Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection
by Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Albert Maysles, Brooks Hires, Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale, Jack HelmuthDirector: Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer
Primary Contributor: Edith Bouvier Beale
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-08-14
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: Hard to watch, hard not to watch ...
Summary: 5 Stars
Grey Gardens was initialy intended to be a documentary film on the Bouvier family, the ancestors of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her sister Lee Radziwill. However, after being introduced to Edith Bouvier Beale (Jackie's father "Black Jack's" sister) and her daughter (Jackie's first cousin), the focus changed ... to a story that would have been all-but-impossible for a documentary filmmaker to walk away from, even over the protests of family members.
The Beales, mother and daughter (Edie and "Little" Edie), were at one time beautiful, no doubt fashionable, wealthy, prominent members of high society, with a large mansion, "Grey Gardens," full of appropriate possessions to match. Unfortunately, Mr. Beale's death (I didn't catch when but it had to have been many years earlier) led them into a year-by-year, seemingly never-ending spiral of increasing pathetic physical ruin and personal dispair.
By the time of the documentary, they have long-since lost the ability to care for the mansion, it's possessions, themselves or their health. They have effectively been removed from current reality and exist almost entirely amid memories, many very clear to both, some with recriminations and lots with "if only's." They have seemingly lost all but perfunctory contact with their family (a brother of Edith's is said to pay the taxes) and have no visible source of income. And, seemingly as a result of the situation, have descended into a completely self-absorbed, mutually accusatory / codependent relationship, possibly diagnosable as some form of mental illness for one or both.
A really difficult, truly sad but sometimes very funny situation, made poignant by their memories of what was and by implication what could have been. In some ways they may be seen as heroic, still able to laugh under the appalling circumstances. Undoubtedly many controversial questions could be asked of the Beale's, the family, the filmmakers, the government, and society. Worth watching and thinking about from lots of viewpoints ... well done.
Summary of Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection
Meet Big and Little Edie Beale-high society dropouts, mother and daughter, reclusive cousins of Jackie O.-thriving together amid the decay and disorder of their ramshackle East Hampton mansion. Five years after Gimme Shelter, the Maysles unveiled this impossibly intimate portrait of the unexpected, an eerie echo of the Kennedy Camelot, which has since become a cult classic and established Little Edie as fashion icon and philosopher queen.Grey Gardens is the name of a neglected, sprawling estate gone to seed. The crumbling mansion was home to Edith Bouvier Beale, often referred to as "Big Edie," and her daughter, "Little Edie." The East Hampton, Long Island, home became the center of quite a scandal when it was revealed in 1973 that the reclusive aunt and cousin to Jackie O. were living in a state of poverty and filth. That's the background to this 1976 film portrait by cin?ma v?rit? pioneers Albert and David Maysles, but it's only incidental to the fascinating story they discover inside the estate walls.
The two Edies have lived in almost complete seclusion since the mid-1950s, ever since Big Edie's husband abandoned her and Little Edie (then a young socialite on the verge of a dancing career, or so she claims) was called home to care for her depressed mother. Twenty years later they continue to live in their memories while camped out in a single bedroom of the 28-room mansion overrun with cats (who use the floor as their litter box). Rehashing mistakes and missed chances with an accusing banter that becomes more stinging and angry as the documentary progresses, they exist in a sad codependency brings new meaning to the term dysfunctional. Disturbing and discomforting, it comes off like a freak show at times, but for all their arguments and recriminations, the Maysles reveal two women abandoned by their families who are left to cling to each other, for better or worse. --Sean Axmaker
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