Grey Gardens (2009) on Netflix
Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edie leave New York society for Grey Gardens, the family's Long Island estate. Little Edie wants a stage career; her parents want her to stay.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.4/1012,041 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Edith Bouvier Beale, known as Big Edie, and her daughter, Little Edie, are relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis who once belonged to New York society. The film moves between their Park Avenue past and 1973, when the documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles set out to make a film about Jacqueline and instead turn to her aunt and cousin, found living in isolation at Grey Gardens, the family's summer estate in East Hampton. In flashbacks beginning in 1936, Big Edie pursues singing with the musician Gould Strong, while her husband, Phelan Beale, keeps a tight hold on the family money. Little Edie wants to dance and act in New York, and her parents press her to stay at Grey Gardens. Mother and daughter agree to be filmed, hoping to recover the careers they never had.
Cast
- Louis Griseas Young Buddy (as Louis Grisé)
- Neil Babcockas Young Phelan Jr.
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Grey Gardens (2009)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sucsy used primary sources to flesh out the story, including letters and journals kept by Little Edie, and interviewed family members and friends, among them Lois Wright, who lived in the house and wrote her own book about the events.
- The entire film was shot in Ontario, with most of the shots in metropolitan Toronto; the Valley Halla Estate in Rouge Park provided the exterior shots of Grey Gardens.
- It was nominated for 17 Primetime Emmy Awards and won six, including Outstanding Television Movie, Outstanding Lead Actress for Lange and Outstanding Supporting Actor for Howard.
- Sucsy said an aerial shot of the house circa 1936 was historically accurate about where the house stood in relation to other mansions in East Hampton at the time, although CGI enhancements were needed to create the illusion.
- The aerial shot of The Pierre was not shot for this production at all: it was licensed from the film An Affair to Remember.
- As with many movies based on historical events, some events in the Beales' lives were shifted to make a more coherent story, among them the timing of Big Edie and Phelan's divorce.
- The film's DVD commentary track was recorded in the very same studio where the Maysles had mixed the original documentary.
