Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens jumps back and forth in time between the Beales’ glory days as beautiful American aristocrats leading lives of wealth and privilege, and their later descent into madness and poverty following decades of bad decisions and mental dissipation. By the time the Maysles caught up with the Beales for a documentary that walked a very fine line between empathy and exploitation, the women were half-mad squatters vamping and mugging in star turns that turned into something like a psychological horror show or a lost Tennessee Williams play.

Though Barrymore’s acting abilities are limited, the remarkable role of Little Edie plays to her strengths; never has her spacey girlishness seemed sadder or more achingly poignant. Barrymore masters the details of speech, posture, and accent, but her performance goes much deeper than mere impersonation, capturing the character’s melancholy, deluded essence. Lange is every bit her equal, and the film’s bifurcated, achronological structure is heartbreaking and appropriate, since the past takes on an almost physical presence in the Maysles’ cult classic. The TV movie Grey Gardens is so much more than a footnote to a great documentary; it makes pop-culture history come alive in powerful and gloriously unexpected ways.

Key features: Slim featurettes tracing the relationship between the Maysles’ documentary and the TV movie.

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