One documentary changed the history of movies. Movies are not just fictional, but for real with real human beings telling/living real lives. The original film made by Albert and David Maysles featured two women living in Grey Gardens, a big mansion garden in East Hampton. They are not just any other two women. They are from one of the famous families in U.S., the Bouvier family. They are mother and daughter, forming one of the most fascinating relationships in the world. And they certainly lived it to its extreme.
Life doesn’t take things for granted. When little Edith was young, she had everything a girl would ever dream of – beauty, wealth and prestigious background. She was raised with privileges and carried away with her dream to become an actress. Her mother, Edith, followed every girl’s dream to marry a counterpart and brought up three children. However, in the end, the mother and daughter were both abandoned by the upper class and chose the shelter of Grey Gardens. They were cut off from relatives and friends. By living in the Grey Gardens, they found the a quiet corner to lick their wounds from missing beloved ones.
I was doubtful about the movie at the beginning. What else could we get from this movie except the initial shock in original documentary? About watching 5 minutes into the movie, I started to feel absorbed in and connect the dots along the story development. If the original documentary told us “what was happening”, this one definitely answered “why it was happening”.
Why didn’t little Edith leave Grey Gardens? It was not that difficult after all. There was the car and New York is just within driving distance. Instead, little Edith stayed in Grey Gardens for most of her life to take care of her mother and many cats. Maybe it wasn’t the Grey Gardens that she wanted to stay but rather the outside world she was afraid to get hurt again. She was a singer, a fashion model and a mistress. But none of these above roles could satisfy her artistic dream. It became tiring and pointless to work hard on anything she wanted. Grey Gardens offered everything she was familiar with and could never disappoint her as it was just an old house getting ruined just as her own youth. There was nothing younger than her, not in Grey Gardens at least.
Why did both Edith’s end up in Grey Gardens? The mother had planned her daughter’s life right at the beginning. She could have married the diplomat, the prince, the millionaire. The daughter had planned her own life right at the beginning. She could have become a famous dance and singer, entering movie industry or married one of Kennedy’s and become the First Lady. None of this ever happened. The mother who took every step she was supposed to make and the daughter who didn’t take any step she was supposed to make, finally end up in the same place and reach the mutual understanding. Life is all the same. To certain extent, it is kind of fair.
Why is this movie interesting, even fascinating? Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore. They are the kind of actress who can play famous documentary characters and make them even more real than the real ones. They didn’t pursue the exactness of physical resemblances but the mental status. Both managed to cross 30 years of time span – Jessica, from a middle-aged social queen to a bittersweet cat lady; Drew, from a young rising sweetheart to a constantly whining loony. They completed process from tasteful middle class to eccentric lost nobody. And I have to admit, the process is sad but divine.
Nothing is more notable than the acting. The power of reality and acting miraculously joined in force in Grey Gardens. It is surrealistically real and unbelievably believable. I know grammatically it doesn’t make sense. Well, you would have to watch it to make it sensible. Because it is Grey Gardens.
