Get Your Reps In: “Grey Gardens” Calls to Fans of Jinkx Monsoon and Christopher Guest Alike

Grey Gardens (1975)

“I’m glad someone is doing what they want,” Big Edie quips, as a cat relieves itself behind a portrait of this ailing matriarch as a young beauty.

Just then, reality paints with a sledgehammer in Albert and David Maysles’ Grey Gardens, the seminal verité document of the Beales, a blue-blooded mother and daughter monologuing, bickering and dancing in their decrepit, 28-room Long Island estate. A master class in passive aggression, Big Edie’s response to the cat’s poetic bathroom break rebuts her daughter Little Edie’s latest rant about never finding success in love, show business or self-determination due to the sway of this house and family.

In this way, Grey Gardens is the Rorschach test that keeps on giving. Are the barbs and confessions of this raccoon-ridden mansion hilarious, tragic or maybe even ironically inspiring? Are the Beale women unfairly crystallized at their lowest through the Maysles brothers’ lenses, or have the two Edies waited their entire lives—emotionally and relationally preserved—for cameras to arrive and ignite their stardom?

Regardless of the answer, unite, you armchair psychologists, film historians, and fans of Jinkx Monsoon and Christopher Guest alike. Clinton, June 8.

ALSO PLAYING:

Academy: Switchblade Sisters (1975), The Terminator (1984), June 9-15. Cinema 21: The Palm Beach Story (1942), June 10. Cinemagic: Night of the Living Dead (1968), June 9 and 12. Shaun of the Dead (2004), June 9 and 12. Point Break (1991), June 10 and 13. Hot Fuzz (2007), June 10 and 13. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), June 11 and 14. The World’s End (2013), June 11 and 14. Clinton: But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) hosted by Violet Hex, with a pre-film drag show, June 9. Hollywood: Casino (1995), June 10. Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984), June 10. Sleepless in Seattle (1993), June 11. Snake Deadly Act (1980), June 13.