There was once a time when everything was bliss at Grey Gardens, the sprawling Beale family mansion in the Hamptons. Phelan Beale (Ken Howard), the patriarch of the family, would travel into New York City to work, staying gone for days on end. While he was away, Big Edie (Jessica Lange), who was once an aspiring singer before her marriage to Phelan, would throw grand parties and entertain her guests by singing tunes with her friend and constant companion, George "Gould" Strong (Malcolm Gets), with Little Edie accompanying with dance routines. Big Edie spends her days singing with Gould and deludes herself into believing they have a romance, while her husband is setting up shop with his secretary in the city. Meanwhile, Little Edie dreams of going to New York and pursuing a career as an actress.
She finally gets her chance when her dad decides Big Edie is a bad influence on her and moves her to NYC. Its here that she meets handsome married guy Julius Krug (Daniel Baldwin) and the two begin a relationship. Edie even scores an audition with Max Gordon (Kenneth Welsh), the famous director who discovered Judy Holliday! However, when her mom calls and figures out that not only is Edie involved with a man, but that he is married, she is immediately summoned back home to the Hamptons, without even so much as a word to Julius. Heartbroken, Edie mopes around all day, only to get the hair-brained idea to escape in the family car on the day of her audition with Max Gordon under the guise of grocery shopping. When she surprises Julius at the hotel they frequent, not knowing he is there with his wife, their relationship implodes and he dumps her. Not long thereafter, her father suddenly dies and the worlds of both Edie's spiral into oblivion.
Although Big Edie's sons encourage her to sell Grey Gardens because the family money is quickly running out, she refuses. Gould eventually leaves, not wanting to stay as the money is gone. Over the years, as she and Little Edie live out their lives, Grey Gardens crumbles around them, eventually falling into such dreadful ruin and disrepair that raccoons are running rampant on the top floor and cats have overrun the home. When the authorities step in and condemn the home, it makes the news and becomes the family shame for Jackie Onassis (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Once she learns of her family members' financial plight, she steps in and the home is repaired. Not restored to its former glory, mind you, but it is made livable again. Here is where the Maysles brothers step in to do a documentary on the pair.
Albert (Arye Gross) and David (Justin Louis) Maysles want to do a documentary on the Beale women, with all of their eccentricities. This documentary was also called Grey Gardens and came out in 1975. With clever filters placed on top of the footage of Barrymore and Lange, director Michael Sucsy was able to mimic the original documentary's look and feel and actual scenes were recreated for this film. So the movie jumps back and forth between the past and the time of the documentary, as their lives are shaped by events. Barrymore and Lange are fantastic in their roles. Since you can watch footage from the actual documentary in the special features, side by side with the same scenes recreated by Barrymore and Lange, you can easily see how effortlessly they seem to bring these fascinating women to life. Of special note is the soundtrack to the film, which is almost like another actor in the film. It is both whimsical and haunting, just like the Beale women, and really adds to the vibe of the movie.
Grey Gardens certainly isn't for everyone, but the acting is terrific and I found it to be a delightful story. Yes, I am a huge fan of Drew Barrymore's anyway, but she really shows her acting chops here and the story is just a really interesting one. If you have any curiosity about these ladies, be sure to check this film out. My only regret is that the entire original documentary wasn't also found on the DVD, because now I have to seek that out to see it as well. But that's ok.