Grey Gardens

PG

Released Sep 27, 1975

1h 35m

Documentary

TRAILER

for

List

94%

Tomatometer

35 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

This film explores the daily lives of two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. During the course of the documentary, they discuss their habits, desires and former loves with filmmakers Albert and David Maysles. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

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Critics Consensus

Edith and Edie Beale are eccentric subjects who offer a generous amount of themselves in Grey Gardens, an inquisitive and nonjudgmental exploration of the isolated socialites' lifestyle.

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Charles Michener

Film Comment Magazine

An extraordinarily crafty invasion into the lives of Edith Beale and her daughter Edie.

Apr 11, 2018

Full Review

Kate Muir

Times (UK)

As tender and revealing as it is completely bonkers.

Rated: 5/5

Apr 14, 2016

Full Review

Mark Feeney

Boston Globe

Edith and Edie are like a toxic vaudeville team, joined not just by blood but affinity. They're three parts folie a deux to two parts shtick.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 6, 2015

Full Review

Mark Seneviratne

Vague Visages

Grey Gardens is a late-era accomplishment of what direct cinema had set out to be at the end of the 1950s.

Mar 26, 2024

Full Review

Jacqui Mac

Gay Community News (Boston)

A painful but poignant affirmation of life, rich in the kinds of socio-psychological truths that the camera rarely has the freedom to reveal.

Sep 15, 2022

Full Review

Connie McFeeley

Los Angeles Free Press

The Maysles Brothers (in this film, working with Hovde and Meyer) habitually put human beings on the screen and ask us, simply, to recognize them. For this reason alone, Grey Gardens warrants viewing and support.

Oct 31, 2019

Full Review

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Julian S

A study of disillusionment and disorder within the confines of a once-grand, decrepit house. A must-see.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/29/24

Full Review

Jerod S

Their story is so bizarre that watching them sing and dance is like watching a train wreck. All that mansion and they're living with a hot plate in one room together.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

06/01/24

Full Review

Ben N

So bizarre, poor Edie is stuck in her 20s. She goes about as though she is still about to make her big break and live in the city. She received no support from family for who she wanted to be, and money and standing isn't everything. Edith set her own table, and probably resented being left at home herself - and reaped the fall for her dalliances. Left with only each other, they craft a seemingly sad existence in a huge enviable property in the land of those who have. It is hard to watch at times with so much talking over each other.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/21/23

Full Review

Tyler B

You can't take your eyes off this movie. It's like watching a beautiful car wreck unfold before you eyes in slow motion. There's so much to learn from this real life horror of wealth and mental illness.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/14/23

Full Review

David F

A tremendous achievement in the documentary arts, and with such simple content, technology, and methods. This portrait of a mother and daughter living out their lives in a mansion ruin full of cats and raccoons as they sing and dance and reflect on their pasts and their present is nothing less than captivating every minute of the way. Full of staunch characters and great regional accents, it's theatrical, touching, moving, and everything a film should be.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/14/23

Full Review

Kyle M

Perceptually grasped the subject matter's prompt that's considered groundbreaking formatting it as direct cinema, but the presented topic is only momentous capture with no timeless relevancy besides the approach. Intriguing enough over the lifestyle that was newsworthy at the time as it compelled curiosity leading into this incredibly dated, debatably exploitive documentary with loss of pure engagement as the genre mowed it over the years. The story was recaptured in a televised biopic, being more instinctually informative with a rounded narrative structure and better attachment. A good, worthy takeaway from this documentary is the scenery surrounding the place of interest, while those inhabited then aren't healthy characters. (B-)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/30/23

Full Review

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Ellen Hovde

Director

Albert Maysles

Director

David Maysles

Director

Muffie Meyer

Director

Susan Froemke

Associate Producer

Albert Maysles

Producer

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Synopsis

This film explores the daily lives of two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. During the course of the documentary, they discuss their habits, desires and former loves with filmmakers Albert and David Maysles. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

Director: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer
Producer: Albert Maysles, David Maysles
Distributor: Portrait Films
Production Co: Portrait Films, Maysles Films
Rating: PG
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 27, 1975, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Mar 6, 2015
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 21, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $31.0K
Runtime: 1h 35m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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