The Beales of Grey Gardens

This film was assembled from footage left over from the 1975 shoot of Grey Gardens and only reached audiences in 2006. The same house, the same two women: Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Little Edie, living with their cats in a collapsing mansion in East Hampton. For anyone who has seen the first film this is not a sequel but another angle on the same days. Little Edie talks straight to camera, explains her outfits, sings, flirts with the Maysles brothers. Big Edie recites poetry from her bed and objects to everything her daughter says. The new material gives Little Edie noticeably more room. The ethical question has hung over this material since the first film: how much did the camera's presence push these two women into performance, and how far did the filmmakers remain spectators. This second compilation offers no answer, but by adding material it sharpens the question. David Maysles died in 1987, so the edit came long afterwards. Who it's for: those who have seen Grey Gardens and want more time in that world. Who it's not for: anyone who has not; there is no introduction here and no story, context is simply assumed.