The Beales of Grey Gardens

I have watched this movie 5 times in the past month. I think I am a little obsessed with Edie Beale. She shows such joie de vivre in this film and is full of joy and wonder. The movie is wistful and at times bittersweet. I wish I could have known the Beales and visited them. They show such love and respect for each other. I also love Lois. This movie makes me nostalgic for the 1970s. I feel like I am in a time capsule. I actually prefer this movie to Grey Gardens; I felt that Edie's true personality, charm and joy was shown in a better light. Lois was also highlighted more. Love love love this movie. I will probably watch it a million more times. When I watch it, I feel like I am a friend visiting with them, passing the time and singing songs. It puts me at peace. Namaste.

Certainly the easiest way to put this is if you liked GREY GARDENS, you'll like this, and if you didn't, it's not going to change your mind. A pastiche of outtakes for those who love Edith and Edie, it's a mellower selection of clips which are all pretty captivating, thanks mostly to Edie's larger than life personality. I think I could listen to her talk and ramble on all day long. This is a less revealing and focused film than its predecessor, however... the scenes are shorter on average, focusing less on the odd family dynamic and history, and more on the amusing. Still, it's a treat for fans of the Beales.

7/10

The 75-year film focused on the relationship between mother and daughter and themselves, and this one focused more on their relationship with their surroundings, more showing their friends and even interacting with the director. It is further supplemented with content about swimming, Catholicism, costumes and constellations, and Mrs. Bell mentioned poetry.

I want to see why people enjoy this film. I just see unchecked mental illness living in filth and eating ice cream exclusively. I'm glad they had rich relatives that afforded them the opportunity to be crazy in the wild instead of some state run home. Poor old lady sitting in her trash and urine soaked bed as well. I would be shocked if either of those 2 worked a single day in their life. She was never a model in Palm Springs. Probably hooked up with a guy at a Howard Johnson airport breakfast cafe bathroom from Palm Springs once and that is where she got it from.

I'm pretty sure the house didn't have power. I think the really story would be hearing about how the city had to step in with their cat issue. Can you imagine the filth those inspectors found?

I did enjoy when the lady was complaining that the free roof she got was asphalt shingles and not wooden. I also did enjoy when she talked about the imaginary chauffeur she use to have.

We saw the Canadian premiere screening of "The Beales of Grey Gardens" on the afternoon of Monday Sept. 11, 2006 at the Al Green Theatre during the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Also on the program was Albert Maysles' very first film, "Psychiatry In Russia" from 1955, in what may have been its World Premiere screening in a theatre, as it had previously only been shown on American Public TV as far as Maysles himself could remember. Albert Maysles was introduced briefly at the start by TIFF programmer Nicholas Davies and was interviewed at the end by fellow director Barbara Kopple (dir. "Harlan County USA", "Dixie Chicks -Shut Up And Sing") and answered several questions from the audience.

"The Beales of Grey Gardens" is an entirely new film that has been assembled from the extra footage that Albert Maysles (camera) shot with his brother David Maysles (sound) in 1972-74 for the film released in 1975 called "Grey Gardens". Both films will be issued in a new 2 disc Criterion DVD set in December 2006. (You'll also be able to purchase them separately, in case you already have the 1st one.)

"Beales" does seem to be assembled on the assumption that anyone seeing it has already seen the original "Grey Gardens". There is no introduction or newspaper montage such as the first film has to give you any context or information about who these women are and why are they living in only a few rooms of a once imposing mansion that seems to be slowly going back to nature. Only late in the film there is a mention of Jackie Kennedy Onassis convincing her 2nd husband Ari (Aristotle Onassis) to help out the Beales with funding for renovations and upkeep of the Grey Gardens estate.

I felt overall that "Beales" perhaps showed more of a needy side to Little Edie that wasn't shown quite so overtly in the first film. Her flirtatious manner towards both of the Maysles brothers is more apparent and her questioning of their choice of the first film's title as "Grey Gardens" seems to hint at some disappointment that the film isn't titled after herself or her family, but rather the house (Maysles is obviously making up for this in the title of this 2nd film). The first film has more of a defiant pride where even the apparent desolate circumstances cannot undo her. Big Edie gives the same mother of all she surveys portrayal in both films.

The afternoon was even more enhanced by getting a chance to hear Albert Maysles tell anecdotes about the film and just speak in general about life and documentary film. Barbara Kopple did try to direct questions his way but it seemed that Maysles was simply more interested in getting certain views out and he actually seemed to be ignoring what he was asked and just using it as a springboard to carry on telling us a continuing story. Kopple wasn't in the least offended by this and seemed to be quite happy just to be there to act as a prompter for Maysles.

Among the tidbits that came out from Maysles was a quote of Little Edie's reaction after the Beales were given a private screening of the first film: "The Maysles have created a masterpiece!", and that Albert Maysles had recently re-connected with the neighbour's gardener Jerry Torres who as a young man was a frequent guest to Grey Gardens and who appears in both films and now drives a cab in New York City. Maysles also had some impassioned things to say about how documentary film was important in the world as a means to promote our understanding of each other and to act as a deterrent to anger and hate. An interesting comment made about the Beales but also about people in general was that "People want to tell the truth about themselves. They don't like to keep secrets".

All in all a great afternoon of documentary film. Kudos to TIFF for organizing it.