Grey Gardens is directed by Albert and David Maysles, pioneers of the true-film documentary movement, chose a mother and daughter with a celebrity relationship as the subjects of this film. Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie (the brothers called them Big and Little Edie) were Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Onassis’ aunt and cousin.
The women, both in their 70s and 50s, faced the threat of eviction when health risks were discovered at their 28-room mansion in East Hampton, Long Island in the early 70s. Jacqueline Onassis paid to renovate the house, and the Maysles made a series of follow-up visits to the ladies two years later. This isn’t superficial filmmaking; the brothers appear on camera at times, and both women speak directly to them.
As Big Edie recalls her husband (from whom she was long separated) and her singing career as a teenager, Little Edie muses on their frustrated romance and admits having to leave the house where she has lived since 1952 Gray’s Garden (her estate name), and two women scolding
