an ode to grey gardens
an analysis of maximalist magic by sihaam
‘It’s very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.’
I first learned about Little Edie while watching an episode of drag race, as one does.
It was season five, episode five- underdog Jinkx Monsoon was impersonating her for snatch game- headscarf, tiny binoculars, and all. Last night I sat down and watched Grey Gardens for the first time. It all clicked- somehow, a drag queen’s impersonation of Edie Bouvier Beale didn’t encompass the true extent of her eccentricities.
‘Grey Gardens’ is a documentary following Edith and Edie, an ageing mother-daughter duo living in a worn Long Island Estate. Their day-to-day life feels reminiscent of a long-gone era, lying around in their dilapidated house talking about cotillion balls and what could have been. It is painfully nostalgic, living in an old house with symbols of failure and a swarm of cats, raccoons, and rodents- but this documentary is brilliant at juxtaposing their shiny pasts with their present-day enthusiastic joie de vivre.
Edie wears polished outfits at the ripe age of 56, little skirts and sheer tights, and bright rompers. She is never caught without a silk scarf and bits of makeup. She was once very beautiful and would have been an actress and a dancer if it wasn’t for her sickly mother. Edie prunes and preens and does a flag dance- she reads her horoscope and makes snide comments, feeds her cats, and keeps up her diet in front of the cameras. She recites stray lines of Robert Frost poems incorrectly and uses her binoculars as a fashion statement (and to offset years of negligence and her slowly worsening astigmatism)
On the other hand, Edith lies in bed, makes corn by the bedside, sings along to old records of her singles, and talks about men and the Catholic church. She makes light of her situation while still questioning her role as a mother. Surprisingly poignant, she brings the much-needed reality to the otherwise idealistic Edie. Their relationship, although grossly co-dependent, has moments of solace and deep unspoken understanding.
And yet their humour and cheeriness transfix us- we laugh when they bicker and boast- we cry when they look far away with glassy eyes- we smile when they share a rare moment of mutual affection. We marvel at how they represent the best and worst of us.
Their house stands foreboding, with crumbling walls and filth- squalor fit for wrinkled noses and firmly pressed lips- but the maximalist structure of their environment boasts an interesting set-up where they are constantly surrounded by tokens of better lives they left behind.
One of the many themes it explores is the idea of marriage and, conversely, independence. While Edith got married and had three children, she quickly separated from Mr Beale- and found solace and love in her music. Little Edie received countless marriage proposals but never felt inclined to marry- she fell in love once at 31, but to no happy ending.
Edith famously said (in context with a WWII anecdote), ‘France fell, but Edie didn’t fall’. This idea of independence is surprisingly modern, considering how most of her peers were married. Instead, little Edie chased the idea of independence but ended up in a crumbling estate with her mother, who at a second glance looks after her daughter more than her daughter looks after her. Still, Little Edie reads her horoscope and pines for Libra men who’d look after her- while slowly losing her sanity.
The cinematography is gorgeous, shot on 16mm film- and captures every shaking detail of Grey Gardens manor, every wrinkle on Edith’s hand as she writes in beautiful penmanship, every cheeky cat that pisses behind the vast number of portraits leaning against grey walls, and every smudge on the photographs preserved for years to come.
Perhaps the best part of this documentary is while it solidifies itself as a classic fly-on-the-wall documentary, it has moments of contempt where the subjects interact with the filmmakers. If anything, it enhances the experience of being in Grey Gardens and creates a personable atmosphere very few documentaries have strived to achieve.
