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Grey Gardens

  • 1975
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
16K
YOUR RATING
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens (1975)
An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.
Play trailer2:06
2 Videos
56 Photos
DocudramaMockumentaryComedyDocumentaryDrama

Meet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an e... Read allMeet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot.Meet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot.

  • Directors
    • Ellen Hovde
    • Albert Maysles
    • David Maysles
  • Stars
    • Edith Bouvier Beale
    • Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale
    • Brooks Hyers
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.5/10
    16K
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Ellen Hovde
      • Albert Maysles
      • David Maysles
    • Stars
      • Edith Bouvier Beale
      • Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale
      • Brooks Hyers
    • 85User reviews
    • 88Critic reviews
    • 83Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 5 wins & 1 nomination total

    Videos2

    Re-release Trailer
    Trailer 2:06
    Re-release Trailer
    Grey Gardens
    Trailer 2:04
    Grey Gardens
    Grey Gardens
    Trailer 2:04
    Grey Gardens

    Photos56

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    Top cast9

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    Edith Bouvier Beale
    Edith Bouvier Beale
    • Self
    Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale
    Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale
    • Self
    Brooks Hyers
    • Self - Gardener
    Norman Vincent Peale
    Norman Vincent Peale
    • Self
    • (voice)
    Jack Helmuth
    • Self - Birthday Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Albert Maysles
    Albert Maysles
    • Self
    • (uncredited)
    David Maysles
    • Self
    • (uncredited)
    Jerry Torre
    Jerry Torre
    • Self - Handyman
    • (uncredited)
    Lois Wright
    • Self - Birthday Guest
    • (uncredited)
    • Directors
      • Ellen Hovde
      • Albert Maysles
      • David Maysles
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews85

    7.516.3K
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    Featured reviews

    6wisewebwoman

    Difficult to look away

    I saw this doc many years ago on TV and had a recent viewing.

    It's still challenging to watch it without enormous compassion for these obviously disturbed, mentally ill mother and daughter duo living in squalor and filth in a dilapidated old mansion on the coast. The aunt and cousin of the late Jackie Onassis.

    Cats and racoons run amok in this horror of a place (and I understand it was cleaned before the film makers came to intrude and document the lives of the two women.

    This time I found it exploitive. Today (not back then) we recognize that hoarding and living in such appalling surroundings, no running water, holes in the walls, cat urine, eating cat food (they spread it on crackers) is a sign of severe mental illness.

    Edith and Edie are immune to it all, savouring the past - they were beauties in their time - and have a passive agressive endless argument going with each other. Clothing is optional.

    Edie wears blouses and sweaters tied up around her head due to skin condition of baldness.

    Like a train wreck, it's impossible to look away but I am shocked that a health department wasn't called in to fumigate and rescue these two.

    A huge level of exploitation by the two brothers who filmed it all and the final insult was in not putting the names of the women in the credits.

    They were used in their utmost vulnerability.
    6marysammons-42220

    Hard to watch

    Very sad view into these women's lives. One reviewer said this documentary shows the House was not as bad as the legend claimed. Well this was after Jackie and Lee has it cleaned up. It was back to it's horrible condition by the time Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee bought it. Quinn said to get rid of the smell they had to rip up floors and tear down walls. You clearly see in the film cats going to the bathroom everywhere and no one cleans it up. The mattresses were filthy and they didn't even have sheets on the bed. These women were mentally ill. If you read the history, which you get none of in this film, the ex husband and sons tried to get them to sell years before but Big Edie refused.
    10TuckMN

    Truth is stranger than fiction...

    One question that must be asked immediately is: Would this film have been made if the women in it were not the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis?

    The answer is: Probably not.

    But, thankfully, they are (or were) the cousin and aunt of Jackie.

    This documentary by the Maysles brothers on the existence (one could hardly call it a life) of Edith B. Beale, Jr., and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (Edie), has the same appeal of a train wreck -- you don't want to look but you have to.

    Big Edith and Little Edie live in a once magnificent mansion in East Hampton, New York, that is slowly decaying around them. The once beautiful gardens are now a jungle.

    Magnificent oil painting lean against the wall (with cat feces on the floor behind them) and beautiful portraits of them as young women vie for space on the walls next to covers of old magazines.

    Living alone together for many years has broken down many barriers between the two women but erected others.

    Clothing is seems to be optional. Edie's favorite costume is a pair of shorts with panty hose pulled up over them and bits and pieces of cloth wrapped and pinned around her torso and head.

    As Edith says "Edie is still beautiful at 56." And indeed she is. There are times when she is almost luminescent and both women show the beauty that once was there.

    There is a constant undercurrent of sexual tension.

    Their eating habits are (to be polite) strange. Ice cream spread on crackers. A dinner party for Edith's birthday of Wonder Bread sandwiches served on fine china with plastic utensils.

    Time is irrelevant in their world; as Edie says "I don't have any clocks."

    Their relationships with men are oh-so-strange.

    Edie feels like Edith thwarted any of her attempts at happiness. She says "If you can't get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead." To which Edith replies "I'll take a dog any day."

    It is obvious that Edith doesn't see her role in Edie's lack of male companionship. Early in the film she states "France fell but Edie didn't.

    Sometimes it is difficult to hear exactly what is being said. Both women talk at the same time and constantly contradict each other.

    There is a strange relationship with animals throughout the film; Edie feeds the raccoons in the attic with Wonder Bread and cat food. The cats (and there are many of them) are everywhere.

    At one point Edie declares "The hallmark of aristocracy is responsibility." But they seem to be unable to take responsibility for themselves.

    This is a difficult film to watch but well worth the effort.
    azeffer

    The most beautiful, endearing eccentrics of all!

    The first time I viewed Grey Gardens, I was as mesmerized as the other people who have written comments. So many elements of this film are fascinating, there are so many things going on there. The ultimate passive-aggresive relationship of the mother and daughter. So co-dependent. One moment Edie is blaming Edith for her loneliness, the next she is about to swim in the ocean and saying out loud how she hopes her mother does not pass on anytime soon, she would miss her. Yet one has to wonder if Edie really wanted to leave so badly, why didn't she? Maybe Grey Gardens was where she most wanted to be after all.

    Edie never leaves the home or rarely sees anyone, yet she still has the rich, white woman's concern over her weight. It is hilarious to see her peering at the scale through binoculars. When you see pictures of the women as young beauties, it takes your breath away. Edie is still a beautiful woman, and her coquettish behavior at times makes her seem like a young lady.

    The language is entirely witty and it is hilarious to see the two women go on and on. Favorite comments -

    "France fell but Edie didn't. Edie never fell for anyone." "Why didn't you marry Getty?" "I'm a staunch character! S-T-A-U-N-C-H!" "Lost in a sea of green leaves. I'll never see that scarf again." "This is the revolutionary outfit." "You don't say luh-ove! You're not Czechoslovakian!" "All I need is to find this Libra man!"

    The cats and racoons are a site to see, as is the faded mansion. A wonderful window into the world of two compelling characters, their lives, and their memories. Yes it is at times sad, but at the same time, these two are fabulous!
    8amosduncan_2000

    There goes the Neighborhood

    I took this out arbitrarily from the library the other night, having no idea of the film's cult, influence, or that it is currently being staged as a musical.(!) Most of the comments here are on target, it's moving, funny, sad, and yes, a tad exploitive despite the best intentions of the filmmakers. The expanded Chriterion edition is a must for anyone who loved it when it came out.

    I think you can also see in little Edie the fall of a class that sort of disappeared, you can hear it in old films of Jackie O too; people just don't talk like that anymore. I think as a documentary, it would have been interesting to get more information about how the home fell into disrepute, Old Edie at least still seems aware of what's going on to a certain degree; couldn't She see the once spectacular home disintegrating?

    Yet the film's subject is the life the two women have constructed for themselves now, a real life Tennesse Williams one act. Well worth your time.

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    Docudrama
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    Mockumentary
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    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to a 2009 interview in the San Francisco Chronicle, Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale wore a beautiful red dress to the 1975 premiere of this film, only she wore it backwards, with the zipper in front.
    • Quotes

      Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: But you see in dealing with me, the relatives didn't know that they were dealing with a staunch character and I tell you if there's anything worse than dealing with a staunch woman... S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There's nothing worse, I'm telling you. They don't weaken, no matter what.

    • Connections
      Featured in Gilmore Girls: A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving (2002)
    • Soundtracks
      Tea for Two
      (uncredited)

      Music by Vincent Youmans

      Lyrics by Irving Caesar

      Sung by Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale

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    FAQ16

    • How long is Grey Gardens?Powered by Alexa
    • What happened after Grey Gardens was filmed?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 1976 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Criterion (United States)
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Boz Bahçeler
    • Filming locations
      • East Hampton, Long Island, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Portrait Films
      • Maysles Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $36,923
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $13,845
      • Mar 8, 2015
    • Gross worldwide
      • $39,854
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 35m(95 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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