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Grey Gardens

Play trailer 0:35 Poster for Grey Gardens PG Released Sep 27, 1975 1h 35m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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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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Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens

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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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Critics Reviews

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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 Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Tamara K A fabulous film that makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/28/24 Full Review 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 Read all reviews
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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

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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