Grey Gardens (1975)

Grey Gardens: Directed by Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Muffie Meyer. With Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale, Edith Bouvier Beale, Brooks Hyers, Norman Vincent Peale. Meet a mother and daughter, high-society dropouts, reclusive cousins of Jackie O., managing to thrive together amid the decay and disorder of their East Hampton, NY, mansion, making for an eerily ramshackle echo of the American Camelot.

“I was speechless and devastated after my first viewing of this – many parts of GREY GARDENS are very funny and unbelievably surreal – documentary of not, this really gives Fellini or David Lynch a run for their money in the weirdsville sweepstakes. I kept focusing on how these women (who are clinically way beyond eccentric) reveal their own humanity in the most surprising of ways, and I wonder whether their retreat from the world was prompted by something beyond the stuffiness of life in the unreal blue-blood universe, perhaps some abuse, or perhaps simply a streak of defiance and rebellion that spiralled out of their control and took on a life of itsu0026#39; own. This might be one of the greatest ever films that comes dangerously close to exploitation, without going completely over the edge – as the Edies do their thing, I kept noting things like the empty gin bottles in the rubble-strewn bedroom, cats urinating on the bed, racoons emerging from holes in the walls, and the final scene seemed incredibly sad – like a childu0026#39;s birthday party gone seriously wrong. Very definitely worth seeing and seeking out – youu0026#39;ll never forget it, but very disturbing.”