Edith and Edie |
In their 1975 film Grey Gardens, Albert and David Maysles documented the reclusive existence of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edie, aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, in the women’s moldering East Hampton manse. In conjunction with the Criterion release of that documentary, 80 minutes of leftovers have been assembled, and the newly compiled The Beales of Grey Gardens reveals more of the same — two women who detach themselves from society and live instead in isolation, squalor, and a sometimes humorous, sometimes haunting mix of defiance and regret. Edie’s aristocratic drawl still mesmerizes, as does her compulsive adjusting of her trademark headscarves. Two of the most affecting moments: when Edith sits in dusklight at the top of the stairs singing with a faltering voice, and when Edie reads through an astrology book with a magnifying glass. “I’m not schizophrenic,” she says to the camera with flashing eyes. “I just have a temper. It’s Southern."
