Weird, kind of loses it's interest after a while.

I think I found it so fascinating because it's so honest. These two women are living in their own little world and at least a little crazy, but they're also aware enough that the sadness of the situation is mitigated by the clear joys they experience throughout the film. While it gets a bit repetitive towards the end I just couldn't help being completely drawn in.

It's an hour and a half of two ladies bickering and singing about nothing. I understand why some people may find them eccentric but I've met much crazier people that are much less annoying to be around. I give the Maysles brothers points for having the patience to document them.

An insightful, hilarious, and heartbreaking documentary.

Edie!! YAY!

Documentarists are on to something when they decide to turn their lenses toward eccentric, bitter old ladies. We can mock the Beales' foibles all we want, but it's hard to escape the lessons that watching them teaches us about ourselves. Exemplary.

so so sad

#669

Pretty astonishing in the way that these two wacky old gals allow the Maysles to honestly document everything.

Cautionary tale about being afraid to take on life: this is how you end up, bickering and reminiscing about things that happened half a century ago? The two don't even seem that weird, it's exploitative and sad if anything, and boring to boot.

Kind of heartbreaking, and yet entertaining, to see the two main "characters" blame each other for their dissatisfaction with life. Also scary because I think I could easily become like that if I was in their circumstances.

this is one of the most fascinating stories i've ever seen in a documentary. eccentric lunatic women with electric personalities living in a rampaged mansion for all those years. little edie just makes me smile. her fragile happiness, her confidence. it's really altogether tragic! another of my favorite pictures indubitably!

883

Intriguing...and weird. And ultimately kinda creepy--like a bad Thanksgiving dinner that never ends (you can practically smell the cat piss).

I think my days at Grey Gardens are limited.

two disgusting kennedys whine about dead men

A perfect documentary about happiness, starring two "eccentric" nth generation aristocrats whose flea-bitten dissipated lifestyle in a decrepit mansion will either chill you or charm you.Watch it with the captions on (or a notepad in hand), because the "dialogue" is essential too. Little Edie: "You can't have your cake and eat it, too in life." Big Edie: "Oh, yes, I did. I did, I had my cake, loved it, masticated it, chewed it and had everything I wanted." Now how eccentric is that?

Heartbreaking, eerie, and hilarious often at the same time. It's almost like a real life Sunset Boulevard but with two Norma Desmonds for the price of one. The Mayles brothers let the Beales women speak for themselves rather than impose a story on their footage like so many documentarians do. This is what makes Grey Gardens a masterpiece.

# 824

641

A uniquely captivating documentary. The crumbling residence is an apt metaphor for their lives, full of stories but with all its glamour fading. Little Edie is a character in every sense of the word, with the most surprising and amusing speech mannerisms. She longs to escape Grey Gardens, but these two are so fiercely co-dependent that you can't imagine one existing without the other. It does get rather one-note, and the note can be quite shrill, but it's hard to look away from this trainwreck.

I watched this expecting some amusing and/or acrid anecdotes concerning the luminous people these women must have encountered over the years. No such luck. Like watching a perpetual train wreck.

A fascinating slice of cinema in that it is prying but restrained. There is little form to the construction, no real attempt to try and build a narrative. The film is unvarnished and unadorned, making for an odd but enticing viewing experience.

Did my best 2 sit through this, but watching 2 lonely recluses (w/ at least 1 suffering from a mental disorder),TANGENTIALLY ramble over what could have been isn't my idea of interesting.This is the sort of film critics pretentiously describe as a "meditation" on the passage of time (check ur watch) & certain hipster-types find funny 4 some reason. I know there r thousands of genuinely fascinating (& not just troubled) people out there - if only 1 of them could have been famous by association!

No...people don't really like this do they? Maybe I missed something (or everything) but I could not wait for this to be over. Yes...it's a bit sad that "little" Edie is in the state that she's in and the co-dependency angle is certainly present but these two points were made clear in the first 15 minutes. That would have been fine if it was a short, but there was still another hour and a half of off-tune singing and shaggy dog stories that the viewer couldn't possibly understand.