Grey Gardens (2009)

HBO's Grey Gardens follows the lives of Jackie O.'s cousins, Edith Bouvier Beale (aka Little Edie) and her mother Edith Ewing Bouvier (aka Big Edie), from Little Edie's premiere as a debutante in 1936 through the filming of the documentary Grey Gardens circa 1975 - where this movie got a fair amount of it's source material.

Drew Barrymore is Little Edie and Jessica Lange is Big Eddie. And I use "is" because if you've ever seen the documentary, you'll know that these two are the embodiments of the Edies. Barrymore and Lange earned their awards. And I don't think it's going too far to say that had his been released in theaters, they could have been up for Oscars (although it might not do as well at the box office due to the Beale's modern day obscurity).

It's this possessive, co-dependent, passive-aggressive relationship that sits at the heart of the film. They're each captivating characters. Big Edie lives in her own world, refusing to bend to anyone or anything. Little Edie feels compelled to bend to her mother's will, even at the cost of forgoing having her own life. Both women stand on their own but recreate the interaction between mother and daughter beautifully. The crew did a great job aging them 40 years over the course of their story but the actresses don't rely on their hair (or lack there-of) and make-up as a crutch. It's all there in their voices, their posture, the way they seem to carry this lifetime of memories. Little Edie says that it's hard to keep a line between the past and the present and it's shows so true. They play the society-mavens craving attention and they play the recluses living in a house that is literally crumbling around them. It's amazing juxtaposition further enhanced by the fact that it's all true.

To the audience, the Beale women's circumstances don't seem normal, but it's all business as usual for the Beales - and that's part of the fascinating charm this movie provides.

One of my favorite instances of that charm comes from Little Edie. She wore rather unconventional ensembles in her later years that she referred to as "the costume for the day". When the Maysles brothers come to film their documentary she tells them about that day's costume explaining her choices and ending with "Mother wanted me to come out in a kimono, so we had quite a fight."

Rating: 5/5
Recommended for:People who really understand the phrase "a beautiful train wreck".