After watching Grey Gardens, it’s safe to rank Hollywood as the runner up for the place where dreams go to die. The real champion of this title is the estate of Edith Bouvier-Beale and her daughter Edie Bouvier-Beale, strategically sequestered in the Hamptons, in the only area isolated enough to contain the psychological fumes emanating from what is known as Grey Gardens. Now, just to avoid confusion, this film is not to be mistaken with the more recent butchering starring Drew Barrymore as Little Edie and Jessica Lange as Big Edie. The original documentary, which, for some reason, just had to be turned into a narrative version with the abovementioned street cred seeking actresses, is a stark tale of the two women who are best known as Jackie Kennedy’s kooky, uncleanly aunt and cousin.
A glance at the most neurotic mother-daughter relationship of all time
One of the many moments of drudgery in the Bouvier-Beales' lives
Behind the scenes of the documentary
Other than that, the interactions of the Bouvier-Beales are few and far between, restricted to two unnamed guests who appear for a celebration of Big Edie’s birthday. This particular scene of the film is another solemn depiction of how detached from real life the mother and daughter pair has become. Filling their days with essentially nothing, Big Edie generally sits in her bed looking at the scant memorabilia from her failed singing career while Little Edie tans out on the deck (an exercise that never seems to change the pigments of her skin).
Solitude redefined
