Two women live in a secluded Hamptons estate called Grey Gardens, which becomes the center for posh parties, decay, and ultimately, an odd mixture of co-dependency and love.The performances by the two leads, Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, are extraordinary. Each adopts some weird Boston/New
York/is-that-Southern-intellectual hybrid accent that is so unique that it has to be an exact imitation of the real people, and each embodies her respective character's pain and triumph, communicating lifetimes of disappointment and will in a single pained smile. I've never taken Barrymore seriously as an actress before this film; shame on me. The film highlights these performances, but its pacing is off, slowing down in the middle and wandering away from the narrative threads the strong first act built. How exactly does the house and their lives fall into such disrepair, and how can they remain so blissfully ignorant? I'm not sure the film has an answer to these questions, but to leave the space between these points A and B is to deny the audience and the characters the narrative continuity they deserve.Overall, though the film has some structural problems, the leads' performances are strong enough to make up for any flaws.
October 12, 2011
Top Critic
