In Grey Gardens. This is their story. A love story. Sort of.

Starring: Edith Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie"), Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie"), Brooks Hyers, Norman Vincent Peale, Jack Helmuth, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Jerry Torre, Lois Wright

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"We better check on mother and the cats. She's a lot of fun, I hope she doesn't die. I hate to spend another winter here though. Oh God, another winter." - Little Edie

Why watch this? It's both fascinating and completely disturbing at the same time.

Plot Summary: This documentary centers on the lives of Edith Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and her daughter, Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie"), who are the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The film explores their eccentric daily existence as reclusive socialites living in a crumbling, dilapidated mansion in East Hampton, New York. Through their interactions with the filmmakers, these two women reveal their unique personalities, their memories of a privileged past, and their complicated mother-daughter relationship.

Dad's Preview: Dualities. Directors were brothers, the Maysles. A mother/daughter relationship. Fascinating, yet disturbing. The Bouvier Edie's, once beautiful, sophisticated elites in New York's social scene, are living in a rundown mansion, with old photographs, six cats and attic raccoons. Little Edie constantly dreams aloud about the past and all her missed loves and opportunities, blaming a lot on her over-bearing mother. Big Edie simultaneously counters every word with hyper-critical jabs about her daughter's failures. When they are together, both are constantly over-talking each other. It plays like a Duet of Dysfunction wrapped in a cat hairball coated in borderline mental illness. In the rare clips when two are separated, Little Edie talks about her desire to leave and guilt at doing so... all while we hear Big Edie calling her in the background. There is constant tension, yet the two of them cannot stand to be apart. I was initially bored, yet could not turn my eyes away from it. The filmmakers, with their "fly on a wall", non-judgmental approach (and there are plenty of real flies buzzing around feces and empty cat food cans), broke new documentary ground with this engrossing, bittersweet masterpiece. 

Portrait Films