Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens

Documentary • PG • 1976 • 1 hr 35 min

7.5

7.5

Starring

Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, Brooks Hyers, Norman Vincent Peale, Jack Helmuth

Directed By

Muffie Meyer, David Maysles, Ellen Giffard, Albert Maysles

Attributes

Slow Watch By Myself

Genre

Release Date

February 19, 1976

User Reviews

Truly fascinating yet jarring. Stays with you after you watch it.

one of the best documentaries i’ve seen. you can feel the respect the crew has for these two women

An incredible documentary that is part horror and part comedy.

Quite fascinating. The type of thing I’d watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon by myself.

To watch this reality made me sad and uncomfortable. Good documentary

A must see documentary and a cult classic about the thrown away relatives of Jackie O. Two women thrown away by society, living in squalor.

a slice of some remarkable lives. so many layers here

Give it 15 minutes and if you don't connect with the characters, there is no reason to continue.

hypnotic insight into decaying old wealth america

This one makes me sad because you really see the unhealthy control and guilt a mother can put over her child.

Stats

Ratings

7.5 – Based on 1.4k ratings

Attributes

Watch With

Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

The Beales of Grey Gardens

Mother and daughter - Big Edie and Little Edie Beale - live with six cats in a crumbling house in East Hampton. Little Edie, in her 50s, who wears scarves and bright colors, sings, mugs for the camera, and talks to Al and David Maysles, the filmmakers. Big Edie, in her 70s, recites poetry, comments on her daughter's behavior, and sings "If I Loved You" in fine voice. She talks in short sentences; her daughter in volumes. The film is episodic: friends visit, there's a small fire in the house, Little Edie goes to the shore and swims. She talks about the Catholic Church. She's ashamed that local authorities raided the house because of all the cats. She values being different.

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Based on the life stories of the eccentric aunt and first cousin of Jackie Onassis raised as Park Avenue débutantes but who withdrew from New York society, taking shelter at their Long Island summer home, "Grey Gardens." As their wealth and contact with the outside world dwindled, so did their grasp on reality.