Oh "The Edies" of Grey Gardens -- those Bouvier-family black sheep, those crazy cat ladies, those hams of the famously haughty Hamptons. They were so hoity-toity and so law-dee-daw, mangy but magnificent, broken yet unsinkable -- and we just can't seem to get enough of them. Ridiculously glamorous, endearing, pathetic and prophetic -- they remain every drag queen's dream!
They mesmerized us in the enduring '70s "Grey Gardens" documentary, their lives (interpreted by Christine Ebersole and Mary Louise Wilson) brought us to our feet in the Tony Award-winning "Grey Gardens" Broadway musical, and now they're sparking new excitement in a biopic of the same name, premiering on HBO Saturday, April 18, and starring Oscar-winner actress Jessica Lange and America's reining sweetheart Drew Barrymore.
The HBO film takes us where the documentary and stage productions didn't: We follow them through an earlier, brighter time -- when Big Edie was the toast of the Hamptons and Little Edie was a beautiful debutante with big dreams. In short, we get to see them before the glorious train wreck of the their later lives. We see Drew's Little Edie as the ingénue possibly on the brink of stardom. We see Jessica's Big Edie as the hostess with the mostest before she hit the skids. We're also privy to their spiral into squalor, their ensuing seclusion and paranoia, as well as their willingness to be the subjects of the Mayles brothers' famous documentary. We also get a glimpse of their post-doc lives, as Big Edie makes good on her promise never to leave Grey Gardens and Little Edie jump starts her cabaret career.
Die-hard fans will be touched (or at least tickled) to see Jessica and Drew's representations of the Edies: Jessica's Big Edie in her wilted sun hat crowing "Tea for Two" from her rumpled twin bed; Drew's Little Edie with her pigeon-toed soft shoe and swaddled head. Jessica does a spot-on Big Edie -- faded, aristocratic, unapologetic and a little delusional. Drew's performance as Little Edie is enjoyable if sometimes forced (you can almost imagine her dialect coach off camera mouthing to Drew "All I want in loif is a dance pawtneh").
But an actor's job isn't merely to imitate the characters they're portraying -- it's to illuminate them. Jessica succeeds and Drew gamely attempts to. But both could take a lesson from Jeanne Tripplehorn, whose subdued interpretation of Jackie Kennedy -- weary, lovely and beautifully human as the Edies' kin and savior -- transcends all notions of the former First Lady-turned-famous-widow. Her brief appearance alone is worth the price of your HBO subscription.
For "Grey Garden" devotees as well as those new to the legend of the "Edies," this film is worth watching, if only for its fresh take on the lives of these irrepressible characters, and for the staunch performances of the actress who portray them. "S-T-A-U-N-C-H," Little Edie would surely have described them. "They don't weaken --no matter what."
(Images courtesy of HBO)
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