Wednesday 22 July 2009

_Sat on a Train jetting out of the city, Watching . . .




_The 1975 Docu-Movie 'Grey Gardens' in which Directors the Maysles brothers pay visits to the Aunt and Cousin of Jackie Onassis, Edith Bouvier Beale, nearing 80, and her daughter Edie. Reclusive, the pair live with cats and raccoons in Grey Gardens, a crumbling mansion in East Hampton. Edith is dry and quick-witted - a singer, married but later separated, a member of high society. Edie is voluble, dresses - as she puts it - for combat in tight ensembles that include scarves wrapped around her head. There are hints that Edie came home 24 years before to be cared for rather than to care for her mother. The women address the camera, talking over each other, moving from the present to events years before. They're completely odd, with flinty affection for each other.

To anyone who hasnt seen it, or even heard of Big and Little Edie you HAVe to see this film, Its pure genius, paradise lost, a beautifully gothic tale of wealth and rebellion in East Hampton

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