Rating: 
Summary: Grey Gardens--Splendid Documentary from the Maysles Bros.
Review: Possibly the greatest documentary every made, this film displays the glorious and rancorous daily life of Edith Bouvier Beale (79) and her daughter "little Edie" (56) in their crumbling 28 room mansion in East Hampton. Mother and daughter are the aunt and first cousin of the famous Bouvier, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and live a perverse and destitute existence surrounded by resident incontinent cats, wild racoons, and the odd handyman. Little Edie has turned her back on New York Society Life to live with her mother by the ocean. The two are caught in a fabulously claustrophobic love-hate drama that is enlivened by their odd choice in food (liver pate and ice cream) and Little Edie's fashion parade of window treatments transformed into turbans and sweaters reborn as skirts.
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Summary: A sea of leaves, a complete sea of leaves ...
Review: Sad to report that "Little" Edie Beale passed away on January 14, 2002 in her home in Bal Harbor, Florida. The "Grey Gardens" DVD is a superbly done testament to the memory of this singular, staunch character (and that of Big Edie as well): excellent film and audio transfer, illuminating director and editor commentary, and several bonus features (including a Beale family photo album and a taped phone conversation with Little Edie and Albert Maysles that's not listed in the menu) that will captivate both long-time fans of the film and those who are lucky enough to discover it for the first time.
Rating:
Summary: A True Documentary Classic
Review: The old woman (Big Edie) and the her elder daughter (Little Edie), both confined to a large, old, decrept home, focused on lost memories and events that never happened.Little Edie is largely focused on her youth, wishing that she had taken up opportunities in the past that she turned down. Her mother, Big Edie, tells her daughter that her regret over not doing things in the past is meaningless because back then, Little Edie genuinely did not want to do those things. That is perhaps one of the most philosophical moments in the documentary. This film is very revealing, and it is a truly intimate portrayal of two women. You learn more about then perhaps than you otherwise would in a typical documentary that asks why they are important, what is their significance to their rich and well-known relative, Jackie O, and how did they end up in this situation. This movie will be implanted in the public persona for many years to come, particularly because of the radical fashion sense of Little Edie, and also because she demonstrates that people do change their behavior, if even slightly, once a camera is nearby. Michael Gordon
Rating:
Summary: enigmatic, haunting
Review: The recent death of "little" Edie prompted me to watch this movie again and I truly admire the 'direct cinema' approach of the Maysles. In this and their movies "Salesman" and "Gimmie Shelter" one is taken to depths of character and nuances of motivation that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.
In speaking up for Edie, I would like to say that I very much admired the fact that she did not put her mother in an assisted care facility (although, in hindsight, that probably would have been best for both of them); I read one interview in which Edie said "My mother needed me." I daresay they needed each other.
Bravo to the Maysles for an exquisite film!
Rating:
Summary: Like Nothing You've Ever Seen...
Review: There is nothing like...nor will there ever be anything like "Grey Gardens"; the hysterical, tragic, devastating, yet uplifting portrait of two extraordinary women who, despite great strength and character, are ultimately defined and paralyzed by their class. At times it plays like a East Hampton "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"-- at others, it is as moving and tragic as anything that came out of the mind of O'Neill or Miller. To spend a few hours with the Beale women is to reflect on a lifetime of choices we make, choices that are made for us, and the difficulty inherent in coming to terms with both. From "Little" Edie's exposition on choosing her "costume of the day" to her unforgettable rendition of the BMI march song "Grey Gardens" is a film to be not only watched, but experienced. Whether you are entertained, saddened, or horrified, you will never forget "Big" Edith Bovier Beale, and her daughter,the late, great "Little" Edie.
Rating:
Summary: A+ Documentary
Review: This is one of the most hypnotic documentaries ever filmed. Big and Little Edie are fascinating and eccentric as their bizarre, reclusive lives are revealed. This is a documentary film in the truest sense of the word - gritty, unflinching and real. It has influenced many artists, designers, photographers and film makers and has a huge cult following. It's haunting... if you watch it, you'll never forget it.
Rating: 
Summary: an odd documentary
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
Grey Gardens is a film about Edith and Edith "Edie" Beale Jr., Jackie Kennedy's aunt and cousin respectively. They were filmed at their dilapidated home in East Hampton, New York. The film was made after their reclusive lifestyle was publicized in the newspapers after the health department raided their garbage-ridden, rat infested home and told them to clean it up or leave.
The film is an unscripted, unrehearsed look at their day to day life. The film shows Edith as she celebrated her 80th birthday.
The DVD has several good special features too. There is a theatrcial trailer, production photos, filmographies, audio excerpts from an interview with Edith "Edie" Beale Jr., video interviews with fashion designers, Todd Oldham andJohn Bartlett, and finally audio commentary by Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffy Meyer and Susan Froemke who are some of the filmmakers.
In addition the DVD has an "easter egg" also. After the end of the film's credits, the color bars appear and there is a short telephone interview with Edie Beale with a small slideshow.
Rating:
Summary: Searching for Grey Gardens
Review: This stellar portrayal of two women, a mother and daughter, who spend their days in a run down house and are ironically aunt and cousin to Jackie O, displays documentary film-making at its very best. Although much has been said about the film, the focus always tends to emphasize the sordid living conditions that Edith Bovier Beale and her unmarried daughter, Little Edie inhabit, in an old estate in Easthampton, New York. Their house has been condemned by officials in Easthampton, and they live with cats and raccoons, but they don't give a damn about it. They are virtual recluses in their upscale community, "full of nasty Republicans." However, the film is not about the squalor that most of us would balk at in conventional situations. Their surroundings are only a backdrop and metaphor for the lost opportunities, and isolation that the women are subjected to as societal outcasts. Whether this is by choice, or due to their eccentricities is a mixed bag, but "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" are such magnetically charged women, it is fair to say that they are their own superstars within the world they have created. Much of the film's pathos is magnified by the mother and daughter relationship. Little Edie, once a gorgeous, brilliant young woman feels she has been forced to sacrifice her life and a potential career as an entertainer, to look after her mother. Big Edie, once a veritable beauty in her day, was written out of her father's will for her aspirations to become a singer, and after her divorce retreated to her sea-side estate to spend the rest of her days. It is apparent that both women are extremely co-dependent, but in spite of their inherent needs to look after each other, Little Edie is full of resentment over the arrangement. She points this out again and again, letting us know that when she is with her mother, she doesn't feel like a woman, but rather a little girl. However, both have clearly been dominated by strict, critical male figures in their pasts, and they do enjoy a sense of freedom and independence in their solitude, even if it comes at the expense of their abilitiy to inhabit the outside world. Little Edie insists throughout the film, that she must get out and move to New York, "My days at Grey Gardens are limited" she tells the Maysles' camera crew, who record every nuance with objectivity, and a keen eye for descriptive detail of both women and their amazing story. This is a complex narrative, and it unfolds with intelligent, and often hilarious dialogue from both Big and Little Edie. Little Edie's sense of fashion is truly "revolutionary" and has been copied and imitated by several designers. Big Edie is more staid, she has "had her cake, eaten it, chewed it, masticated it" while Little Edie emerges as a thwarted Goddess, who feels she never even got a bite of the cake, so to speak. She proclaims herself to be the "greatest dancer in the world" yet alone in the house with her mother, their is no other audience for her to creatively conquer. We watch her, and we are captivated by her, and we accept what she tells us, because she is so emotive and honest. Fiction could never fully capture the beauty and the sadness that this film evokes. Although we love to laugh with it, it is also a poignant epic, magnifying moments in Big Edie and Little Edie's lives with uncanny depth and awareness of the subjects. It is simultaneoulsy lyrical, funny and sad. Those who view it and do not understand that this is a masterpiece, are missing the point of this work. And what is that point? I believe it circles around the choices that are made for us, the choices we do make, and the choices we don't make, and how our fates are are affected by these events. I give "Grey Gardens" six stars, and I hope you enjoy it. It is a film that can be viewed several times, and there is always something new to discover every time it is screened.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: This was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It is funny, sad, confusing and entertaining all at once. At times you feel sorry for the Beales, but at the same time, laugh at their eccentricities. It was truly a delight to watch this the first time, and even more fun to see it a second time with friends. You'll recommend it to everyone after you see it.
Rating: 
Summary: Exploitive
Review: Two ultimately uninteresting women are the basis of this documentary, an exploitive film, which I'm sure was only made because of that "slim" Kennedy connection. Puh-lease! The two women are dull and their lives aren't explored enough to justify the film. It's just constant bickering and Edie showing off to the camera (and her totally dull philosophy). The filmmakers seem more obsessed with showing us two eccentric women and the hole they live in than anything else. Considering the filmmakers involved (the Maysles namely), the film is a huge disappointment.
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