grey gardens, colored dresses

Two years ago, my mom and I rented the original Grey Gardens, a documentary on the peculiar lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale (pictured above), also known as Big Edie and Little Edie. As most of you by now know, the two spent their lives together in a crumbling estate named Grey Gardens.

I remember my heart went out to Little Edie, who seemed to have fallen prey to the large house and the good intentions of her mother. What I remembered from the original documentary was that Little Edie had wanted to be a performer, and for various reasons was held back from doing so. Any fame bestowed upon Little Edie was for her relation to Jackie O, but Edie was very worthy of her own spotlight. I love the picture of her above - she was so proud of the documentary on she and her mother.

Big Edie in her home with a portrait of herself as a young woman.

The original film poster.

I was so excited to finally get to see the sort-of remake of the original documentary when I came home for Thanksgiving. My mom and I have been wanting to see it for months! I love Drew Barrymore and am so glad she is the one who got to pay tribute to Little Edie.

It was so neat to see the back-story behind their lives, since the original documentary was filmed when Little Edie was in her 50s and Big Edie was quite old.

A lot of people have written Little Edie and her mother off as being eccentric or crazy, and I think this movie was just such a beautiful portrayal of them (especially Little Edie) that brings understanding and sympathy to their temperaments.

A lot of people can understand that when the world feels too big, one delves deeper and deeper into small things for comfort. For some, that ends up being everything.

The acting was spectacular and the costumes were insanely beautiful. I definitely recommend it to anyone who hasn't gotten the chance to see it yet!!

I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings. I added some photos of our sweet Spotty to his post below.

xoxoxo

Amanda