Friday December 1, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 48 |
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Friday, Sep 05, 2008
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The Beales of Grey Gardens |
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| The Beales of Grey Gardens | ||
| Peering Again into the Lives of Jackie O.'s Eccentric Relatives
The Beales of Grey Gardens A Film by Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Ian Markiewicz U.S.A. 2006, 90 minutes Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave., (206) 267-5380, www.nwfilmforum.org December 1-3, Friday-Sunday at 7 & 9 pm By E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN Arts & Entertainment Writer Back in 1975, Albert Maysles and his now late brother David Maysles, made a documentary film called "Grey Gardens". It was about the fascinating lives of two aging eccentric women, a mother and daughter, living a reclusive and deteriorating life in their 28 room ram shackled mansion in East Hampton, Long Island. These women were the aunt and first cousin of former first lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale have become cult figures since that first film. In 2006, Albert Maysles opened his film vault and discovered that there was enough footage to make a feature-length follow-up. Thirty years later after the original," The Beales of Grey Gardens" is the result. Watching these two individuals is fascinating. Born into American "aristocracy", into circumstances of wealth, privilege and refinement, both mother and daughter had been highly educated, were very sophisticated, articulate and great lovers of the arts and literature. Yet, here they were, in seclusion, in a mansion with holes in the floors, facing a Health Department eviction for dilapidated conditions and feeding marauding raccoons in the hallway outside their bedroom. "Little Edie", 56, poised, well-spoken and graceful, dances and sings, flirts, sunbathes and muses on life experiences for the camera, in her numerous and unique self-styled outfits, always with her hair completely obscured by a babushka with a brooch on top. "Big Edie" is moved to tears while reciting pieces by Robert Louis Stephenson from memory. In contrast to her intelligence and literary prowess, she is sitting on a mattress without sheets, is unkempt, with long disheveled grey hair and covered by newspapers and scruffy, sleeping house cats. These women's lives are surreal and that is well captured in the film. In some ways, it feels as though they have the privilege of going deeper into their eccentricities because, from afar, others are looking over their finances. Someone pays their property tax each year and Aristotle Onassis pays for a new roof for Grey Gardens, as they blithely exist, in a safe, increasingly myopic, sheltered fantasy world. Whether you've seen the original documentary or not, this follow-up film is entertaining and gives insight into the lives of these two very unusual and endearing characters, two women who have inspired a current Broadway play and an upcoming movie of their story, starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange. For more information on this documentary or other films by the Maysles brothers visit: www.mayslesfilms.com. |
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