HBO's film remake of 1975 documentary Grey Gardens finally airs amidst great fanfare tonight. Both the film and the documentary feature the lives of two society belles-turned-eccentric-shut-ins: a mother (nicknamed "Big Edie," played by Jessica Lange in the upcoming film) and daughter (known as "Little Edie," courtesy of Drew Barrymore this time around).
Their story: these relatives of Jackie Kennedy -- once the toast of the bon ton - have been languishing for decades in their East Hampton mansion, which has fallen into shocking disrepair. The documentary has fascinated and horrified audiences for nearly thirty-five years.
I've been anticipating the new film with a measure of trepidation. The original documentary - which was accused by some as having predatory undertones as it probed the lives of the Edies - was at least a bald, honest portrait of lives that had taken a bizarre turn. When I watched it for the first time, I was intrigued and repulsed like everyone else: the garbage in the kitchen! The dilapidation!
Yet I feel strangely protective of the Edies as new film's premiere draws closer. Will this generation hold the women up as objects of fascination - or ridicule? Will the portrayals lapse into campiness, or treat the subjects with nuance and respect?
After all, one of the most remarkable aspects of the original Grey Gardens was the naked vulnerability of its subjects, the sort of blithe openness that often accompanies owners of grand delusions.
Americans have always had a tenuous relationship with the idea of eccentricity, unlike our forebears in England, where eccentrics occupy a hallowed part of the cultural fabric. Of course, the Brits would love eccentricity, since for them, it has aristocratic undertones; they love their aristocrats.
But in America, eccentricity has different connotations. If we happen to like a person who has eccentric tendencies, we say, "Oh, that so-and-so is such a character." "Characters" of this variety are treated with an air of tolerance - as in, every town or family has one.
But more often than not, eccentrics are regarded as freaks and treated accordingly.
Not that Big Edie and Little Edie made it very easy for Americans - or audiences of any nationality, for that matter - to find them wholly sympathetic or charming or even accessible. After all, they were more Miss Havisham than Auntie Mame.
My personal relationship with eccentrics has always been one of adoration - but that's what you get when you have British education. I always find myself trying to glean some sort of instruction or wisdom from an eccentric's idiosyncrasies - the imminence of Grey Gardens the movie has me reexamining the Edies for a life lesson. I think it would be this:
If you can see past their oddness, and past the mountains of empty cat food tins, and past the cobwebs and squalor, there it is: a total lack of apology for who they are.
Goddamn it, that's refreshing.
That lack of apology defines their little family (and incidentally was also one of the chief characteristics of the clan Jacqueline Bouvier married into: the Kennedys).
One of the best (and chicest) life lessons I've ever been taught is to never feel the need to explain yourself to others, or apologize for who you are. It can never hurt to be taught it again.
Hopefully the new Grey Gardens will faithfully - and tenderly - relay this aspect of the Edies' characters - which might just rescue them from being mocked and disdained otherwise.
Little and Big Edie on their Grey Gardens porch.
HBO does good movies.
Drew deserves a BIG FAT emmy, because she was channeling Edie, the daughter.
Jessica's performance was great too, but Drew stold the show.
Good work Drew and Jessica!!!!
GREY GARDENS PROMO to view the video
Drew and Jessica both gave heart-breaking, beautiful performances.
What a story! My impression is that Big Edie was an eccentric, and Little Edie was mentally ill. I question whether or not Big Edie's controlling her daughter and urging her to come home was because she understood her daughter was ill, and Big Edie stated in the documentary that she did not like doctors, while Little Edie stated that her father wanted to have her committed. Fascinating how the two women "fed off" one another. And on a side note, in part 3 of the documentary on You Tube, Little Edie shows pictures of herself, as a young woman. Caroline Kennedy bears a striking resemblance to her. Wow!
Part 6 of 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aq4LyDHe6I
Part 7 of 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jLNV4CbBYc
Those were uploaded by Sabrina1Kristina.
The other version I watched was by someone else that had it broken into ten parts.
The 11 part version might be different than what you've already seen so you might have to start at five or six on the new link.
You'll see the rest of the parts on the right side of the screen when you're there on YouTube.
Better hurry and see them all before that version is pulled down too! ;)
This movie was depressing as all heck but the acting was SUPERB! What a wonderful script. Even better than the acting was the make-up team. They deserve Emmy's RIGHT NOW!
I do love cats but that was just a bit much.
Yes, women of their kind were expected to play certain roles. Arranged by their families to make 'good' marriages, even Jackie Kennedy was a victim to it. She married a man who played around on her on a consistent basis and it was her job to give him heirs and look good and that was it.
Both Lange and Barrymore are headed for Emmys with this one. The resentment and frustration on Barrymore's face at times was even Oscar worthy, if the Oscars were in the offering for this TV movie. With this film, Drew has shown she's a true Barrymore and has come into her own. (I couldn't even tell if some of the scenes were Drew or the real Edie.)
In the end these two women had only each other. and young Edie was a smart cookie too. She knew exactly what she was doing when she had that photographer into that house pre-Jackie Onassis' visit. Onassis would have never even visited if she wasn't embarrassed by all the publicity of those poor and decrepit relatives. Exceptional film!