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Special Features
- New digital transfers
- Disc One: Grey Gardens
- Commentary by directors Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer, and associate producer Susan Froemke
- Excerpts from a recorded interview with Little Edie Beale by Kathryn G. Graham for Interview magazine (1976)
- Video interviews with fashion designers Todd Oldham and John Bartlett on the continuing influence of Grey Gardens
- Hundreds of behind-the-scenes photographs
- Trailers
- Filmographies
- Booklet with an essay by writer Hilton Als
- Disc Two: The Beales of Grey Gardens
- New video introduction by Maysles
- Booklet with a new essay by cultural critic Michael Musto
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
One wonders if any of this would have transpired had Edith Ewing Bouvier (known as "Big Edie") and daughter Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") merely been garden variety eccentrics, instead of quasi-celebrities (the aunt and cousin, respectively, of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, nee Bouvier). On the other hand, there's a certain can't-turn-away-from-a-car-accident fascination that comes with watching the two Edies at home in their rundown, squalid East Hampton, Long Island estate (they were ordered to fix the place up before the documentary was shot, but it's still a dump, albeit a large one). With her endless parade of different "costumes," every one of them featuring a scarf, a towel, or some such material wrapped around her head (then in her mid-fifties, she had an oddball fashion sense that's a big part of her now-iconic status), Little Edie is quite a character. Considerably less appealing is her mother, a bitter, poisonous woman who apparently pressured her daughter to move back home and care for her after Big Edie's husband quite understandably abandoned her in the early 1950s. "My whole life, I've been ground down and insulted every minute," Little Edie confides to the camera, but she gives as good as she gets; the two of them squabble endlessly, mostly about past events and the careers they might have had (Big Edie as a singer, her daughter as a dancer and model). There are obviously many viewers who find this sort of terminal dysfunction appealing, even charming. For others, words like annoying and tedious may be more appropriate. And while The Beales of Grey Gardens offers more evidence that the two women actually cared for one another (there's also a good deal more interaction between the Beales and the filmmakers, along with various other visitors), it's essentially just more of the same. --Sam Graham
Stills from Grey Gardens (Click for larger image)
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Product Description
Customer Reviews
What makes these two women so interesting? First, they live in a giant decaying mansion (the titular "Grey Gardens") in luxurious East Hampton. The family was extremely wealthy at one time, until Edith divorced and lost most of her money. She apparently stayed in the 28-room Grey Gardens mansion despite a lack of money for upkeep. The women show pictures of themselves from years earlier, and they were obviously beautiful society scions. However, they became more and more isolated from society as they hunkered down into their mansion At one point, the mansion was even raided by East Hampton officials, who wanted to evict the pair due to the unsanitary living conditions. Jackie subsequently helped them clean up the mansion.
All of this action, though, occurs before the film starts in 1975 (some of the back story is presented in pictures and newspaper stories). In fact, in the documentary, not much new happens: the women continue their bizarre existence in the mansion and argue. They argue a lot. Every conversation is filled with their remembrances of better times, when Little Edie was desired by wealthy men and Edith carried on an affair with a pianist. This life is so far removed from their current surroundings, and their regrets about that disparity quickly surface. Apparently, Little Edie had been living in NYC in the 1950s, before her mother had her come back home to take care of her. This arrangement was only supposed to be for a short time, but 24 years later, they are still at Grey Gardens and arguing.
Although the movie focuses on relatives of a very famous woman, the themes of living in the past and experiencing regret are so universal. The women have in many ways a typical mother-daughter relationship, but it's also so atypical. Quite simply, they live a rather deluded existence, arguing so passionately about past events as though it still mattered or was in the present. Neverthless, the women are fascinating on so many levels, including Edie's fashion style. Throughout the film, Edie models numerous outfits that she's created, all accompanied by a turban. Whether she's bald or just loves turbans is never explored. Funnily, Edie's bizarre style has become somewhat of an ironic fashion inspiration; the DVD even features Todd Oldham explaining that he has actually used Edie's fashion sense while designing a number of outfits!
Some people have criticized this documentary for a variety of reason, including calling the filmmakers exploitative. I don't think that the Beales were exploited - they are both intelligent although somewhat deluded women and likely understood the implications of participating in this filming. Others have said that the material is somewhat suspect - are the Beales "worthy" of a documentary? That's a judgment call each viewer will need to make. I enjoyed it - the film is like nothing else I've ever seen. Although the Beales are deluded at times, their relationship is like a Tennessee Williams play sprung to life! I wasn't able to turn away, and I know that these women will stick with me for a long time. Most highly recommended.
The DVD extras include original trailers and a fascinating commentary track featuring the Maysles and their associates. They fill in many of the blanks about the film. Fortunately, the DVD includes subtitles, as the women constantly talk over each other during their arguments. You needn't miss a single word of this hypnotic documentary.
Much of the film's pathos is magnified by the mother and daughter relationship. Little Edie, once a gorgeous, brilliant young woman feels she has been forced to sacrifice her life and a potential career as an entertainer, to look after her mother. Big Edie, once a veritable beauty in her day, was written out of her father's will for her aspirations to become a singer, and after her divorce retreated to her sea-side estate to spend the rest of her days. It is apparent that both women are extremely co-dependent, but in spite of their inherent needs to look after each other, Little Edie is full of resentment over the arrangement. She points this out again and again, letting us know that when she is with her mother, she doesn't feel like a woman, but rather a little girl. However, both have clearly been dominated by strict, critical male figures in their pasts, and they do enjoy a sense of freedom and independence in their solitude, even if it comes at the expense of their abilitiy to inhabit the outside world. Little Edie insists throughout the film, that she must get out and move to New York, "My days at Grey Gardens are limited" she tells the Maysles' camera crew, who record every nuance with objectivity, and a keen eye for descriptive detail of both women and their amazing story.
This is a complex narrative, and it unfolds with intelligent, and often hilarious dialogue from both Big and Little Edie. Little Edie's sense of fashion is truly "revolutionary" and has been copied and imitated by several designers. Big Edie is more staid, she has "had her cake, eaten it, chewed it, masticated it" while Little Edie emerges as a thwarted Goddess, who feels she never even got a bite of the cake, so to speak. She proclaims herself to be the "greatest dancer in the world" yet alone in the house with her mother, their is no other audience for her to creatively conquer. We watch her, and we are captivated by her, and we accept what she tells us, because she is so emotive and honest.
Fiction could never fully capture the beauty and the sadness that this film evokes. Although we love to laugh with it, it is also a poignant epic, magnifying moments in Big Edie and Little Edie's lives with uncanny depth and awareness of the subjects. It is simultaneoulsy lyrical, funny and sad. Those who view it and do not understand that this is a masterpiece, are missing the point of this work. And what is that point? I believe it circles around the choices that are made for us, the choices we do make, and the choices we don't make, and how our fates are are affected by these events.
I give "Grey Gardens" six stars, and I hope you enjoy it. It is a film that can be viewed several times, and there is always something new to discover every time it is screened.
Her rolling gait, the garrulous, often self-aggrandizing speech, the whispered conspiracy theories, the exaggerated facial expressions, the sudden outbursts of temper -- and so many more symptoms which are so painfully obvious to those who have lived or work closely with schizophrenic individuals, clue us in to the true nature of her relationship with her mother which goes way beyond things hinted at or openly stated in the dialogue. It becomes increasingly clear to the viewer, especially after watching The Beales of Grey Gardens, which is included in this two DVD set, that apparently Little Edie was not managing well living on her own in the city in 1952, so her mother had her return to Long Island ostensibly to care for her. Big Edie's devotion was such that I believe she was willing to appear less than capable of taking care of herself to protect Little Edie's dignity as much as she could. Neither woman was physically able or accustomed to taking care of the huge house, and as their fortune disappeared, the mansion sank into a state of appalling disrepair. The bare mattresses they sleep on are unspeakably filthy, yet Little Edie's brother continues to pay the taxes on the place without ever coming to see them. Only the most minimal provision is made for their needs, keeping them essentially in a holding pattern in the house. They can't afford to move somewhere else, and they can't afford to maintain the place. The reasons for this are only hinted at in the film by Little Edie rolling her eyes.
As is so often the case among victims of schizophrenia, LE's wit and intelligence are undiminished by her illness and only make her circumstances seem sadder still. Her outlandish get-ups -- often featuring tablecloths and towels -- fashion forward as they may have been, clearly arise from her lack of wearable clothing. Big Edie, who can barely walk and has a terrible cough, is often seen sitting around barely covered with a blanket, with apparently little or nothing on underneath, yet sitting thus, she sings in a full-throated soprano, still, with near-total recall of lyrics and snatches of poetry. The astonishing flair with which Little Edie assembles her jaunty ensembles says a great deal about the resiliency of the human spirit. Perhaps only in Shakespeare do we find a study of two utterly tragic characters as compelling as what the Maysles captured on film that year.
Because this film is such a powerful work of art, the truths which are at the core of the Beales' situation are both complex and universal. The photographs of each of the women in their youths reveal that they were both stunning beauties who had every advantage of birth, education and wealth. Big Edie was the sister of "Black Jack" Bouvier, Jacqueline Kennedy's own father, so Jackie and Little Edie were first cousins. That Jackie and Lee could have done a great deal more for them than see to it that Grey Gardens got a new roof and some other basic structural repairs (after the highly publicized "raid" by local officials) is an uncomfortable indictment of women who are considered America's royalty. Indeed, at the height of the Bouvier sisters' international jet-setting phase, their aunt and cousin were both ill, underfed, underclothed and underhoused, sleeping on filthy mattresses with no sheets. This is where the notion that this film depicts two quarrelsome free spirits living exactly as they liked and thumbing their noses to their high-society rellies breaks down. Even free spirits like clean sheets and a shower once in awhile. To be fair, I have read that Lee Radziwill did help out with the grocery bill from time to time, but the scene with Little Edie dumping a bag of catfood and a loaf of bread on the attic floor for their sickly, mangy animals to help themselves to is a parallel that is pretty hard to miss.
Despite the outrage the viewer feels on behalf of these improbably plucky and endearing heroines, the film certainly has its luminous moments which lift it far above the cliche-ridden news story it could so easily have been. On a golden September afternoon, Little Edie reels down the beach toward the surf, then suddenly dives through a wave, and waterborne, becomes as lithe and graceful a swimmer as you might imagine she was at 16, and every bit as beautiful; her years of suffering and the "mistakes" she alludes to are washed into the sea and we glimpse for a moment the woman she might have been, or actually the woman she is, but without the illness, and it is a transcendant moment of peace in the film, a blessed break from the constant hammering and bickering dialogue. Sheltered if not exactly pampered, Little Edie is youthful, coquettish, rebellious, and sometimes downright naughty as a woman can be at 56. By the standards of 1975, she was in fact a senior citizen, but watching her today (when it's said the 50s are the new 30s) strutting and dancing and flirting shamelessly with both the camera and the Maysles, she has clearly slipped past the boundaries of time, a genuinely agless spirit transcending the most depressing circumstances with a cheerful wave of her flag, optimism for her future, and a knowing wink to the camera. And for some inexplicable reason, we can't help smiling back.
This is an astonishing film which raises some very disturbing questions about human dignity and grace -- and forces us to ask ourselves some pretty disturbing questions, too. What is madness? Why are we watching this film (again?)? How can it be that we can be so disturbed, so angered, so depressed, and so uplifted all at the same time? If Shakespeare had been a filmmaker, this is the film he would have made. I think I'll go watch it again.
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