Charges that the Maysles exploited the Beales\u2019 vulnerability don\u2019t totally stand up to scrutiny. For whatever else she may be, Little Edie is a star. The camera loves her, and she loves it right back. <\/strong>(Grey Gardens <\/em>would make her a queer<\/a> icon<\/a>.) <\/strong>Her personality, so singular and so unguarded, mesmerizes. She has a dizzy, sly girlishness that is surprisingly appealing in a woman in her 50s. <\/strong>Her epigrammatic pronouncements (\u201cI only care about three things\u2013the Catholic church, swimming, and dancing\u201d) exhibit what she rightly calls her \u201cstaunch character.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n At some moments, her outr\u00e9 charm appears to be the result of an expected upper-class delusion, but mostly, you see how her high-society life must have stifled her. In the unforgettable moment <\/strong>where she shows off her \u201crevolutionary costume\u201d– a pair of shorts and hose under what seems to be a skirt fashioned out of not-quite-big-enough cloth and safety pins, along with her trademark head scarf\u2013she explains, \u201cI have to think these things up, you know?\u201d This could mean that her reduced living conditions (and some weight gain) force her to dress herself on the fly. But it\u2019s more likely that <\/strong>fashion is a creative compulsion for her, fulfilling a hunger to express her individuality. It\u2019s what keeps her going in depressing circumstances. And you can\u2019t wait to see what Edie will wear next: <\/strong>neck ruffs and fishnets, safari dresses and bath towels topped with golden brooches, and clashing prints reveal her good eye and verve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compared to the fizzy charisma of her daughter, Edith is a compellingly awful but more conventional figure. She\u2019s a Gorgon who holds court from a bed covered in old newspapers, food detritus, and bugs. Her cruelty to her daughter is often staggering and difficult for even the audience to endure. She nags and nitpicks and I-told-you-sos in an incessant train of demands and criticisms that must feel like death by a thousand cuts. (And is there a greater traitor than a mother who discloses to the camera how much ice cream her daughter eats?) Only once, when she and Little Edie are listening to Norman Vincent Peale (who preached The Power of Positive Thinking<\/em>) on the radio, does she crack a bit. The camera zooms in, and for a moment, Edith\u2019s eyes grow misty with tears. The Beale women, constantly arguing about the wrongs and wrong decisions of the past, could never pep themselves up with a bit more optimism. Perhaps Edith temporarily realizes the tragedy of this. But most of the time, all her pessimistic energy is directed toward hidingher daughter\u2019s light under a bushel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s an undeniable ickiness bound up in the captivating intimacy the Maysles draw from their subjects. <\/strong>There is so much unintentional side boob, and occasionally almost-full boob, on display. This level of disinhibition suggests some mental illness, and it does sometimes feel like the Beales are being offered up for us to goggle at. (There\u2019s more flabby arm flapping than seems strictly necessary.) Photographs of the women in their glory days are fitting images to illustrate their state of mind, but at times, the contrast between past and present is cruel. In reality, Edith\u2019s husband and Little Edie\u2019s father, who lost all the money and abandoned the family, is largely responsible for their situation. If the Maysles were willing to stray from their \u201cfly on the wall\u201d approach to filmmaking and fill in this blank, we might admire the Beales more for their sheer survival instincts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Big and Little Edie nonetheless exercise agency. Both are thwarted performers\u2013Edith trained as a singer, and Little Edie hoped to be an actress\u2013and they leap at the chance to put on a show. Little Edie, in particular, boldly embraces male attention, playfully treating the Maysles like gentlemen callers. When we hear the brothers off-screen, they are gentle and respectful. Little Edie, at least, knows she\u2019s in good hands. \u201cYou don\u2019t see me as I see myself, she says. \u201cBut you\u2019re very good, what you do see me as.\u201d If Little Edie is half-preserved in amber, the Maysles still show her to be someone whose present is meaningful\u2013a life well worth living. We may not see her as she wants to be seen, but that doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t see her in all her glory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Grey Gardens” is streaming on the Criterion Channel<\/a>, HBO Max<\/a>, and Shout Factory TV<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/grey-gardens2-1024x576.jpg\")
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