Have you ever seen the films Grey Gardens and That Summer?

[BigmanPigman]

They are documentaries that were very popular in the 1970s. It is a sad and strange story about an odd mother /daughter relationship as well as insanity. 0 It left me speechless at times as I tried to absorb what I was seeing and hearing.

That Summer is on You Tube for free but I can't post the link.

The wreckage left by Gatsbyesque frivolity is plumbed to desperate depths in Albert and David Maysles’s 1975 documentary, about a formerly wealthy mother and daughter, erst­while luminaries of the society pages, living in squalid chaos in their once glorious East Hampton estate. Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (born in 1895), called Big Edie, was Jackie Onassis’s aunt; her daughter, Edith Bouvier Beale, Little Edie (born in 1917), was Onassis’s cousin. Before the filming started, Onassis came to their rescue, getting their pest-infested, garbage-filled home cleaned up to save it from condemnation by the health authorities, but the Maysleses catch the Beales on the downturn again. Performing flamboyantly for the filmmakers and hungrily seeking their approval, mother and daughter spill their lifelong recriminations over circumstances that led to their isolation, poverty, and folie à deux. The pathos is heightened by Big Edie’s bedridden singing of classic show tunes: she’s a graceful master of timing and tone, a nearly great artist who squandered her chances and her life. Little Edie, still clinging to vestiges of youth and inflamed with desire, nearly raves for David Maysles as she performs majorette routines from her junior-college days. Rarely have high spirits and theatrical energy seemed like such a tragic waste; an era and its myths seem to be dying on-screen in real time. Directed by the Maysles brothers, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer.

— Richard Brody

https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/grey-gardens

[Silver Gaia]

1. HBO did a 2009 film of the Grey Gardens story

(aptly titled Grey Gardens) starring Jessica Lange (as Big Edie) and Drew Barrymore (as Little Edie) that was highly acclaimed. I still remember it. It was impressive. It was nominated for a ton of Emmy Awards and snagged an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie award for Jessica Lange that was well deserved. It also won for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Art Direction, and several other technical awards. I thought you might be interested in that. This sounds interesting. I'll look for it.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. That Summer. Link here....

[BigmanPigman]

7. I tried that too and got the same result.

I guess this film (which is free on You Tube) is one you have to personally go on your own device to use it. I don't understand this works on You Tube. It seems random. I've noticed it on other posts too.

Were you able to find and watch it on You Tube without the link provided?

[CurtEastPoint]

8. yes. YT requires some be viewed ONLY on YT, due to age, etc. It works. Just can't view it here

[samnsara]

3. I love Grey Gardens. I first heard about it during an episode of The L Word and..

..have been fascinated by that duo for ages.

[marble falls]

4. I saw it at a midnight showing in an art house in Akron, Ohio. I felt like the Beales were being ...

... exploited by the Mayles Brothers. But I've since read about the whole thing including the family history and I am just so mixed in my feeling now. It's a masterpiece in cinema verite. But it is so raw. I finally realize it was never done lightly to take advantage of the two Edies. Little Edie finally got to be herself in the end and got completely away from Grey Gardens.

I saw a "remake" of Grey Shadows a few years ago by two comedians (it was a shot by shot, original by words) with Bill Hadar and Fred Arminsen. Kind of chilling. Two of my favorite comedians, not one my favorite parodies.

I guess it affected me a lot. Fifty years later and it is still vivid.

[3Hotdogs]

5. I watched GG when it was released.

To me, it seemed exploitative.... cringe worthy.

[appalachiablue]

6. To me it's an exercise in exploitation. Lee Radziwill got the filmmakers

there in the first place. There's a good deal of info online about the film and its controversial side. Years ago I watched Grey Gardens and saw the SNL skit which was amusing and also tragic for people familiar with the condition.

[mockmonkey]

9. Have you seen the parody of it?

The ending is a little intense.

[BigmanPigman]

10. That's hysterical!