X
- 1975
- PG
- Portrait Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 1975
- PG
- Portrait Films
- 1 h 35 m
Summary An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.
- 1975
- PG
- Portrait Films
- 1 h 35 m
- 1975
- PG
- Portrait Films
- 1 h 35 m
Grey Gardens
8.0
Where to Watch
Summary An old mother and her middle-aged daughter, the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy, live their eccentric lives in a filthy, decaying mansion in East Hampton.
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
83
81% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
19% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
83
81% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
19% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
One of the most entertaining films ever made by the legendary Maysles brothers and their gifted associates. [17 Apr 1998, p.B2]
Grey Gardens remains one of the greatest and possibly only disaster movies that clearly benefits from not having seen the moments of reaping.
Grey Gardens, one of the most haunting documentaries in a long time, preserves their strange existence, and we're pleased that it does. It expands our notions of the possibilities. It's about two classic eccentrics, two people who refuse to live the way they're supposed to, but by the film's end we see that they live fully, in ways of their own choosing.
It’s almost impossible to look away.
Perhaps the movie's value, or lack of it, lies not in the input of the Beales, the Maysles, et al., but in the degree of seriousness audiences bring to the theater. Some viewers will be shocked, some will be touched, but, unfortunately, the spectators this sad story is most likely to attract, amuse, and vindicate are the sort whose obsession with the upper crust, especially its blue-blooded stratum, is fed by envy and spite--each an unhealthy attribute on its own, but poisonous in combination with the other.
The best possible face that can be put on things is that Big and Little Edie (the mother died two years after the film was released, the daughter is still living) made an unconscious, unsavory, mutually advantageous bargain with the filmmakers: Make us famous and we'll return the favor. In retrospect it's clear that both parties lived up to their parts; only the audience got shortchanged. [14 Aug 1998, p.F20]
A film that is voyeuristic in the extreme, extending no warmth to the bizarre mother and daughter as they battle out their lives together, but choosing instead to film them in the most offensive of ways.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
8.0
67% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 6 User Ratings
8.0
67% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
33% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Portrait Films,
Maysles Films
Release Date Sep 27, 1975
Duration 1 h 35 m
Rating PG
Genres
Tagline She was the girl who had everything - Money, good looks and social position. her mother - a classic Bouvier beauty. Now they are living amongst the souvenirs of their lives. In Grey Gardens. This is their story. A love story. Sort of. Hailed as one of the oddest, most beautiful films ever.
Awards
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 4 Wins & 4 Nominations
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Chicago International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
