Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Develiker terrible... so disappointed.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Syl The story of Grey Gardens, a huge estate in Southhampton, Long Island was home to eccentrics Big Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edith. They live there with their cats and raccoons as well. Their home is in disarray after years of neglect. The documentary about Big Edie and Little Edie is a rare look into humanity. The mother and daughter are quite unique, talented and individualistic in their lives. When the film director agreed to make a movie about them, they couldn't have imagined the outpouring and interest in the Beales. They are related to former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. They were both debutantes and figures in New York high society. This rare look at their lives offers a glimpse into their world. We may not understand their decisions and choices but we respect them for their candidness and honesty throughout.

evanston_dad I had a very complicated reaction to "Grey Gardens," the Maysles brothers' cult classic 1975 documentary. I felt by turns creeped out by Edith and Edie, the mother and daughter at the film's center, and very sorry for them. They rot away in a derelict and disgustingly dirty mansion, swarmed by cats and other wild animals, bickering and reminiscing about the lives each of them left behind, Edith's as a singer and Edie's as a model and dancer. There shouldn't be anything wrong with not realizing your ambitions when those ambitions lie in artistic fields that only a very select few succeed in, yet the fact that these two didn't replace their disappointments with anything else turns them into grand guignol caricatures. Edie especially is like Norma Desmond if Norma had never been successful in the first place. I couldn't decide whether she was just deeply eccentric or actually suffering from a mental disorder. There's a scene where some people they know come over for Edith's birthday party, and the young female guest looks the entire time like she can't wait to get out of the house and away from the weirdness. That's exactly how I felt watching the film. Even though they volunteered to have their lives filmed, and despite the fact that Edie at least thrives on the attention, I couldn't help but feel a little shamed being a voyeur. The film is like rummaging through someone else's dirty underwear.Grade: A

atlasmb "Grey Gardens" is a riveting documentary about a mother and daughter who live in their deteriorating home, having little contact with others.This is a documentary in the true sense of the word, where the filmmaker does little more than document, without intent to impose a point of view. The camera merely follows the pair of women through their daily routines. On the other hand, it is impossible for the filming to not influence the behavior of the subjects, especially with Edith and Edie, who seemingly love to perform for the camera, and who enjoy having the crew around--probably because they offer a welcome interruption to their relative loneliness.The women live with a multitude of cats. They even feed the raccoons that have breached the interior walls of the rotting mansion. Mother and daughter interact with each other as if the daughter, Edie, was a young girl. They might bicker sometimes, but each is the other's link to the past, a shared history, memories of better days.The result is reminiscent of Miss Havisham from "Great Expectations", living as much in the past as the present.

kgdakotafan Little Edie and Big Edie are characters that anyone can feel compassion for. Even though their house was filthy, this is somehow understandable considering their mental illness. On the message board a poster wrote that "Little Edie has the coping skills of an eight year old." This reminded me of when in the dramatized 2009 version, Big Edie says to Little Edie, "If you're stuck, it's only with yourself!" These women had everything; beauty, talent, intelligence, firm belief in their opinions and actions. Perhaps if Little Edie wasn't so hard on herself the first time things didn't work out, losing her hair, her job, and the love of her life, she would have made it. This somehow ties into what I believe is her mental illness: her inability to pick herself up when times are hard and see that good times lie ahead. The world will never know what have happened if she didn't listen to her mom's plea, "Come home, Edie! Let me take care of you!"Yet these understandably insecure women somehow manage to be brilliant, heartbreaking, and lovable, even in their extremely filthy home. These women were extraordinary, and their interaction with each other bring humor and sadness. When Edie had one of her emotional breakdowns, dwelling about what could have been, or about how she wants to get out of her home because she feels like a little girl, one gets the intense urge to hug her and tell her that "everything will be okay!" Great documentary!!9/10