Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
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.
Grey Gardens is a singular document of American eccentricity — the Edies are endlessly fascinating subjects whose complex, symbiotic, and occasionally painful relationship is laid bare with startling intimacy. The Maysles brothers capture something genuinely unrepeatable: two women performing for the camera, for each other, and for their own memories simultaneously. The acting category stands in for the subjects' sheer presence, which is extraordinary — Big Edie and Little Edie are among the most magnetic personalities ever committed to documentary film. Novelty is high because the film's blend of direct cinema observation and theatrical self-presentation from its subjects creates a truly one-of-a-kind tone. Cinematography is functional but sometimes cramped and murky, reflecting the decaying estate but not always by design. The ending, such as it is, simply trails off — fitting perhaps for a film about stasis, but dramatically unsatisfying and lacking any formal resolution.