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Great documentary and the two most annoying people on the planet


*** SPOILERS*** A 28 room house yet the fridge is in the bedroom, and the phone is on the kitchen floor. Raccoons entering through a hole in the plaster wall that a person could walk through. And, the daughter feeds them.
The mother and daughter talk in non-sequiturs, non-stop and over each other, addressing the film makers and each other. Even when they're in separate rooms or separate floors, and since the house is devoid of carpeting all conversations echo. Every square inch inside and out needs painted and the daughter's talent for decorating the walls consists primarily of newspaper clippings, hand drawn signs and magazine covers. And a bird cage. And a single curtain takes the place of a door in some rooms. The old woman points out that one of the eight flea-bitten cats is going to the bathroom, behind a painting which is leaning against the wall on the floor. Some of the cats sleep on the bed with her where she also cooks and listens to the radio, and carries on disjointed conversations with her daughter who flits from room as she talks over her mother. She also cooks corn on the cob on a pot next to her bed, offers a gardener a cob, and later uses the fork she cooked the cobs with to stir a drink.
The daughter believes in the Zodiac and reads from an astrological book. Non-linear dialogue punctuates the entire film, this is the most disjointed and irrational display of thinking that I have ever seen, and I tried to turn it off several times but after a breather I'd go back to it. The gardening consists of 20 to 30 foot-high hedges that would have rivaled the impenetrable hedgerows that the Allies faced in northern France. The daughter lost her favorite blue scarf one day as the wind blew it off the balcony and the hedges consumed it, never to be seen again. She also covers her head in a different-colored scarf all the time.
If you have an ounce of sanity in your head this documentary will torture you.

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I finished it (took me several days) but I'm with you, I didn't like it or see anything admirable about the Beales.

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I agree with you and I sat through it in one clip.



"A stitch in time, saves your embarrassment." (RIP Ms. Penny LoBello)

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Agreed, they're both incredibly annoying, but bear in mind they were both very likely to be suffering from either mental illness or a mental condition. I've read speculation that both may have had Asperger's, a high functioning autism that can sometimes produce a person with many of the behaviors seen in these women.

Not every Asperger's person is like this, but some can be. I'm strongly convinced by the Asperger's theory on these two.

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I think you're probably right about the possibility of Asperger's. We also have to keep in mind that these women were raised in wealth and privilege and when it went away, they had no idea how to manage. Anderson Cooper used to talk about how his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, grew up sheltered in wealth and scandal and when she became an adult, she didn't really know how to live a "normal" life.

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I'm a huge Beales fan. Tragic and uplifting documentary at the same time for me. Tragic because they were both trapped, unable to pursue their career passions because they were upper-class women. Moreover, Little Edie was forced to take care of her invalid mother which was overwhelming along with maintaining a 28-room mansion without money. Big Edie, like many elderly, preferred to live out her life in her home instead of selling it and living off the proceeds elsewhere.

The end of the film is more uplifting. Imagine having a lifelong passion but prevented from doing it because you're born the wrong gender or class. I can't help but cheer for Big Edie when the spotlight is on her as she sings joyfully in front of the camera and Little Edie (not as talented) dances.

I can't get enough of these two ladies and watched the film repeatedly. I find their chatter to be original and lively. You can't write better stuff let alone ad lib it. There's also two sequels and a book written by their artist friend which I also read.

A little side note is that Calvin Klein and other top fashion designers were influenced by Little Edie's creative fashions.

Early photo of Little and Big Edie:
https://historycollection.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/e626e518b80d2771fd4826b3bfa2f0a5.jpg

https://historycollection.co/tragic-facts-about-jackie-kennedys-infamous-cousin-and-aunts-downfall/10/

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I have to differ about their chatter being original and lively - I found the things they talked about to be trivial, petty and tedious!

They bickered about such minutiae - "Where's the eyebrow pencil? Did you find it?" - and the constant overlapping where neither seemed willing to even let the other finish a sentence without starting on something else, was unbelievably irritating to me.

I couldn't stand to to listen to them. They both seemed to be talking at odds most of the time, not even listening to each other. It was extraordinarily annoying. I felt sorry for them. Fascinating films (this one and Grey Gardens') but they were not easy to tolerate watching and hearing.

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I can understand why you and others find them annoying, but their New York rapid-fire talking style and interruptions only seem lively to me. The Maysles editing probably contributes to the fast pace too.

I used to find their New England dialect a bit annoying, but now I find it interesting. Their bickering reminds me of "Mama's Family" Eunice and her mother's relationship.

It would have to be difficult to adjust to poverty after being born wealthy. I guess the happy ending is that Little Edie was able to sell the house to someone who restored it instead of tearing it down. It's a beautiful house now.

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Yes, I was glad to find, via googling a bit, that the house is not only still there but has been beautifully restored - pictures I've seen of the inside look amazing. I'm glad it wasn't torn down after all.

I agree it must be an awful adjustment to go from money and plenty to poverty and being targeted by the local authorities. I know the family helped - Jackie's refurbishment help, and of course Lee was there overseeing things. At the same time I wonder why the family did not give even more help, as it was so very clear that these ladies were absolutely struggling just to cope. Ideally they should have been provided with some kind of ongoing hired help or care. I don't think anyone seems to have acknowledged that there were mental health issues involved. Everyone treated them as if they were "normal but just eccentric" and I don't think that was helpful at all - these women were clearly not at all well mentally.

About the speech patterns - I've had NYC friends but they didn't even interrupt and talk-over quite so much as these two talk over each other. I hear their speech as very pathological not just normal New York stuff. It isn't even that rapid-fire, it's the constant cutting off that's irritating to listen to. I've known New Yorkers and nothing's been as irritating to me as they way these two go on.

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I read it was extremely difficult to restore and would've been easier just to tear down but Little Edie insisted the new owner preserve it.

This video shows the restoration. At 1:30, the new owner, Sally Quinn says "Lois" said Big Edie (deceased) chose Quinn to buy the house in order to restore it. Lois was the artist friend who was also a medium.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PAWUHeoAas

They had a little help around the house. Two stubborn and cautious women. I doubt if they wanted or trusted strangers in the house who may want to steal their valuables. They complained that Jackie Onassis wanted to help if they left or sold the house to her. The sons wanted their mother to sell it too.

The mother appeared to have mental issues and also rebelling against the restrictions and Little Eddie was trapped caring for her. She appeared to do better after her mother passed.

More books have recently been released including Little Edie's diary written at 11 years old and another book from Lois Wright.

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That's a huge part of things too, yes, the fact that they were raised in such a manner that they didn't actually know how to take care of themselves and the house once that all went away.

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I watched Documentary Now! first episode Sandy Passage. Only 22 mins and not boring.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4943628/

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The fascination with this documentary is really a testament to the human fascination of watching a train wreck in slow-motion. Most people will not admit this but it's an inherent facet of humanity, and the intrusive examination of these two lonely women fuels the observer's imagination to judge them both heavily and slightly.

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