Grey Gardens / The Beales of Grey Gardens - Criterion Collection (2-disc set)

See Larger Image	List Price: $49.95 Our Price: $28.49 Your Save: $ 21.46 ( 43% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: Criterion Starring: Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale, Brooks Hyers, Norman Vincent Peale, Jerry Torre Directed By: Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer Average Customer Rating:
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Brand: Image Entertainment EAN: 0715515017923 Format: Color Label: Criterion Manufacturer: Criterion Number Of Items: 2 Publisher: Criterion Region Code: 1 Release Date: 2006-12-05 Running Time: 100 Studio: Criterion Theatrical Release Date: 1976
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Editorial Reviews: Meet Big and Little Edie Beale—high society dropouts, mother and daughter, reclusive cousins of Jackie O.—thriving together amid the decay and disorder of their ramshackle East Hampton mansion. An impossibly intimate portrait and an eerie echo of the Kennedy Camelot, Albert and David Maysles’s 1975 Grey Gardens has since become a cult classic and established Little Edie as fashion icon and philosopher queen.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Hard to watch, hard not to watch ... Comment: Grey Gardens was initialy intended to be a documentary film on the Bouvier family, the ancestors of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her sister Lee Radziwill. However, after being introduced to Edith Bouvier Beale (Jackie's father "Black Jack's" sister) and her daughter (Jackie's first cousin), the focus changed ... to a story that would have been all-but-impossible for a documentary filmmaker to walk away from, even over the protests of family members. The Beales, mother and daughter (Edie and "Little" Edie), were at one time beautiful, no doubt fashionable, wealthy, prominent members of high society, with a large mansion, "Grey Gardens," full of appropriate possessions to match. Unfortunately, Mr. Beale's death (I didn't catch when but it had to have been many years earlier) led them into a year-by-year, seemingly never-ending spiral of increasing pathetic physical ruin and personal dispair. By the time of the documentary, they have long-since lost the ability to care for the mansion, it's possessions, themselves or their health. They have effectively been removed from current reality and exist almost entirely amid memories, many very clear to both, some with recriminations and lots with "if only's." They have seemingly lost all but perfunctory contact with their family (a brother of Edith's is said to pay the taxes) and have no visible source of income. And, seemingly as a result of the situation, have descended into a completely self-absorbed, mutually accusatory / codependent relationship, possibly diagnosable as some form of mental illness for one or both. A really difficult, truly sad but sometimes very funny situation, made poignant by their memories of what was and by implication what could have been. In some ways they may be seen as heroic, still able to laugh under the appalling circumstances. Undoubtedly many controversial questions could be asked of the Beale's, the family, the filmmakers, the government, and society. Worth watching and thinking about from lots of viewpoints ... well done. Customer Rating: Summary: Better than watching a car crash! Comment: You seriously cannot script this stuff. I like weird s**t! What can I say?! Thanks to parents with a dry sense of humor I grew up loving all things 'odd'. When my boyfriend brought this home and said: "You need to watch this...it's right up your alley!" I was like: eh! ( I don't like it when people recommend things to me - don't ask me why, it's just a weird thing i have!) Anyway, I read the back of the cover and was a little intrigued...I'm not going to lie. So we put it on and OMFG! These woman are f#$%ing amazing! They are cookoo and eccentric and all those things I love immensely! I didn't want it to end. And i couldn't believe I had not come accross it early. I feel like 27 yrs of my life have just passed me by with no real meaning. I have never said the words: Seriously?! Is she f#$%ing for real...I LOVE HER! Edie is amazing. I am in awe of these women. This is now my all-time favourite documentary. Now i don't say this very often, but : YOU MUST WATCH THIS IF IT IS THE LAST THING YOU DO! You cannot go through life without having seen these women in action.. Go and buy it right now...RIGHT NOW! I'm watching you Customer Rating: Summary: So Sad Yet So True Comment: They used to be part of the rich crowd, now they live in a dilapidated mansion that's literally falling apart. I mean racoons are jumping through the open walls, eating off their floors, & chumping on the dry cat food littered there. Cats are everywhere too and they poop and pee anywhere they want, on the mother's bed, behind the paintings, etc. How did these two people end up with a life like this? This movie tells... Customer Rating: Summary: Little Edie Beale: A Fascinating Female Residing in Grey Gardens Comment: The original filming of the documentary followed the lives of Big & Little Edie Beale in the early-mid 70s, well before reality tv & paparrazi began barraging us with images of celebrities alongside average Americans. Watching the film gives a feeling of watching something you shouldn't be seeing, knowing the Kennedy & Bouvier clans probably shuddered in their shoes when they heard about it being released. (The Beales are close relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.) Edie's change of outfits, singing, & endless philosophizing are fascinating to watch, yet at the same time you feel a bit melancholic for her. The new bonus disc is quite a treat with footage never before available from the hours of filming done by the Maysles' brothers. Buy it for your collection & you will always have something interesting to watch & discuss when you have a dinner party. A unique gem! Customer Rating: Summary: Grey Gardens Comment: Brilliant character study...a film that I will watch many times....it is a wonderfully done documentary...The Grey Gardens is a must see film! More Reviews