Grey Gardens

The Grey Gardens documentary is like no other film I have seen before. The sound quality, camera angles, and content of the film add to the overall viewing experience. The story captured the lives of Big and Little Edie Beale, a mother and daughter that live in a dirty, un-kept mansion in New York.
The sound quality of this film stood out to me the most through out the duration of the documentary. The voices of Big and Little Edie were muffled, and often very hard to understand, this made following their conversations difficult. Little Edie was the most vocal of the mother daughter duo and overshadowed Big Edie in most dialogue. For example, when the two had a conversation with each other it often ended in the daughter yelling and dominating the conversation.
Cameras were angled in the film so that facial expressions seemed more dramatic and only showed the filth of their living space. The camera often zooms in close on both Big and Little Edie’s face to show their facial expressions when they do not realize anyone is watching. The camera observes how they are truly feeling when reminiscing on past events such as Little Edie’s father leaving and finding a new wife. The looks that are captured during these stories are looks of sadness and anger. Little Edie often gets really close to the camera when talking, which shows her excitement in telling stories. The camera crew also records images of the inside and outside of the house and shows the quality of life of the family. One example of this is how often different cats are shown in all areas inside and outside of the house. Also I noticed how cluttered the house is, specifically the bedroom and bed that Big Edie was shown in.
The film represents the everyday life of the mother and daughter and how they have lived over the years. Little Edie changes outfits many times throughout the film; some of her wardrobe choices shocked me. Such as the bathing suits and short dresses. Also she always wears a head wrap, which surprised me. I believe the isolated way that she has lived has contributed to how excited Little Edie is about the attention from the camera crew. This explains why she changes outfits so often and continually interacts with the camera. The interaction between Little Edie and the camera crew was not something I expected before I watched this documentary. The camera crew is usually out of sight, out of mind in most films I watch, but in Grey Gardens this is not the case. Little Edie asks the camera crew for advice on whether or not she should set up a routine for her mother and at what time she should eat dinner every night. Being so out of touch with society, I do not blame her for wanting to talk to the new people in her home.
Before I watched this film I did not realize it was such a prevalent piece of pop culture. After watching the documentary I was still left with questions and confusion as to what exactly had taken place in the film I had watched and why was it so relevant. After some reading on the Criterion Collection I discovered why the documentary was so important and what are some of the things that it truly captured that are beneath the immediate surface. After learning about both Big and Little Edie from this documentary I now know more about a piece of culture that is referenced in so many current shows and topics of conversation.