Grey Gardens

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Grey Gardens

PG,

1975,

1h 35m,

Documentary

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94%

34 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

34 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

This film explores the daily lives of two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. During the course of the documentary, they discuss their habits, desires and former loves with filmmakers Albert and David Maysles. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

Critics Consensus

Edith and Edie Beale are eccentric subjects who offer a generous amount of themselves in Grey Gardens, an inquisitive and nonjudgmental exploration of the isolated socialites' lifestyle.

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Charles Michener

Film Comment Magazine

Apr 11, 2018

An extraordinarily crafty invasion into the lives of Edith Beale and her daughter Edie.

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Kate Muir

The Times (UK)

Apr 14, 2016

5/5

As tender and revealing as it is completely bonkers.

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Mark Feeney

Boston Globe

Aug 6, 2015

3.5/4

Edith and Edie are like a toxic vaudeville team, joined not just by blood but affinity. They're three parts folie a deux to two parts shtick.

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John Paul King

Washington Blade

Feb 5, 2026

By the end of it, we recognize that the two Edies could be any of us, which means they are ALL of us – and if they can face their challenges with that much “revolutionary” spirit, then maybe we can be “staunch” against our adversities, too.

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Marya E. Gates

Cool People Have Feelings, Too. (Substack)

Jun 14, 2025

I guess the eccentric Beales are not for everyone, but they are definitely for me

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Mark Seneviratne

Vague Visages

Mar 26, 2024

Grey Gardens is a late-era accomplishment of what direct cinema had set out to be at the end of the 1950s.

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Draco R

Feb 19, 2019

This movie was just awful it was just 94 minutes of boring,and confusing nonsense ugly if only this movie was washed away from existence.

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Hermione R

Jul 6, 2017

Grey Gardens: This iconic 1975 documentary is a glimpse inside the bizarre world of socialites-turned-eccentric recluses, Edith and Little Edie Beale, the aunt and first cousin of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The glaring portrait of their life, in their rundown, flea, cat and raccoon-infested, 28-room East Hampton estate, is grotesque and tragic, although filmmakers David and Albert Maysles never pandor or make fun of the mentally ill duo, who gleefully perform for the camera, reminiscing about their glory days. The film ranks as one of the most powerful documentaries of its time, a precursor to our society's current obsession with reality television. B+

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Ron P

Mar 5, 2017

This precursor of modern reality television is cinéma vérité at its best, not just observing or "invading" its subjects' privacy but actually baring naked the insane relationship between these two hilariously eccentric women living together in a decrepit mansion falling apart.

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Ron W

Feb 1, 2017

7.5/10, my review: http://wp.me/p1eXom-2O2

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Ellen Hovde

Director

Albert Maysles

Director

David Maysles

Director

Muffie Meyer

Director

Susan Froemke

Associate Producer

Albert Maysles

Producer

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Synopsis

This film explores the daily lives of two aging, eccentric relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Edie Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith, are the sole inhabitants of a Long Island estate. During the course of the documentary, they discuss their habits, desires and former loves with filmmakers Albert and David Maysles. The women reveal themselves to be misfits with outsized, engaging personalities. Much of the conversation is centered on their pasts, as mother and daughter now rarely leave home.

Director: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer
Producer: Albert Maysles, David Maysles
Distributor: Portrait Films
Production Co: Maysles Films, Portrait Films
Rating: PG
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 27, 1975, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Mar 6, 2015
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 21, 2009
Box Office (Gross USA): $31.0K
Runtime: 1h 35m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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