Review of Grey Gardens (2009) by Adam C — 18 Jan 2010

"Grey Gardens" elicits a powerful response from the viewer on an emotional level. Even if it's anger or a feeling that isn't one of joy and happiness. Powerful films will find a way to make you react, and this one has me reacting with anger because I can't believe that someone or anyone would choose to live like this or not see it as a problem.

Granted, Mrs. Edith Beale and daughter Edie Beale have to be absolutely nuts. And this documentary -- although possibly meant to show something else -- proves they are crazy.

Edith Beale is the aunt of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Edie is her cousin. At one time, their estate in East Hampton was beautiful, just like Edie, just like her mom. Edie Beale, actually, was extremely beautiful in the old pictures from the 30s and 40s that were shown. She was rich and from a well-to-do family in New York's society.

But that was then and this is now. At the time this documentary was filmed in 1975, Edie is now 56 and clearly her mother and herself are some type of a joke -- at least I would think -- on Long Island.

After doing some research, apparently the women were threatened with eviction from the county in or around 1972. The women had lived at Grey Gardens -- the Beale family's former summer home -- for more than 50 years combined, year-round after Edie's father left her mother. They were living on limited funds, Grey Gardens was dilapidated, in squalor, had no running water, was infested with fleas from all the wild animals and the cats roaming around. The news made the National Enquirer first -- because they always get the best scoops -- and was further legitimized by other publications.

Finally, niece/cousin Jackie O and some other relatives lent them the money to bring the house up to code. But it was still trashy in 1975 when this was filmed. (If I were Jackie O, though, I'd be like, "Don't know them...").

I pity them. I realize they're probably dead now. But I pity them while watching this movie. It's appalling to see the conditions they were living in during the filming and THAT WAS AFTER the house was brought up to code. I would hate to have seen what it was like in 1970 or 1971.

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Edie is absolutely nuts. Whether it was in an argument with her mother -- who was in her 80s at the time of filming -- or opening up a bag of Wonder bread and a box of cat food and dumping it into the attic to feed the cats and/or the raccoons who were also living in the house, it's clear Edie is bonkers.

The lady is delusional -- worrying about mother being alone in one breath and then wishing she would've never come back in the next; worrying that someone is stealing her books. She thinks she is a child and acts as such on camera. It's rather sad to see a 56-year-old woman having to do dance routines and show off costumes on camera as if she were 7 years old.

The sadness is what carries this documentary, really. It's sad to think that it all came to this for a family that really had it all. They show old photos during the documentary (and the Criterion disc has several extras on the disc with more photos). The photos show two pretty young women, Edie is a popular debutante, went to private schools, college, had aspirations of making it on Broadway or singing, but things didn't work out for her so she moved back to Grey Gardens in the 50s and had been there for 20+ years. Mom was a singer, she's got old photos and old 78s of herself singing that they play on a Victrola. And Grey Gardens is amazing. The entire grounds, on beach front property in the Hamptons... it's breathtaking.

The only thing I can deduct for the decline is that Mr. Beale left. Don't know why; they never say? He just up and left. And Mrs. Beale must have been afraid of losing Edie so had her come home to Grey Gardens and Edie couldn't leave and the two lived a life of isolation and were driven insane by it.

I pity them. But they're still crazy cat ladies.

The documentary is tough to stomach because of how annoying the two women get.

What's really annoying about it is the arguments and squabbles between mother and daughter. On and on. Mrs. Beale is completely helpless and Edie might as well smoke some meth, drink a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew and snort Pixie Stix because she's bouncing off the walls. Seriously, it's like watching Norman Bates converse with his mother if she were still alive; the only difference is that Edie's more like Norma Desmond and thinks she's still some type of star ... and acts like it too.

But neither of the women are all quite there. So mother and daughter go back and forth, back and forth in arguments about missed opportunities (why Edie isn't married, why Edie was never successful, why Mrs. Beale wasn't successful as a singer, bla bla bla) and other nonsensical bullshit. Both are a few fries short of a Happy Meal. And, after seeing this, I hope to never live with any of my parents when they're starting to get senile and I'm middle-aged. (Sorry Mom; sorry Dad.) Yet, while it is annoying, it's also something I think everyone can relate to because for all of the irritation, we're really seeing the dynamics of a relationship and there's something to be said for that -- even if it makes you want to beat your head against a wall.

**SPOILER ALERT** And I wish the 80-year-old woman would wear some clothes. Christ. I don't like the fact that I saw her in a tube top. It's mildly disturbing. If you ever want to see saggy skin on an old woman in a tube top or watch as she almost loses her bathing suit top, watch this movie.

Overall, I'm giving the film four stars because of how moving and the impression the film left on me. It's a very moving documentary, which is why it was well-received by critics and considered a cult classic. Even if it makes you angry. Like I said, great movies elicit any type of emotional response -- whether the emotion is good or bad.