i'm pulverized by this latest thing!
eleni has been after me for a few months to see the movie Grey Gardens. i was always interested, because whenever she mentioned it, her eyes would go as round as saucers and she wouldn't be able to speak and would end up saying 'Girl, you just must...'.
i finally got a chance to see Grey Gardens and my life has been changed forever. this documentary about a mother and daughter (both named Edith, and both related to Jackie O) living in a broke-ass mansion in the east hamptons will make you run a gamut of emotions from violent pity to hysterical laughter. watching these two women eat ice cream with plastic knives, make their own "costumes", feed the raccoons that live in their walls, and generally berate and love each other is enough to rip out your heart. the filth and squalor that they live in is bad enough. but the exchanges between the mother and daughter living in this shit pile are almost too much. one of my favorite moments:
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Oh, look. That cat's going to the bathroom right behind my portrait.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Ughh, how awful.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: No, I'm glad. I'm glad somebody's doing something what they want to do!
this movie is so epic, it can't even be described. it's like a mixture of broke-down glamour, gummo, a flea market, a yard sale, and an SPCA all mixed in one. but grey gardens did something else for me: it made me consider what might happen to me when i get old. between laughing and catching my breath in sadness for these women, i felt a sharp pang at the thought that just about anyone could end up like this, given enough time and the right circumstances.
3 comments:
I've come here by way of the Rants & raves section of Craig's List and thought you might be interested in this little bit of trivia. The New Yorker had a small piece in their Talk of the Town section on the young man who visits in the movie (it came out around the time the play opened). It turns out he's gay (I guess coming out of the closet a few years after the movie was filmed), works as a cab driver in New York and lives in Sunnyside, Queens. Anyway, thought you'd be interested.
Wow, that's nuts. Thanks for the update. I know I'm a little late since this movie came out in like 75, but that little piece of trivia will definitely come in handy when I go on Grey Gardens Jeopardy!
This broke my heart so much when i saw it - u explain it perfectly. it's a bizarre mix of amusement and pity. I'm glad u like it though, welcome to the gardens gina!!!
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