Grey Gardens is on HBO tonight. Starring Drew Barrymore as Little Edie (Barrymore, left with the real Little Edie at right in photo) and Jessica Lange as Big Edie, it is based on the true story of the odd ball mother and daughter (aunt and cousin to Jackie Kennedy) who lived out their once-high-society lives frozen in time and seclusion in a decaying house in The Hamptons. The Broadway version in 2007 was based on the Maysles brother's documentary which really, is a classic with great quotable lines.
What happens when women are raised to do nothing but be debutantes and high society matrons and the path shifts in front of them? This story can be mined for all sorts of topics but the main one is the relationship between the two, sharing a life of once-was, or might-have-beens. The week that the unusual never-been-kissed 47 year-old Scottish Susan Boyle stunned the world with her singing, we have a chance (if you have HBO) to see other unusual characters on the screen.
It is a cult classic that keeps coming back in many forms. It first captured my attention in 2007 when I was sojourning in NYC for a time. Just wait -- as Little Edie's fashion sense with scarfs inspired designers, the movie might cause another resurrection.
Update after watching: There were times when we couldn't tell if Lang and Barrymore, who seemed to perfectly capture the Big and Little Edie, were acting or it it was cuts to the real characters from the documentary. The only thing missing were many of the fabulous quoatable lines. We did like the new line, though: "You are an aquired taste" uttered by Lang as Big Edie, referring to her daughter.
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