department wasn't called in to fumigate and rescue these two.
A huge level of exploitation by the two brothers who filmed it all and the final insult was in not putting the names of the women in the credits.
They were used in their utmost vulnerability.
It's still challenging to watch it without enormous compassion for these obviously disturbed, mentally ill mother and daughter duo living in squalor and filth in a dilapidated old mansion on the coast. The aunt and cousin of the late Jackie Onassis.
Cats and racoons run amok in this horror of a place (and I understand it was cleaned before the film makers came to intrude and document the lives of the two women.
This time I found it exploitive. Today (not back then) we recognize that hoarding and living in such appalling surroundings, no running water, holes in the walls, cat urine, eating cat food (they spread it on crackers) is a sign of severe mental illness.
Edith and Edie are immune to it all, savouring the past - they were beauties in their time - and have a passive agressive endless argument going with each other. Clothing is optional.
Edie wears blouses and sweaters tied up around her head due to skin condition of baldness.
Like a train wreck, it's impossible to look away but I am shocked that a health department wasn't called in to fumigate and rescue these two.
A huge level of exploitation by the two brothers who filmed it all and the final insult was in not putting the names of the women in the credits.
They were used in their utmost vulnerability.
There goes the Neighborhood
amosduncan_20003 May 2006
I took this out arbitrarily from the library the other night, having no idea of the film's cult, influence, or that it is currently being staged as a musical.(!) Most of the comments here are on target, it's moving, funny, sad, and yes, a tad exploitive despite the best intentions of the filmmakers. The expanded Chriterion edition is a must for anyone who loved it when it came out.
I think you can also see in little Edie the fall of a class that sort of disappeared, you can hear it in old films of Jackie O too; people just don't talk like that anymore. I think as a documentary, it would have been interesting to get more information about how the home fell into disrepute, Old Edie at least still seems aware of what's going on to a certain degree; couldn't She see the once spectacular home disintegrating?
Yet the film's subject is the life the two women have constructed for themselves now, a real life Tennesse Williams one act. Well worth your time.
I think you can also see in little Edie the fall of a class that sort of disappeared, you can hear it in old films of Jackie O too; people just don't talk like that anymore. I think as a documentary, it would have been interesting to get more information about how the home fell into disrepute, Old Edie at least still seems aware of what's going on to a certain degree; couldn't She see the once spectacular home disintegrating?
Yet the film's subject is the life the two women have constructed for themselves now, a real life Tennesse Williams one act. Well worth your time.
Should be a Cult Classic, and kinda is
karalynnn16 January 2006
Grey Gardens was enthralling and crazy and you just couldn't really look away. It was so strange, and funny and sad and sick and
.. really no words can describe. The move Grey Gardens is beyond bizarre. I found out about this film reading my Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader, by the Bathroom Reader's Institute and it was well worth the rental and bump to the top of my movie watching queue. This movie is about the nuttiest most eccentric people that may have ever been filmed. One should watch it for their favorite Edie outfits, which I am sure include curtains. When I get old I almost wish to be just like Big Edie, thumbing my nose at normalcy and society.
Who let the dogs out?
angry1272 December 2010
The review title is offensive? Well, you might have the same opinion if you view the film with an analytical mind. I know and have read about all the fans of this film that are fans of the Beale's as well. That is all well and good, but its beside the point.
The Mayles Bros are not slouches and have a very good nack for cinematography and documentation (otherwise they would have not been involved in so many major documentaries). This film does itself justice by showing off that gift. What it doesn't do itself justice with is its exploitation of its subjects.
I know I won't get a lot of fans for saying such (true) statements, but it has to be said. Perhaps you'll understand my rational and frame of mind for my two controversial statements thus far by considering a few questions.
Why did the Maysles take footage of little Edie prancing around the house like a child? Why were these shots often in extreme close ups? Did these shots make you feel uncomfortable? Did the Beales seem in a clear frame of mind? Would you claim the Beales to be in a healthy mental condition? Were there shots of the Beales getting close to undressing or undressing? If the questions didn't get you thinking, my basic point is the Maysles knew better than to exploit a psychologically troubled mother and child. Framing it as an empathetic slice of life is a cover for compassion trolling and humiliation porn.
The Mayles Bros are not slouches and have a very good nack for cinematography and documentation (otherwise they would have not been involved in so many major documentaries). This film does itself justice by showing off that gift. What it doesn't do itself justice with is its exploitation of its subjects.
I know I won't get a lot of fans for saying such (true) statements, but it has to be said. Perhaps you'll understand my rational and frame of mind for my two controversial statements thus far by considering a few questions.
Why did the Maysles take footage of little Edie prancing around the house like a child? Why were these shots often in extreme close ups? Did these shots make you feel uncomfortable? Did the Beales seem in a clear frame of mind? Would you claim the Beales to be in a healthy mental condition? Were there shots of the Beales getting close to undressing or undressing? If the questions didn't get you thinking, my basic point is the Maysles knew better than to exploit a psychologically troubled mother and child. Framing it as an empathetic slice of life is a cover for compassion trolling and humiliation porn.
Beauty in decay
ellkew15 June 2007
I only saw this recently but had been aware of it for a number of years and have always been intrigued by its title. It now belongs to me as one of my very favourite films. It is hard to describe the incredible subject matter the Maysles discovered but everything in it works wonderfully. It has so many memorable images and moments where you feel you are encroaching on a very private world. I fell in love with this film and with the characters in it. It is as though the filmmakers have cast a spell of the audience and drawn us into the strange world of the eccentric Beales, a true aristocratic family. It has a tangible atmosphere and I found myself wishing I could be there away from it all, cooking my corn on the cob at my bedside table. It has an air of sadness that permeates throughout. A fall from greatness for this once esteemed family. The money had gone but their airs and graces remained, as well as their beauty. It drew me in from the first frame and long after the film finished I found myself wondering about their fate. Wondering that if I took a walk along East Hampton beach I might still hear Old Edie's voice in the night and see the silhouette of Little Edie dancing in the window behind the thick hanging creeper. Unforgettable.
Utterly remarkable
Kieran_Kenney6 November 2003
I found Grey Garden's to be a gripping film, an amazingly intimate
look at too eccentrics who basically have the right idea: forget
society and live in a delapidated house with no heating and a huge
brood of cats and raccoons, persuing their own interests rather
mundainly, all the while chattering at the camera.
Big Edie and Little Edie are the two crazies that the Mazles Bros.
have chosen to document. They seem like characters out of a
Fellini film, only stranger, if that makes any sense. Old Edie is
almost fully bedridden, a pile of papers, clothes and dirty dishes
growing around her. Little Edie is even more interesting. She
prances around the house, always wearing a baboushka-like
headdress around her head, completely covering her hair. We
never see her hair throughout the film, nor do we ever get a hint
that she still has much. At age fifty eight, though, she is still
beautiful and full of life.
In Grey Gardens, we get the sense that both of these women's
lives have become much less than what they once were. Little
Edie is probably the sadder of the two. While her mother, in her
earlier years, got married, made a family, lived luxuriously and
even made some recordings (the scene where, at 77, she sings
along with a recording of "Tea for Two" she made decades ago is
one of the films best scenes), Edie left her promicing career as a
model to take care of her ailing mother. At 58, she still longed to
find her prince charming. If anything Little Edie is still a little girl,
full of dreams of glamour and fame, and of domestic and romantic
bliss, that have yet to be fulfilled.
Highlights of the film include the opening moments, where Little
Edie explains her outfit to the camera, the "tea for two" sequence,
the birthday party, the climactic argument, the grocery deliver
scene, and the scene in the attic. The whole thing is incredibly
candid and unpretencious. And it's made all the more remarcable
since it's all real.
I suggest seeing Grey Gardens back-to-back with the Kenneth
Anger short Puce Moment. The Criterion DVD is $35.00, but it's
worth every penny.
look at too eccentrics who basically have the right idea: forget
society and live in a delapidated house with no heating and a huge
brood of cats and raccoons, persuing their own interests rather
mundainly, all the while chattering at the camera.
Big Edie and Little Edie are the two crazies that the Mazles Bros.
have chosen to document. They seem like characters out of a
Fellini film, only stranger, if that makes any sense. Old Edie is
almost fully bedridden, a pile of papers, clothes and dirty dishes
growing around her. Little Edie is even more interesting. She
prances around the house, always wearing a baboushka-like
headdress around her head, completely covering her hair. We
never see her hair throughout the film, nor do we ever get a hint
that she still has much. At age fifty eight, though, she is still
beautiful and full of life.
In Grey Gardens, we get the sense that both of these women's
lives have become much less than what they once were. Little
Edie is probably the sadder of the two. While her mother, in her
earlier years, got married, made a family, lived luxuriously and
even made some recordings (the scene where, at 77, she sings
along with a recording of "Tea for Two" she made decades ago is
one of the films best scenes), Edie left her promicing career as a
model to take care of her ailing mother. At 58, she still longed to
find her prince charming. If anything Little Edie is still a little girl,
full of dreams of glamour and fame, and of domestic and romantic
bliss, that have yet to be fulfilled.
Highlights of the film include the opening moments, where Little
Edie explains her outfit to the camera, the "tea for two" sequence,
the birthday party, the climactic argument, the grocery deliver
scene, and the scene in the attic. The whole thing is incredibly
candid and unpretencious. And it's made all the more remarcable
since it's all real.
I suggest seeing Grey Gardens back-to-back with the Kenneth
Anger short Puce Moment. The Criterion DVD is $35.00, but it's
worth every penny.
Slum chic
Goingbegging12 February 2021
If you or I lived in a creaking house-of-horror with utilities cut-off and raccoons in the kitchen, we'd be jailed in short order. But if you're Jackie Kennedy's aunt, the rules don't apply. That is the appeal of this film, the bohemian snob-life - too good to be correct.
Grey Gardens had been an elegant mansion of East Hampton when the aunt (Edith Beale) first lived there in 1924, but it had been slowly collapsing all around her, as she divorced her husband and then invited her unmarried daughter (Little Edie) to live with her, mostly grumbling and bickering along the way, if we are to believe this documentary. And no, they were not moving out, whatever the local hygiene department said.
The producers have tried to turn it into a pantomime, and the two ladies seem happy to play up to it. Both had clearly been glamorous in their day, Little E. making sure you notice an impressive pair of pins at fifty-six, and even her mother still showing signs of good bone structure. (Plenty of lingering close-ups of early portraits serve to ram the point home further.)
But the daughter had lost her hair early-on, possibly by setting it on fire, though she claims it was alopecia, sentencing her to a lifetime in headscarves. In any case, her brand of prettiness did not mature comfortably, and she remained a visibly dissatisfied woman. Empty face. Empty life.
The time-warp aspect is deliberately dramatised, with a lot of old records (78 rpm) brought out from their sleeves, 'Tea for Two' being an over-obvious code for nostalgic listening, and the pair of them performing their own dreadful renderings of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hammerstein.
How they stood twenty-five years of this is beyond me. I found ninety minutes of it quite enough.
Grey Gardens had been an elegant mansion of East Hampton when the aunt (Edith Beale) first lived there in 1924, but it had been slowly collapsing all around her, as she divorced her husband and then invited her unmarried daughter (Little Edie) to live with her, mostly grumbling and bickering along the way, if we are to believe this documentary. And no, they were not moving out, whatever the local hygiene department said.
The producers have tried to turn it into a pantomime, and the two ladies seem happy to play up to it. Both had clearly been glamorous in their day, Little E. making sure you notice an impressive pair of pins at fifty-six, and even her mother still showing signs of good bone structure. (Plenty of lingering close-ups of early portraits serve to ram the point home further.)
But the daughter had lost her hair early-on, possibly by setting it on fire, though she claims it was alopecia, sentencing her to a lifetime in headscarves. In any case, her brand of prettiness did not mature comfortably, and she remained a visibly dissatisfied woman. Empty face. Empty life.
The time-warp aspect is deliberately dramatised, with a lot of old records (78 rpm) brought out from their sleeves, 'Tea for Two' being an over-obvious code for nostalgic listening, and the pair of them performing their own dreadful renderings of Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hammerstein.
How they stood twenty-five years of this is beyond me. I found ninety minutes of it quite enough.
You can't have your cake and eat it, too in life.
lastliberal17 March 2008
I really can't remember who recommended this, but they said it was one of their favorite films. It is certainly a strange one - like rubbernecking at a highway accident.
Someone said that truth is stranger than fiction, and the truth here is something to see. I really can't understand how a fictionalized account of this documentary is to be released this year. How can you improve on this? The aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy remove themselves from New York Society and hide in the Hampton's. In the process they become recluses and what is best described as "crazy cat ladies." They would have stayed hidden had not the city move to condemn the property for the filth and the subsequent rescue by Jackie. This film was done after that rescue. All during, you couldn't help but think, "how bad was it before?" It's a look at high society from the darker side, and it is utterly fascinating.
Someone said that truth is stranger than fiction, and the truth here is something to see. I really can't understand how a fictionalized account of this documentary is to be released this year. How can you improve on this? The aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy remove themselves from New York Society and hide in the Hampton's. In the process they become recluses and what is best described as "crazy cat ladies." They would have stayed hidden had not the city move to condemn the property for the filth and the subsequent rescue by Jackie. This film was done after that rescue. All during, you couldn't help but think, "how bad was it before?" It's a look at high society from the darker side, and it is utterly fascinating.
Tea for Two
wes-connors21 June 2011
Living in the neighborhood, one did hear about these two old birds, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. You hardly ever saw them, but heard they resided amongst trash and cat feces. The house looked old and neglected. Nobody mowed the lawn. It would never win first prize in the annual L.V.I.S. (Ladies Village Improvement Society) competition. The place looked deserted whenever you walked by, and the Beales were not spotted around town.
In this film, "Little Edie" and mother "Big Edie" are seen sunning on the grounds. Inside, they are quite lively, singing and dancing for the exploitive cameras. Obviously, the Beales are animated for the Maysles brothers. Viewing the inside of the house reveals it wasn't as dirty as legend claimed. There were not dozens of cats in evidence, only a manageable few. They "adopted" our family cat once. Thankfully, he wore a collar listing the name "Scribble" and our telephone number...
Mrs. Onassis called, and my mother handed me the phone. Probably, she knew I would get a kick out of talking to Jackie Kennedy. In her distinctive voice Jackie said, "We have your cat, Scribble." Edie Beale has a similar voice. We went over to get the cat. Jackie was not staying at "Grey Gardens", she was in a nicer place on Lily Pond Lane. Periodically, she and sister Lee Radziwill would try to help their eccentric relatives clean up, and return the "adopted" cats to their homes.
****** Grey Gardens (9/27/75) David Maysles, Albert Maysles ~ "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale
In this film, "Little Edie" and mother "Big Edie" are seen sunning on the grounds. Inside, they are quite lively, singing and dancing for the exploitive cameras. Obviously, the Beales are animated for the Maysles brothers. Viewing the inside of the house reveals it wasn't as dirty as legend claimed. There were not dozens of cats in evidence, only a manageable few. They "adopted" our family cat once. Thankfully, he wore a collar listing the name "Scribble" and our telephone number...
Mrs. Onassis called, and my mother handed me the phone. Probably, she knew I would get a kick out of talking to Jackie Kennedy. In her distinctive voice Jackie said, "We have your cat, Scribble." Edie Beale has a similar voice. We went over to get the cat. Jackie was not staying at "Grey Gardens", she was in a nicer place on Lily Pond Lane. Periodically, she and sister Lee Radziwill would try to help their eccentric relatives clean up, and return the "adopted" cats to their homes.
****** Grey Gardens (9/27/75) David Maysles, Albert Maysles ~ "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale
Bizarre!
gavin694211 January 2016
An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.
Plenty has been written and said about the Kennedy family, and Irish political dynasties, but far less is out there about the Bouvier (?) family... and these odd black sheep of the family make me want to know more. I had never heard of them. How is that possible? This documentary has been floating around for forty years, and is really mandatory viewing for anyone who is interested in either Kennedy, the Hamptons or mental illness.
"Big Edie" died in 1977 and "Little Edie" sold the house in 1979 for $220,000 to Sally Quinn and her husband, former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee,[7] who promised to restore the dilapidated structure (the sale agreement forbade razing the house). "Little Edie" died in Florida in 2002 at the age of 84. According to a 2003 article in Town & Country, after their purchase, Quinn and Bradlee completely restored the house and grounds.
Plenty has been written and said about the Kennedy family, and Irish political dynasties, but far less is out there about the Bouvier (?) family... and these odd black sheep of the family make me want to know more. I had never heard of them. How is that possible? This documentary has been floating around for forty years, and is really mandatory viewing for anyone who is interested in either Kennedy, the Hamptons or mental illness.
"Big Edie" died in 1977 and "Little Edie" sold the house in 1979 for $220,000 to Sally Quinn and her husband, former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee,[7] who promised to restore the dilapidated structure (the sale agreement forbade razing the house). "Little Edie" died in Florida in 2002 at the age of 84. According to a 2003 article in Town & Country, after their purchase, Quinn and Bradlee completely restored the house and grounds.
Interesting, But a Bit Exploitive and Unsettling
rwint20 August 2001
Fascinating yet unsettling look at Edith Bouvier Beale (Big Edie) and her daughter (Little Edie) aunt and first cousin to the late Jacquelyn Kennedy Onasis. They live in a rodent infested, rundown mansion which was considered a health hazard by the city. It becomes quite clear very quickly that these two are well past eccentric. Little Edie seems to be the most off as she acts with the mindset of a ten year old even though she is actually 53. The content is pretty much made up of two things. The first are the conversations were Little Edie lambastes Big Edie for driving away all her potential suitors and ruining her aspiring career as writer, actress, and dancer. These discussions usually become very rhetorical, nonsensical, and often times amusing. The second part consists of long bouts of attempted singing by both parties. Each of course thinks their singing is perfect and it's only the other who sounds bad. In one amazing scene Big Edie actually physically attacks Little Edie with her cane just to get her to stop her warbling. Very captivating yet one gets the feeling that their is some serious exploitation going on here and the subjects are just too far gone to know it. The filmmakers seem to treat this like a freak show at the circus, coming each day to record (and chuckle) at whatever bizarre behavior may come about. Ultimately this is a sad picture as it shows how the world has simply past these two by. Their hopes and dreams as decayed as the mansion they live in. Despite their bickering these two need each other more than ever. For without the other there would be no refuge from the loneliness. Most amazing line comes from Big Edie whose many cats relieve themselves throughout her bedroom. Her response to a complaint about the smell is simply unbelievable.
If you can't get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead.
Sylviastel7 February 2018
The story of Grey Gardens, a huge estate in Southhampton, Long Island was home to eccentrics Big Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edith. They live there with their cats and raccoons as well. Their home is in disarray after years of neglect. The documentary about Big Edie and Little Edie is a rare look into humanity. The mother and daughter are quite unique, talented and individualistic in their lives. When the film director agreed to make a movie about them, they couldn't have imagined the outpouring and interest in the Beales. They are related to former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. They were both debutantes and figures in New York high society. This rare look at their lives offers a glimpse into their world. We may not understand their decisions and choices but we respect them for their candidness and honesty throughout.
You think YOUR family is crazy?
futures-121 March 2006
"Grey Gardens" (1975): Documentary. In Jackie Kennedy/Onassis' family were a mother and daughter the wealthy might want to call "eccentric", but the rest of us might call "nuts". This is a visit to their once-nice, modest mansion on the ocean among the other newer mansions of the well-bred & breaded. Imagine never getting any further than maybe 100 yards from your home in 30 or 40 years, never doing a lick of maintenance, letting the ivy, rats, raccoons, weather, cats, and your own slovenly ways destroy the house, and you
well
you adjust as it all slowly happens, thinking it's normal. Your only company is your Mother/Daughter, you bicker constantly, while living in the past, and making up your own rules for the present. Anytime you think you (or a family member) is going nuts, rent this one, and set yourself at ease.
They constantly live in the past where the future held so much promise and regret...
ceedee684 November 2020
It's a sad ending to a life full of promise for this mother and daughter born to the socialite family bouvier (Jackie kennedy). Trapped by social confines of high society where the men were the breadwinners, however once the men left or died the money ran out and they were left without the tools to thrive and therefore reduced to poverty and dereliction and at the mercy of charitable friends and family... They constantly live in the past where the future held so much promise and regret and amongst this journey of rain or shine they hold to the manners and social etiquette of people who would gladly forget and despise what they've become... so together devoted they live a life of squalor and reminiscent of a lifestyle that has left them behind and desperately tried to forget them.
Haunting, disturbing and sad documentary
fsmorel27 January 2009
From the first time I heard about this pseudo documentary, I was fascinated and made a mental note to rent it at some point. Then I saw that HBO is making a film based on the documentary starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore and picked it up last night.
I have to say that I don't post reviews or comments about movies, books or music unless they really move me. This film definitely affected me! In fact I am still disturbed by what I saw and the voices of these women are still burning my ears.
This film was not so much a documentary as it was a peek inside the life of two women who at some point must have been taken care of (and very well at that) by a whole host of people. People to help them clean, cook, dress etc. About 30 minutes into the film, it was obvious that Big Edie and Little Edie had once lived a life of luxury. At some point (and we are not given any information at all about their past) we can only assume that they were abandoned by Big Edie's husband and were left to their own devices to survive with very little money and even less skills to live on their own. In my experience, most documentary films move back and forth from present to past and back as a way of educating the viewer so we can understand what we are watching in some sort of context. This film and the women in it, give us no context at all. From the minute it starts, we are thrown into the world of the "Edies" and are given no information at any point about their past which can help explain the present, except through a few words while they look at old photographs. Not knowing the context can be interesting at times, but I found it hard to swallow in this case. I wanted to know what circumstances brought these two women to where they were.
I also found it difficult to understand a word that Big Edie said, and her voice was so unnerving and loud that I gave up trying to decipher anything she said. By the end, I felt like she was a bitter old woman, jealous and un-thankful of her daughter who obviously devoted years of her life to taking care of her Mother. Little Edie on the other hand was charming . A 56 year old who looked 40 and acted 17. She was so happy to have the attention of the camera and made the most of it in a funny and pathetically sad way. Smearing on her black eyeliner and drawing in her black eyebrows with a heavy hand, trying to re-claim her youth. She was a drop dead beauty in her day. It seems to me that her life was based on her looks, as though that was all she ever knew how to be... pretty. It's always disturbing to see women that attempt to deny what is natural when growing older by dressing in tight and revealing clothing and too much make-up.
This movie was an exercise in the intricate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship who had been left with no skills to make it on their own set on the backdrop of a decaying filthy house with raccoons living freely among them and the cats pee and poop on the couch all while the Beale women are gloriously unaware of much of anything other than their own star potential thanks to their former beauty and the Bouvier name that Jacqueline Kennedy made so wonderfully famous.
I highly recommend this film if you want to be transported into another world. For me, it gave credence to the saying that truth is stranger than fiction.
I have to say that I don't post reviews or comments about movies, books or music unless they really move me. This film definitely affected me! In fact I am still disturbed by what I saw and the voices of these women are still burning my ears.
This film was not so much a documentary as it was a peek inside the life of two women who at some point must have been taken care of (and very well at that) by a whole host of people. People to help them clean, cook, dress etc. About 30 minutes into the film, it was obvious that Big Edie and Little Edie had once lived a life of luxury. At some point (and we are not given any information at all about their past) we can only assume that they were abandoned by Big Edie's husband and were left to their own devices to survive with very little money and even less skills to live on their own. In my experience, most documentary films move back and forth from present to past and back as a way of educating the viewer so we can understand what we are watching in some sort of context. This film and the women in it, give us no context at all. From the minute it starts, we are thrown into the world of the "Edies" and are given no information at any point about their past which can help explain the present, except through a few words while they look at old photographs. Not knowing the context can be interesting at times, but I found it hard to swallow in this case. I wanted to know what circumstances brought these two women to where they were.
I also found it difficult to understand a word that Big Edie said, and her voice was so unnerving and loud that I gave up trying to decipher anything she said. By the end, I felt like she was a bitter old woman, jealous and un-thankful of her daughter who obviously devoted years of her life to taking care of her Mother. Little Edie on the other hand was charming . A 56 year old who looked 40 and acted 17. She was so happy to have the attention of the camera and made the most of it in a funny and pathetically sad way. Smearing on her black eyeliner and drawing in her black eyebrows with a heavy hand, trying to re-claim her youth. She was a drop dead beauty in her day. It seems to me that her life was based on her looks, as though that was all she ever knew how to be... pretty. It's always disturbing to see women that attempt to deny what is natural when growing older by dressing in tight and revealing clothing and too much make-up.
This movie was an exercise in the intricate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship who had been left with no skills to make it on their own set on the backdrop of a decaying filthy house with raccoons living freely among them and the cats pee and poop on the couch all while the Beale women are gloriously unaware of much of anything other than their own star potential thanks to their former beauty and the Bouvier name that Jacqueline Kennedy made so wonderfully famous.
I highly recommend this film if you want to be transported into another world. For me, it gave credence to the saying that truth is stranger than fiction.
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