Everyone has one or two people in their family that are a little eccentric, right? Or maybe you’re the offbeat one that nobody understands? The Edith Beales, “Big Edie” and “Little Edie,” were the aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. This documentary film came to fruition when the Maysles (rhymes with hazel) brothers of Gimme Shelter fame started out filming Jackie’s sister Lee for a glimpse of Jackie’s childhood home and surroundings. After they met the Beales,’ the brothers ditched that effort in favor of featuring Big and Little Edie. It was named Grey Gardens after the name of the Beales’ estate.
Around this time, the Village of East Hampton had been set on evicting the pair because the neighbors were complaining of the condition of the house and the smell of cats emanating from it on a breezy day. They had also found numerous health violations during a raid. Basically, the women were living in absolute squalor. But how did they get that way?
Sequel on Amazon
Big Edie was the sister of Jackie’s O’s father, John “Black Jack” Bouvier. She also was of course married at one time to Little Edie’s father, Phelan Beale. In addition to Little Edie, they also had two younger sons. Well, it does seem that all Big Edie wanted to do was sing and entertain people. For that, she was divorced and Phelan remarried. She didn’t receive much from him in the divorce and then she was also cut out of her father’s will when she showed up at one of her son’s weddings dressed as an opera singer. To top off the insult, any money the pair had was to be doled out by Big Edie’s sons and brother through a trust. It seems as though she was thwarted at every turn, although that of course is only one side of the story.
In reality, she could have sold the house early on to get money, but she refused. I think partly the reason was because the relatives wanted to get their hands on it for cheap. I really do. She also depended on Little Evie too much to where it became a dysfunctional, codependent relationship. Whether Little Edie really was forced by her mother to stay with her or she just used that as an excuse to stay people will never know. She had lost her hair, including her eyebrows when she was younger. It was rumored she even set it on fire. Some say she was schizophrenic, but I absolutely do not think this was the case. You should hear her rave on about politics, religion, and men. She was very intelligent even though she was extremely flighty and loved to dance and perform all the time. She has also become a bit of a fashion icon with her clothing getups. She didn’t have any money to buy new clothes, but she surely made the outfits (and curtains and sheets!) that she did wear interesting and fashionable.
HBO version on Amazon
Besides the cool outfits, the documentary shows the pair arguing, singing, dancing, and competing for camera time, while extolling the virtues of the other. It also shows their squalid conditions, and it was fairly disgusting. I’ve seen the original documentary at least five times, the sequel twice, and the HBO version starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore once. All are fantastic films. I like the originals the best, but the HBO film is great for filling in the times pre-documentary.
Are these two women to be admired for thumbing their noses at society and doing things their way, or were they just lazy, slovenly people who couldn’t get on in the real world? You decide.
Quotes:
“You know, they can get you in East Hampton for wearing red shoes on a Thursday.”
“But you see in dealing with me, the relatives didn’t know that they were dealing with a staunch character and I tell you if there’s anything worse than dealing with a staunch woman… S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There’s nothing worse, I’m telling you. They don’t weaken, no matter what. ”
“If you can’t get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead.”
“Of course, I’m mad about animals, but raccoons and cats become a little bit boring. I mean, for too long a time.”
“It’s very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present. You know what I mean? It’s awfully difficult.”
“We better check on mother and the cats. She’s a lot of fun, I hope she doesn’t die. I hate to spend another winter here though. Oh God, another winter.”
“Two women can’t live together for twenty years without some jealousy. Not that my voice is better than Mother’s, but she can’t dance.”
Pics (first 4 are Little Edie, last two are Big Edie):
Have you ever heard of the “Up” documentaries? 7 Up, 14 Up, etc. all the way up to 49 UP (and the soon to be released 56 Up)? In 1964, a group of British schoolchildren were brought together and featured in a documentary. They were 7 years old. Asked about their home life and their aspirations, these 14 children from different backgrounds were featured and then followed up on every 7 years up to the present day. The 56 Up film will be shown in the UK on May 14, 21, and 28. And one of the exciting things I’ve learned is that 13 of the 14 are participating, something that hasn’t happened since 21 Up.
These films are absolutely extraordinary. Some children’s lives have ended up just as they predicted they would when asked at only 7 years old! Others have been in a decidedly positive direction, while some have struggled. I watched all these films over a week period earlier this year, and I cannot wait until I see the update on their lives. I don’t know when we’ll be able to see it in the U.S, and I’m so jealous of those of you in the U.K. that can see 56 Up next week. Maybe they’ll be leaked online, but I will anxiously await its release otherwise.
Directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, Nell, Voyage of the Dawn Treader), it is also one of Roger Ebert’s top 10 films of all time.
I highly encourage you to view this wonderful series.
Miller’s book has been getting a lot of nice reviews from many media outlets and blogging companions. I’m not as enthusiastic as most.
The book is basically a retelling of The Iliad. Admittedly, I’ve never read the full version of the tale, but I have read several other retellings as my kids were nuts about mythology when they were growing up and we would read or listen to them together. If you’re familiar with the story, there isn’t much new here except for one thing, and that is the homosexual relationship between Patroclus and Achilles. The whole tale is told from that angle. Whereas The Iliad never expressly states this nature about their relationship, some scholars have inferred from their reading that this was so. However, others aren’t convinced; it is debated among scholarly circles today whether this was the case or they were just ‘bosom buddies.’ In addition, in The Iliad, Patroclus is clearly older than Achilles and not the same age, so there were some liberties taken there as well. Also, I didn’t find the writing to be that stellar. My thoughts echo the New York Times review almost exactly.
If this book hadn’t been shortlisted for the Orange Prize, I probably wouldn’t have read it. And the reason is that I’ve read so many retellings in the past it is high time I read the real thing. I’ve been going over different translations and I think I’m going to go with the Alexander Pope version. While not as literal as some of the more modern translations, it looks to be more in the spirit of Homer’s original because it rhymes. The Iliad and The Odyssey were orally passed down, and looking at Pope’s translation, it would seem the easiest one to memorize if one had to.
I do thank Madeline Miller for giving me the jump start to actually want to read the real tales themselves. For that I’m grateful.
2012, 369 pp.
FTC Disclosure: I obtained this book through my local public library.
Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize is an annual literary prize for any book-length translation into English from any other living European language.
2012 shortlist:
John Ashbery for Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud Margaret Jull Costa for Seven Houses in France by Bernardo Atxaga Howard Curtis for How I Lost the War by Filippo Bologna Rosalind Harvey for Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos Judith Landry for New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani Martin McLaughlin for Into the War by Italo Calvino
2011: Margaret Jull Costa for his translation of Jose Saramago’s The Elephant’s Journey 2010: Jamie McKendrick for his translation of Valerio Magrelli’s The Embrace: Selected Poems 2009: Anthea Bell for her translation of Saša Stanišic’s How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone 2008: Margaret Jull Costa for her translation of Eça de Queiroz’s The Maias 2007: Michael Hofmann for his translation of Durs Grunbein’s Ashes for Breakfast: Selected Poems 2006: Len Rix for his translation of Magda Szabó’s The Door 2005: Denis Jackson for his translation of Theodor Storm’s Paul the Puppeteer 2004: Michael Hofmann for his translation of Ernst Junger’s Storm of Steel 2003: Ciaran Carson for his translation of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno 2002: Patrick Thursfield and Katalin Banffy-Jelen for Miklos Banffy’s They Were Divided 2001: Edwin Morgan for his translation of Phèdre by Jean Racine 2000: Margaret Jull Costa for the translation of Jose Saramago’s All the Names 1999: Jonathan Galassi for his translation of Eugenio Montale’s Collected Poems
“I thought it would be a different life, but sometimes it is like the same life in a dream: a different man coming in the door, a different man hanging his coat on the hook. He comes home late, he goes out to the gym, he gets stuck on the internet: we don’t spend our evenings in restaurants, or dine by candlelight anymore, we don’t even eat together, most of the time. I don’t know what I expected. ” –p. 202
Anne Enright is an excellent writer. Do I particularly care for her stories or characters? No, I don’t. But I do recognize that she somehow is able to get into the heads of her protagonists in a way few authors are able to do. This is my second title that I’ve read by her, the first being her Booker winning The Gathering. I was taken completely by surprise by the raw emotion in that book. And though bleak and depressing, the writing was superb.
I found the writing to be superb in this novel as well, and this one definitely has an easier subject matter. Still a bit dark, but not total midnight like The Gathering. The book is primarily about adultery and the emotional and financial costs involved, but it is also about sibling and parent-child relationships.
The book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize this year, and so far I’ve read two of the contenders, this one and Foreign Bodies. I would put the latter slightly above this one, even though I’ve rated them both a 4. Although it seems that many readers haven’t particularly liked either book, I wouldn’t be surprised (or disappointed) if either of them won.
2011, 259 pp.
FTC Disclosure: I obtained the book from my local public library.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:1-4, ESV)
