From the first time I heard about this pseudo documentary, I was fascinated and made a mental note to rent it at some point. Then I saw that HBO is making a film based on the documentary starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore and picked it up last night.
I have to say that I don't post reviews or comments about movies, books or music unless they really move me. This film definitely affected me! In fact I am still disturbed by what I saw and the voices of these women are still burning my ears.
This film was not so much a documentary as it was a peek inside the life of two women who at some point must have been taken care of (and very well at that) by a whole host of people. People to help them clean, cook, dress etc. About 30 minutes into the film, it was obvious that Big Edie and Little Edie had once lived a life of luxury. At some point (and we are not given any information at all about their past) we can only assume that they were abandoned by Big Edie's husband and were left to their own devices to survive with very little money and even less skills to live on their own. In my experience, most documentary films move back and forth from present to past and back as a way of educating the viewer so we can understand what we are watching in some sort of context. This film and the women in it, give us no context at all. From the minute it starts, we are thrown into the world of the "Edies" and are given no information at any point about their past which can help explain the present, except through a few words while they look at old photographs. Not knowing the context can be interesting at times, but I found it hard to swallow in this case. I wanted to know what circumstances brought these two women to where they were.
I also found it difficult to understand a word that Big Edie said, and her voice was so unnerving and loud that I gave up trying to decipher anything she said. By the end, I felt like she was a bitter old woman, jealous and un-thankful of her daughter who obviously devoted years of her life to taking care of her Mother. Little Edie on the other hand was charming . A 56 year old who looked 40 and acted 17. She was so happy to have the attention of the camera and made the most of it in a funny and pathetically sad way. Smearing on her black eyeliner and drawing in her black eyebrows with a heavy hand, trying to re-claim her youth. She was a drop dead beauty in her day. It seems to me that her life was based on her looks, as though that was all she ever knew how to be... pretty. It's always disturbing to see women that attempt to deny what is natural when growing older by dressing in tight and revealing clothing and too much make-up.
This movie was an exercise in the intricate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship who had been left with no skills to make it on their own set on the backdrop of a decaying filthy house with raccoons living freely among them and the cats pee and poop on the couch all while the Beale women are gloriously unaware of much of anything other than their own star potential thanks to their former beauty and the Bouvier name that Jacqueline Kennedy made so wonderfully famous.
I highly recommend this film if you want to be transported into another world. For me, it gave credence to the saying that truth is stranger than fiction.
I have to say that I don't post reviews or comments about movies, books or music unless they really move me. This film definitely affected me! In fact I am still disturbed by what I saw and the voices of these women are still burning my ears.
This film was not so much a documentary as it was a peek inside the life of two women who at some point must have been taken care of (and very well at that) by a whole host of people. People to help them clean, cook, dress etc. About 30 minutes into the film, it was obvious that Big Edie and Little Edie had once lived a life of luxury. At some point (and we are not given any information at all about their past) we can only assume that they were abandoned by Big Edie's husband and were left to their own devices to survive with very little money and even less skills to live on their own. In my experience, most documentary films move back and forth from present to past and back as a way of educating the viewer so we can understand what we are watching in some sort of context. This film and the women in it, give us no context at all. From the minute it starts, we are thrown into the world of the "Edies" and are given no information at any point about their past which can help explain the present, except through a few words while they look at old photographs. Not knowing the context can be interesting at times, but I found it hard to swallow in this case. I wanted to know what circumstances brought these two women to where they were.
I also found it difficult to understand a word that Big Edie said, and her voice was so unnerving and loud that I gave up trying to decipher anything she said. By the end, I felt like she was a bitter old woman, jealous and un-thankful of her daughter who obviously devoted years of her life to taking care of her Mother. Little Edie on the other hand was charming . A 56 year old who looked 40 and acted 17. She was so happy to have the attention of the camera and made the most of it in a funny and pathetically sad way. Smearing on her black eyeliner and drawing in her black eyebrows with a heavy hand, trying to re-claim her youth. She was a drop dead beauty in her day. It seems to me that her life was based on her looks, as though that was all she ever knew how to be... pretty. It's always disturbing to see women that attempt to deny what is natural when growing older by dressing in tight and revealing clothing and too much make-up.
This movie was an exercise in the intricate dynamics of a mother-daughter relationship who had been left with no skills to make it on their own set on the backdrop of a decaying filthy house with raccoons living freely among them and the cats pee and poop on the couch all while the Beale women are gloriously unaware of much of anything other than their own star potential thanks to their former beauty and the Bouvier name that Jacqueline Kennedy made so wonderfully famous.
I highly recommend this film if you want to be transported into another world. For me, it gave credence to the saying that truth is stranger than fiction.