Grey Gardens Review

Grey Gardens DVD

This movie is based on a documentary made in the 1970's about "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" Beale, a mother and daughter, and an aunt and cousin to Jackie Kennedy Onassis. They were two eccentric ladies who lived in squalor for about 30 years in their estate called Grey Gardens.

The movie, unlike the documentary, goes back in time to the 1930's, when Grey Gardens was a beautiful place and staffed by servants and others that kept the household running for the Beales family. We see the kind of life lead by both the women, before Big Edie's husband divorced her, and before little Edie's dreams of being in show business were dashed. We also get a look at the circumstances that led to the decline of the condition of the estate, and how these women lived essentially in poverty when the money ran out.

We also get a look at how the documentary came to be, and that the filmmakers really cared about their subjects.

Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore were outstanding as Big Edie and Little Edie; I think they were both perfect choices for the roles.
When watching the extra feature in the DVD about the making of the HBO movie, it was just uncanny how much Jessica Lange looked like the real Big Edie when playing the character in her 80's. Jeanne Tripplehorn was also great as Jackie O., although she had just a small part in the movie. When she came to visit them after the county raided the home due to unsafe living conditions, you could tell just by the look on her face the mixture of love for them, horror at the living conditions, and not understanding how they could have fallen that far that she must have been feeling.

I really enjoyed seeing the different outfits, or "costumes" as she called them, that Little Edie would wear. Obviously, the living conditions didn't stifle her creativity. I had a sense that she wanted to just run away from there, but the bond to her mother was too strong. It was really sad to see the deterioration of the once grand home, and hard to imagine living in such conditions. I don't think either one was equipped with the skills to take care of themselves or to cope with life in general. I think if they had, Little Edie would have had a good chance of living her dream to be an entertainer.

I would really like to see the original documentary some day, it's too bad it wasn't available with with this DVD as a set.