By Taylor Justin
“Grey Gardens” is not the film it is implied to be. It is not about a woman who simply plows and covers her estate with the riches of flowers, fruits and vegetables. It is the story of a woman who will do whatever it takes to keep her property, to keep the things that are close to her even closer.
“Grey Gardens” is a movie that explores into a 40-year span of a mother and daughter’s relationship. The two women endure lives of luxury, love and loss at their estate in the East Hamptons of New York.
Drew Barrymore plays the vivacious, exciting daughter Edith (Little Edie) Bouvier Beale, who aspires to be a dancer and a singer. Her ambitions are brought on but not encouraged by her less-than-Betty-homemaker mother Edith (Big Edie) Bouvier Beale, played by Jessica Lange.
Throughout the movie, Little Edie has to make a decision: to be with her mother, a woman who is left by her lover and is letting her house decay into shambles, or to stay in New York and pursue her dream of becoming a star.
Little Edie decides to choose her mother, who will not leave her house, ever.
The two women go through hair loss, harsh breakups and a brush with foreclosure (saved through cousin Jackie Onassis) together.
Barrymore and Lange portray the unity and love shown between mother and daughter impeccably.
“Between them it happened very organically and became a reflection of the characters,” director Michael Sucsy said in a Q&A following the film.
The strong characters played by the two actresses, the aging makeup and the great production design of the decaying Grey Gardens estate all combine to make a great movie for all to see.
This movie, exploring the lives of the eccentric mother and her aspiring daughter was originally shown on HBO, earning six Primetime Emmy Awards, one including Best Made for Television Movie.
As Big Edie says, “Mr. Goodman, it’s all in the movie”
