The Beales of Grey Gardens

2006

Documentary

1
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 71% · 7 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 76% · 500 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 1370 1.4K

Plot summary

Mother and daughter - Big Edie and Little Edie Beale - live with six cats in a crumbling house in East Hampton. Little Edie, in her 50s, who wears scarves and bright colors, sings, mugs for the camera, and talks to Al and David Maysles, the filmmakers. Big Edie, in her 70s, recites poetry, comments on her daughter's behavior, and sings "If I Loved You" in fine voice. She talks in short sentences; her daughter in volumes. The film is episodic: friends visit, there's a small fire in the house, Little Edie goes to the shore and swims. She talks about the Catholic Church. She's ashamed that local authorities raided the house because of all the cats. She values being different.


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March 20, 2024 at 02:36 PM

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840.35 MB
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29.97 fps
1 hr 31 min
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1.52 GB
1432*1064
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
29.97 fps
1 hr 31 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by floquick2 8 / 10

As a point of clarification

David Maysles, the primary editor of the brilliantly edited "Grey Gardens" died in 1987 and was therefore not involved with this project.

According to his brother and cameraman Albert (his interview is the only extra on the DVD), he and David filmed for about 6 weeks for several hours a day in the early autumn of 1973. Presumably, this film was culled from the best of what remained of that material.

It's disjointed to the point of really just being a roughly assembled collection of outtakes. We see much more of the Marble Faun as well as quirky artist friend Lois who only appeared in the birthday party scenes in "Grey Gardens". Little Edie in particular comes across as both more rational as well as more flirtatious with the Maysles brothers, especially the younger David. And the extent to which the brothers engaged with and encouraged the Beales becomes much more obvious in these segments.

Still, this is a must-see for fans of the Beales, if only for a view of all of Little Edie's amazing costumes of the day as well as her general philosophies of life. Little Edie was a true free-thinking early feminist, trapped by the circumstances of her time and social status, but I'm sure it would please her endlessly to know she has so many admirers more than a decade after her death.

Reviewed by g-91200-93993 8 / 10

Love this independent gray

The 75-year film focused on the relationship between mother and daughter and themselves, and this one focused more on their relationship with their surroundings, more showing their friends and even interacting with the director. It is further supplemented with content about swimming, Catholicism, costumes and constellations, and Mrs. Bell mentioned poetry.

Reviewed by / 10

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