Grey Gardens

I was compelled to see acclaimed Alfred and David Maysles 's celebrated documentary Grey Gardens (1976) after learning of Alfred's death earlier this year. The fly on the wall approach of filming ordinary people was novel at that time, therefore groundbreaking. However, to say that Big and Little Edie Beale: mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, and reclusive cousins of Jackie Onassis, are ordinary would be a mistake. They are caught on screen in their descriptive own words talking about their lives that have resulted in living in a single room of a 28 room  mansion in great decline full or cats and other creatures. They are entertaining characters, but perhaps in the age of the reality show it doesn't seems so extraordinary. In fact I found myself wondering about the mental health of the two women, perhaps they were only eccentrics living the way they wanted. It is an unusual documentary to say the least. It seems that it was something of a touchstone among designer in New York in the 80s, and I can see why with Little Eddie's bold fashion statements in the film.