Grey Gardens was the name of their East Hamptons holiday home where the mother and daughter ended up living alone together with the house slowly falling into a state of disrepair, existing in a disabling co-dependent relationship with their lives haunted by memories of glamorous days as Manhattan socialites and unfulfilled dreams of happiness.
In 2009 a new movie was made about Grey Gardens, based on the original documentary. Drew Barrymore played Little Edie and Jessica Lange had the role of Big Edith. The situation was truly tragic, Little Edie had her life snatched from her by her controlling mother whose bitter resentment at her own unfulfilled life made her keep her daughter from the world... A complex relationship complicated by enormous loss.
Little Edie
Drew Barrymore as Little Edie
Big Edith and Little Edie (2009)
The family fell apart and the house was so dilapidated that they were eventually forced to live in only a few of the rooms as there was no heating, the roof was falling off and the windows falling out, the empty rooms were filled with stray cats and racoons, there was no money to pay the bills or to buy food.
Yet all the while they lived under an air of proud glamour from their upper class background. Despite their impoverished situation Little Edie is a style inspiration; many of her clothes were worn so she could move with ease and dance around and she had an ingenius way of wrapping scarves and items of clothing around her head to cover the fact that her hair had traumatically fallen out.
No comments:
Post a Comment