Grey Gardens (1975) - full transcript

What are you doing down there?
Just standing there?

- Just filming the main room.
- Whiskers!

Well, did you know
that Whiskers has disappeared?

- A cat got out. I'm trying to get him in.
- Has he? Ah.

Yeah, we don't know how he got out.
I think he got out in that hole there.

- No, I knew they were coming, and l...
- I think he got out in that hole.

- He can jump up there.
- I knew they were coming and...

Yeah. No, he got out in that hole, Edie.

I put them all out. You told me to.

No, dearie, he got out in the hole, babe.

"Take the cats out," you said.



- Did you hear what I said, woman?
- What?

He got out in this hole here.
That was the noise we heard.

That raccoon did that to my new wall.
Isn't that terrible?

They'll have the whole house down soon.

Yeah, we'll be raided again.

We'll be raided again
by the village of East Hampton.

You know, they can get you
in East Hampton...

for wearing red shoes on a Thursday
and all that sort of thing.

I don't know whether you know that.
I mean, do you know that?

They can get you for almost anything.

- It's the Maysles!
- Hi, Edie.

- The gentlemen callers.
- I saw your car.

- One of my cats just got out.
- Edie, you look fantastic.

David, you look absolutely terrific.
Honestly.



You've got light... You've got light blue on.

Well, Al, you're still...
Mother says you're very conservative.

Brooks, everything looks wonderful.

- Thank you.
- Absolutely wonderful.

This is the best thing to wear for the day.
You understand.

- Yeah.
- Because I don't like women in skirts...

and the best thing
is to wear panty hose or some pants...

under a short skirt, I think.

Then you have the pants under the skirt...

and then you can pull the stockings up
over the pants, underneath the skirt.

Uh-huh.

And you can always take
off the skirt and use it as a cape.

So I think this is the best
costume for the day.

Okay.

I have to think these things up, you know.

Mother wanted me to come out in a kimono,
so we had quite a fight.

So what did you do,
photograph Brooks cutting right down here?

- Yeah, I've been through the jungle.
- Oh, for goodness sakes.

What do you want to do now?
Where do you want to go? Upstairs?

Do you want to go up
and photograph it from the top porch?

- Okay. That's good.
- Okay.

They're gonna photograph
from the top now, Brooks.

It's a beautiful garden back here.

Did you see the wall garden?

- Oh, you mean the patio. You mean this.
- Yeah.

That's a Spanish wall garden
over there, you know.

- Oh, yes.
- The Hills put that in.

They imported everything from Rome.

Mrs. Hill, she was a famous horticulturist.

That was one of
the famous gardens of America.

Brooks, next summer, if we're all living...

I think a vegetable garden
would be a good thing in here.

You don't get enough sunlight in here.

Yeah, Mother says she doesn't mind if you
have to cut down some privet for the garden.

- Would be nice.
- Yeah.

Because food's going up.
We heard that on the radio last night.

Do you think my costume looked all right
for Brooks? I think he was a little amazed.

- He's probably seen it before.
- No, no. This is the revolutionary costume.

I never wear this in East Hampton.

He seems okay.
He seems like he can handle it.

You can't be too careful. Know what I mean?

That was the original living room.

You know, people go back to a kitchen now.

Though the washing machine
was always put in the maids' dining room.

You know, the washtubs
are in the maids' dining room.

Let's go up.

It's very difficult to keep the line between
the past and the present.

Do you know what I mean?
It's awfully difficult.

That is a beautiful ocean today, isn't it?

What color would you say that was?
Sort of sapphire?

I've never seen anything like that ocean.

The 50 years I've been here...

The best in 50 years.

Oh, Edie, are you around?

Oh, Edie!

I haven't been out of this
damn horrible place...

in two years.

God, if you knew how I felt.
I'm ready to kill.

Well, they're not
going to take you to the beach.

Brooks wants his...
his check, Mother darling.

All right, give me the...

- He's at the door.
- I told you I should do it now.

Twenty-four bucks for three cuttings.
Just a minute.

I told you... better bring the pen.

I locked all the cats away.

Don't be so mean.
They don't wanna be locked away.

The poor little kitties.
You know kitties adore sun.

I suppose I won't get out of here
till she dies or I die.

- Who's she? The cat?
- I don't know when I'm gonna get out of here.

Why do you want to get out?
Another place'd be much worse.

'Cause I don't like it.

- Any place will be much worse.
- Here.

- Any place on Earth.
- Yeah, but I like freedom.

Well, you can't get it, darling.
You're being supported.

You can't get any freedom
when you're being supported.

Yeah, but...

- You can't?
- No, you can't.

I think you're not free when
you're not being supported.

You have to toe the mark.

- It's awful both ways.
- Well, you don't look it.

You look very young for 56 years of age.

Don't you remember what you told me...

I'd just like a couple of days
on the beach, that's all.

What was it you told me?

- Twenty-four bucks.
- You don't have to scream that out.

When are you gonna learn, Edie?
You're in this world, you know.

You're not out of the world.

Let's see if I can remember the date.
Is it the 12th today?

Well, there are certain
compensations, I guess.

Is it the 12th today?

The old woman, she has to
remember everything, you know that.

I think this is correct.

Brooks Hiers. H-l-E-R-S.

- Oh, I didn't think it was necessary.
- Yes.

Why didn't you let me do this in the house for?
Why did you make me do it here?

Mother, you don't have enough clothes on.

Well, I hope... I'm gonna get naked
in just a minute, so you better watch out.

- That's what I'm afraid of.
- Yeah, for what? Now, why?

- I haven't got any warts on me.
- But the movie, the movie.

- I haven't got any warts on me.
- That isn't the point, Mother darling.

Well, you know where you got,
being like that.

No husband, no babies, nothing.

I can't help it.
I like to wear certain things.

- Is that H-Y-E-R? H-Y?
- She likes everything without girdles.

- H-Y, Edie, or H-l?
- H-Y-E-R-S.

- H-Y?
- Yeah.

She and Marjorie don't believe
in wearing girdles.

I haven't worn a girdle
since I was 12 years old. Here you are.

Mother has certain ideas about, uh...

I certainly have certain ideas
about living a long time.

About clothes.

That's what I got ideas about.

It's very hard to live nowadays.
Living is very difficult.

"The Libra husband
is not an easy man to please.

The monotony of domesticity
is not to his liking...

but he is a passionate man
and a respecter of tradition."

All I have to do is find this Libra man.

"The Libra husband is reasonable.

He is a born judge...

and no other zodiacal type...

can... order his life...

with so much wisdom."

My God! That's all I need... order.

That's all I need... an ordered life.

You know, a manager.

But he's got to be a Libran.

Hello.

Yeah?

- That sounds like Jerry.
- Oh, is that Jerry? For goodness sakes.

What are you doing?

Jerry, you're Aquarius, aren't you?

- Yeah.
- That's what I saw when I met you, Jerry.

Remember I said The Marble
Faun, and it was terrible.

Yeah.

Terrible, the tragedy connected...

with The Marble Faun.

You know, I call Jerry "The Marble Faun."

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Do you have that book here, Edie?

I haven't been able to find it.

If you run across it, I'd like to read it.

It's very deep. I don't know whether you...
Well, I guess you're up to it.

They used to have it on all the, uh...

I think it was on the high school
reading list. The Marbl\e Faun.

"The Libra husband does not seek divorce...

unless the conditions of his life...

are not adjustable."

I don't believe in divorce at all.

- I think divorce...
- Was your mother divorced or no?

- No.
- Separated.

Yes, and then my father got a...
Got a fake Mexican divorce...

and he... did have, you know,
what he called another wife.

But we didn't recognize it.
It wasn't recognized by the Catholic Church.

They don't recognize it, you know.

Say, are you
bossing me around, Edie? All afternoon?

- I think that's terrific.
- Oh, Edie, it's not the best one.

This is the worst one
of my wedding pictures.

The others look worse.

I was gonna be a singer,
you know. A professional singer.

When I met Mr. Beale, the jig was up.

Do you remember this?

- May I see that, please?
- The villain of the piece.

"To my best friend and
most delightful comrade...

to my only sweetheart and wonderful wife...

I tender this likeness of her husband.

Phelan Beale, 1929."

- So we did love each other.
- Did I laugh when I read that.

Aren't kids terrible? I just roared.

When the people don't speak,
they never get divorced.

- You just can't tell.
- I've been a very happy woman all my life.

Shall I tell them about Gould?

Gould was mother's accompanist.

He was a boogie-woogie composer
who had the most terrific style.

He was the most brilliant man I've ever met.

That's including Mr. Beale and Mr. Bouvier.

Completely brilliant.

This is cute, Mother.

I like that very much. Don't you, David?

You said Michelle Beale stole this,
didn't you, Edie?

I never did. She'd never do that.

See how fat I was, Edie?

Did I look like a good mother?

Was I a good mother?

- It looks like it.
- What? Looks like it.

I didn't starve my children, did I? What?

Fed 'em. Fed 'em well.

They were very nice children.
I enjoyed them tremendously.

I'm crazy about my two sons,
absolutely mad about them.

- Who's the little girl?
- That's me.

Well, the boys were...
Were not hard to handle at all.

- They were very easy to handle.
- Oh, my mother never saw my brothers.

I saw them every minute,
every single minute.

Oh, they never got any discipline, my brothers.
They didn't need it.

- They were absolutely perfect.
- They never got any discipline.

This was taken with
a tiny little Kodak No. 2. That was.

Kodak No. 2.
Cost two dollars, that camera.

- Mother, I'm mad about these pictures of you.
- Oh, no, don't take those.

- We'll just put them right over here.
- Oh, no, I want those out.

- Will you give me those, please?
- No, you can't have them.

I want them, Edie. I will never see them again.
Now, I want those pictures.

- I want those pictures, Edie.
- You can't expose them to the light in here.

No, give me those pictures.
I don't want to ask 67 times.

- Come on.
- I want to show that to Al.

- No, I want...
- I wanna show it to Al!

- It's my picture.
- Look what you made me do.

Well, you did it. Look what she did.

Mrs. Beale had a classical face.
I want you to see this.

Look at what she did.

- Look. Very few people have this.
- Don't touch that!

Al, I want you to see this.

Now look, this is my mother.

There's British blood,
maybe Jewish, I don't know.

In the Leaman family, I'm not sure.

- I don't want that photographed.
- Scotch blood... the Ewings.

Imagine showing all those horrible things
I don't want you to show.

The Ewing clan's in there.

But it's just a girl
from a good French family.

It's a very beautiful face.

I lived alone at least 30 years.
I-l didn't mind.

You get very independent
when you live alone.

You get to be a real individual.

You can't have your cake
and eat it too in life.

Oh, yes, I did. I did.

I had my cake, loved it, masticated it,
chewed it and had everything I wanted.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I had a very, very happy, satisfying life.

Well, you had a rich husband.
You should have stayed with him.

- Now you might as well face it.
- What! For money?

- She was bored.
- Why, I was not. I was a great singer.

I had a perfect marriage,
beautiful children.

Terribly successful marriage.
Never had a fight in my life.

I never threw anything at Mr. Beale. Never.

They threw the bull around, as they say.

No, I never had any words
with Mr. Beale at all.

I came down here to live in this... in this
house because I did all my singing here.

I was so happy. I was happier
going out and singing...

than anything I've ever done
since I was born.

I liked it better than anything I ever did.

- I can't find it, Mother.
- Well, you could let me help you.

- Let me...
- Listen, kid. I'm extremely organized.

I know exactly where to look for this stuff.

I've got it under control right here,
but I can't find it.

Get it?

Well, bring in the...
Bring in the orchestration...

of "Tea for Two."

I can't do it. My feet hurt.

Just try, babe. They're beautiful.

I have to get my voice exactly back
the way it was when I was 45 years old.

- You can't, Mother darling.
- Oh, yes, I can. Oh, yes!

- Something happens, face it.
- I never strained my voice ever in my life.

Oh, but I strain my voice
from yelling and screaming.

I've never smoked cigarettes.

What is the matter with me?
I could never speak again.

Oh, no.

Why, I can get it back in about a month,
just about. You know, good hard work.

♪When we are together
together, hmm

Gould and Mother made this record in 1934.

- Sing it, babe. Just sing it.
- He was Mother's accompanist.

♪We belong together

♪We're happy together

♪And life is a song

♪When we are together

♪We know we are
where we belong

♪When we are together

- ♪Like birds of a feather
- ♪Of a feather

- ♪Together we thrive
- ♪Together we thrive

- ♪Little caring whether
- ♪Little caring whether

- ♪The rest of the world...
- ♪The rest of the world...

Oh, my heart, what happened?

- That's pretty, that note.
- Terrific.

Oh, that's terrible.

Oh, I see. It repeats.

Yes, that's very important, that last.

That's the "cazenza,"
"cadenza," whatever you call it.

"Could I Be in Love."

Do you want that?
Aren't you mad about your record?

I was very serious
about my singing. Loved it.

After you hear that, you realize nothing is...

- Important.
- No, it isn't. Nothing.

Well, my mother, you know,
she gave me the right slant on my voice.

She told me to leave everything,
to leave everything.

No man could compete
against Mrs. Beale and Gould.

- We were pretty good.
- No man in the world.

Well, I worked hard.
I wish you would play "Laura."

lmagine bothering about anything
when she had a talent like that?

Well, I had to take care of this house.
I lived on no money.

You were able to save the house
on account of me.

Yeah, I think that...

I didn't want to live in East Hampton...

but I had to on account of Mother's house.

Well, now you see why you lived,
because you had music all the time.

That's why.
And you went to the beach too.

- That's what you liked.
- Those are the only things.

Well, I think you liked your dancing.

You were very good at that.

This is Kostelanetz.

Did you see the, uh... the play on Broadway?

No, No, Nanette.

♪Tea for two
and two for tea

♪And me for you
and you for me

♪Alone

♪...to hear us,
to see us or hear us

♪No friends or relations
and weekend vacations

♪We won't have it known, dear
that we own a telephone, no

♪I'll awake
and start to bake

♪A sugar cake
for you to take

♪Mmm, for all the boys to see

♪We can raise a family

♪A girl for you,
a boy for me

♪Oh, can't you see how happy

♪We could be

♪Tea for two
lf Edie was any good, the soft shoe's out.

If she was any good at all.
It's all soft shoe now, you know.

This is a dance. Come on, Edie.

I used to do it myself, you know.
I did that... the soft shoe.

♪See us or hear us

♪No friends or relations
and weekend vacations

♪They won't have it known, dear
that we own a telephone

♪No, no, no

♪But I'll awake
and start to bake

♪A sug-sug-sugar
cake-cake-cake

♪See for all the boys to see

♪We can raise a family

♪A girl for you, a boy for me

♪Oh, can't you see

♪How happy we would be

Edie, dance to that. A waltz.
Come on. Get Edie up.

Dance. A waltz. How can you resist it?

How can you resist that?

♪Oh, la-la

♪La, da, ah, ah

♪Oh, can't you see

♪How happy

♪We would be

♪Would be

Terrific.
Isn't that terrific?

- Isn't that a beautiful chord?
- I'm mad about Kostelanetz.

Do you think I'm gonna look funny dancing?

- No.
- I do terrific dances.

I only care about three things:

The Catholic Church,
swimming and dancing.

- And I had to give them up.
- Dave, it opens from the bottom.

I've got enough.
I almost die with the fleas in this place.

I can't go on another year.
I have to get to a hotel room.

Well, I have...
I brought a lot of stuff for your fleas...

and I'll be more than willing
to put it down.

All I want is a little room.

I can't stand a country house.

In the first place,
it makes me terribly nervous.

I'm scared to death of doors, locks,
people roaming around in the background...

under the trees, in the bushes.

I'm absolutely terrified.

I'm not a bit terrified
of the city, not a bit.

I like the terrible noise
you hear at night...

and all these terrible drilling sounds.

I never go to sleep unless the whole
pavement is jumping outside...

and it's a hundred degrees
and that drill is just going...

And then I just go to sleep.

I only hope it stays up.

♪At the Balalaika

I haven't got my makeup on.

My God, do you think it's gonna stay up?

I feel something slipping. I feel something...

What am I missing?

We'll almost have to listen to Peale
in about five seconds.

She doesn't like the Catholic Church.
She gets mad whenever I go.

Oh, go on. What the hell?
I worship the Catholic Church.

I'm gonna invite Father Huntington over
to spend the whole entire night with me.

- That's what I'm gonna do.
- I love the church so much.

Here it is.

To get on top of things and to stay there.

Does that mean women too?

For if you do not do this...

it is very likely that things
will get on top of you.

Isn't he terrific?

And since I always believe
in a simple formula that is workable...

I have a formula for you now.

First: Try, really try.

Try, really try.

Second: Think, really think.

Cute. Think, really think.

And third: Believe, really believe.

Well, you may say,
"How many times do I have to try?"

Why, it may be a good many times.

For example, I have in my pocket here
a letter from a man in London, England.

"Dear Dr. Peale, over three years ago...

I was in your great Marble Collegiate Church
for the first time...

and I was having it rough.

The job I'd been doing
had come to an end, and I was 55.

Your age, old gal.

Your suggestion lived with me,
plus the advice to try, really try;

- He lived. I never lived.
- Think, really think; Believe, really believe.

I did think. I did work
very hard to find a job.

Eighty-eight interviews."

So did he or did he not get the job?

He did.

Will he or will he not handle himself...

in the years that are to come?

He wasn't emotional.

He didn't get upset.

- He wasn't nervous.
- He wasn't me.

He was cool. Now one thing is sure:

The human mind will not function
when it is hot.

Only when it is cool and dispassionate...

Dispassionate.

- That was the word I wanted the other day.
- Will it produce.

I couldn't think of what it was.

I think it would be a good idea
if every day every individual...

would look at himself in the mirror...

earnestly, and ask the question...

"Who am I? Am I a weak person?

Am I a defeated person?
Am I an inferior person?"

Not at all.

I am a child of God...

and I was intended
to get on top of things...

and I was intended to stay there.

- ♪Amen, amen
- Very good. That was very long.

- Very long.
- You notice how he went on and on and on?

Let's hear the prayer.
I mean the song. You sing the song now.

- Doxology.
- Sing it.

You have been listening
to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale...

- as he spoke this morning from his pulpit...
- No emotionalism.

- At Marble Collegiate Church.
- Never give up.

You want to keep on top.

Way up high up on top.

Wonderful way to smother somebody.

Would you pass your mirror over here?

I've got to see what I look like.

Don't drop it.

- Uptight.
- That was wonderful.

I see why I've got cataracts.

I have astigmatism,
one eye pulled against the other.

I should've worn glasses and I didn't.

- Oh, I told you to wear glasses.
- Is there anything else you want to know?

You got with the glasses
about four years ago.

I'll tell you about my teeth.

Four years ago, Edie. You got the glasses,
and you didn't wear them.

My teeth are still all right.

You have to wear glasses
when you have any trouble.

You have to.

And my hair will grow... l hope. Here.

You're dressed for battle, Edie.

Mother's telling Marjorie how spoiled I am,
how terrible I am.

And Marjorie knew my father
and my uncle and everybody.

Mother's giving her all this S-H-l-T...

so I went and told her things
about the family.

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 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.

But they didn't know that.
Well, how were they to know?

You know, my father had made up his mind
about what Farmington produced...

and what the Sacred Heart Convent produced.

I don't think he was so down
on the Spence School...

but he certainly was down on Farmington.

I don't know why.
Farmington was a junior college.

You could choose what you wanted to study.

Perhaps that was what made
my father dislike it so...

That I could choose.

But I chose what I thought
he'd want me to choose...

You know, English literature and...

Oriental philosophies and, uh...

Well, I always took French,
but nothing ever happened there.

I can read and write in French,
but I can't speak it.

I had years and years and years of French.

Terrible.

This was taken by Amy Dupont
my last year in Farmington.

I was 17.

- Edie, that's so beautiful.
- Mr. Wainwright did that.

He was an artist from a very good family.
He was in the social register.

He did it in the solarium of Grey Gardens.

David, look at this.
I was in a fashion show.

Let me see that.

Oh, beautiful. Look at that, David.

- May I see that?
- Wow! Look at the skirt.

I thought I was the cat's pajamas in that!

You did, Edie.
See how pretty Edie was when she was young.

It's perfectly foolish of her
not to look that way now.

She could, you know,
if she didn't worry about everything.

Didn't she look like a girl
that had everything? Hmm?

This has inspired me.

I'll have to get another brown tailored suit
and grow my hair.

My God, I have no hair.

You never put any lipstick on
for this picture, did you?

- I have another kind on.
- You look horrible.

Why didn't you put lipstick and makeup on?

Mr. Beale smashed the window
of Burt Bacharach...

when he put this in the window
on upper Madison Avenue.

- For God's sakes.
- He offered me a job.

He didn't say to get out
of that family situation...

but he said, "You need a job, Miss Beale."

Didn't you expect that Edie
might get married someday?

Oh, I did. I wanted her to.

Oh, I picked out some nice men.
She didn't like the men I picked out.

They were horrible.

She could have married this Gerald Getty.

He was a millionaire.
Gave her a gorgeous ring.

She decided not to marry that guy.
She had to give the ring back.

She had a proposal of marriage
from Paul Getty.

Remember Paul,
the richest man in the world?

He married Teddy Lynch.

Then you could have married
Jordan McClanahan.

He was another millionaire,
and he wanted to marry you.

She just didn't want to get married.
That's all blamed on me.

No, I never fell in love until I was 31.

Well, how old are you in these pictures?

- Twenty-four.
- Twenty-four. That old?

- 1940.
- Very young looking for 24.

France had just fallen... to Hitler.

- But you never fell for a man.
- Paris, Paris, excuse me.

France fell, but Edie didn't fall.

That was the thing. See, l...

They didn't tell us that
when we studied World War l...

that everything was so awful
with the Versailles Treaty...

that we were soon going to get into
something four years after I got out.

If I'd only known it, I would have just...

Just enjoyed every single minute,
just done everything.

It must've been tough on people.

I remember as a kid
so many loved ones being killed.

But you were the dating age.

A lot of my friends went overseas
and got married.

They went in the Red Cross.
They went to lndia, Australia.

They all got married.

One of my best friends went to Australia.

If I'd have been able to go,
she might have persuaded me to go with her.

And she met somebody in the hospital.

She was working for the Red Cross,
and she never came back to New York.

But I never had a chance
to do anything like that...

'cause Mother wasn't well during the war.

She had her eye operation.

I missed out on everything.

I missed out on the reunion
of my graduating class in Farmington...

because that was the fall
that Jack Kennedy campaigned to get in...

and I was stuck here with Mother,
the cats, the house and T. Logan...

and I couldn't go.

No, you said you didn't want
them to know how old you were.

The 25th reunion of my class.

No, I think...

"Well, I didn't want them
to know my age," says Edie.

No, I would have enjoyed that,
Mother...

because Jack Kennedy
campaigned to get in and won.

Get in the Farmington School?
That'd be a good place for him.

I don't know.
I think it would have been a lot of fun.

Yeah, everything's good that you didn't do.

At the time, you didn't want it.

- I couldn't get away.
- Well, that's the choice.

You can't go back and say...
feel gorgeous right now...

I couldn't leave.

- And say, "Oh, why didn't I do this?"
- I couldn't leave.

Because you didn't feel then
the way you do now.

Everybody thinks and feels differently
as the years go by, don't they?

- Yeah.
- Yes.

- What time is it, chickens?
- What time is it?

- I want to go in now.
- It's, uh, 1:30.

- I may need David's hand to get up.
- You have it.

- Where is it? Can you come around this way?
- Sure.

- Are you taking pictures?
- Always.

Here.

"Two roads diverged in yellow wood...

and pondering...

pondering both or pondering each...

Pondering one I took the other...

and that made all the difference."

- Robert Frost.
- Isn't that wonderful?

Did he say that?

That's all you need...
just three lines like that.

- Come on, Edie. Is that Robert Frost?
- Who else?

I thought it was you.
I think your poetry is better.

- "Two road diverged in yellow wood...
- Come on, you said that.

- We want something else.
- And pondering one, I took the other.

- Edie, you're not teaching us.
- And that made all the difference."

- We don't want to learn it. It's very pretty.
- Isn't that amazing?

No, I don't think it's half
as good as your poems.

They looked the same,
and he probably couldn't tell and yet he...

I wish I could remember the correct lines.

I'm absolutely exhausted.

I danced eight hours last night,
practicing the, uh... the marching song.

- Great.
- My God, my muscles!

I can't do it, I'm telling you.
What am I gonna do?

They're gone... with this soft life.

♪We all march together
for love is behind

♪We all stand together
United we die

♪We all march together
for we love the land

♪It's the spirit of V.M.l.

♪We all march together
for life is unkind

When they do that,
that's when the plane goes by, see?

So I'm doing the V.M.l. marching song...

which is a ground maneuver.

Anyway, I've got to get it all
coordinated in my mind.

Hey, Mother, I'm working on my dance.

- I'm starving.
- ♪We all march together

- ♪For life is unkind
♪- You see, she doesn't

want to eat anymore
'cause she got so fat...

so I have to sit here
and starve all the time.

- How can I eat and look sexy too?
- I think I lost five pounds.

- I'm gonna die.
- Well, don't live with me. I want to eat.

- Will you eat some liver pâté?
- It's not awfully good.

Kitties? If you put lemon with it,
it's all right.

I'm gonna die with this diet.
I don't like it at all.

Don't do it. Have a sandwich.

I got fat not wearing clothes for two years.

Oh, that wasn't it at all.
It was the quarts and quarts of ice cream.

- My bill was $171 just for ice cream.
- Here's your liver pâté.

You have to make it. I can't. No, I can't.

I ate in front of the Maysles the other day.
You have to make it.

I was very embarrassed. No.
I ate all that chicken...

- Oh, Mother, I should have stolen that blue...
- Take it out, babe.

You like the green?
That's chartreuse there.

- What do I do with this?
- You have crackers somewhere.

- Should I put it on crackers?
- Yeah. You should...

It needs a lemon or mayonnaise or something.

When am I gonna get out of here?

Oh, she's always talking like that.

When I get to New York, you're never
gonna get me back to East Hampton.

- Oh, that's silly. Oh, Edie, that isn't nice.
- Ever. Never!

Edie, the man is doing this.
For goodness sakes! That's terrible!

When I get to New York, brother,
I'm not ever coming back.

Well, you got in awful trouble there.

It's a good thing
you had a place to come to.

Recuperate at Mama's for about 15 to 20 years.

She had a horrible time. I used to have
to send her big boxes of groceries.

She was starving.
From my grocer's thing down there.

- I was discovered...
- Sent her big boxes of groceries.

- But I needed training.
- And I always put a bottle of wine in her bag.

I thought she'd have a terrible accident.

Well, I was discovered, but...
Well, never mind.

Oh, I wouldn't say anything good
happened to you in New York.

- Are you kidding?
- No.

I was discovered by Mr. Gordon.
He was a friend of Mrs...

- Well, what is it?
- What was that woman's name?

- People discover me every time I go out.
- What was Ruby Chapman's...

- I don't think anything of it.
- This is serious! He went to pieces!

- Mr. Max Gordon went out of his mind.
- Oh, not Max Gordon.

- He never went to pieces in his life.
- He did!

- He did not. A very...
- Now, what was the woman's name?

She gave me the letter. Mrs. Hitchcock.

- I can't go back to ancient history.
- Ruby Chapman's partner!

How can you remember so long?
Now I'll have to get drunk.

- They gave me the letter to Max Gordon!
- I'll have to start drinking.

I can't take it.

- She'll make a drunkard out of her mother.
- What crackers do you want?

We'll take these. Do you mind?
They're very good.

- Do you want these?
- I don't like crackers. You know that.

Just put a lemon on it. Little lemon.

Don't you know who Max Gordon is?

He's a famous producer.

You've heard of him, haven't you?

He discovered Judy Holliday.

He discovered Judy Holliday.
He said I was much funnier.

Well, you haven't been funny today, boy.

You're lacking in humor.

It's how you are when you grow older.

I needed training.
Where was I to get the training?

You start when you're 12.
I had mine when I was 12.

Oh, stop.

This cracker's for the photographer.

Tell me what... what I should have done.

Here, could you put this away, please, Edie?

I should have immediately
tried to get into something?

Put it where it'll get frozen.

Until it gets frozen, will you?

David, instead of coming home...

I should have tried to get into something,
is that it?

David, do you think you and Al
should have told Edie to lose weight?

She's been impossible.

Do you think I should have
gotten into night club work?

What does your mother think?

- I had everything picked out.
- My father was alive!

- That was it. My father was alive.
- I was going around with a...

- My father was alive.
- Do you want to hear what I have to say?

Mr. Beale would have had me committed.

Gould and I were at Edie
every day to go to Traphagen.

She could do anything.
She could learn toe dancing.

She could learn radio.
She could learn all sorts of stage dancing.

- Why was I gonna do this?
- She could do...

The things we told you.
We told you to go to Bendel's...

I couldn't go with my mother
sitting here, David.

And model earrings.

- I couldn't go with my mother sitting here.
- You were so gorgeous in hats.

You had such a beautiful face,
and we always adored you.

And we said, "Why, she should do hats,"
and she had gorgeous feet.

And Mr. Beale always made her wear a certain
kind of shoe when she was a little girl.

Orthopedic shoe. And she... she could have...

I had deep responsibility for you, Mother.

I was taken care of for 25 years!

Ah, the hallmark of aristocracy
is responsibility, is that it?

I'm not gonna spend this winter
in East Hampton. In the first place, I can't.

I just can't. I can't spend another winter
out here in the country.

I can't do it. I don't enjoy it.

Furthermore, I'm telling you, I can't get
my figure back unless I hit New York City.

You know. That icebox is too near.

I've gotta get away from that icebox.

They all want luncheon.

Come on. We're gonna have luncheon.

What?

- Edie!
- What?

I fed the cats!

I just have to leave for New York City
and lead my own life.

I don't see any other future.

Will you shut up!
It's a goddamn beautiful day!

Shut up!

Paris is the place for you.
Get on stage in Paris at the Folies Bergère.

The point is that I came down here
to take care of my mother.

I'm sick and tired of worrying
about her night and day.

- Well, I had a very good...
- I was away from her for five or six years.

I had a very good man.

And I was sick and tired
of lying awake at night...

- He took care of me for 25 years.
- Wondering what was happening to my mother.

She didn't have to worry.

Who was the man
that took care of you for 25 years?

- Twenty-three years.
- Nobody took care of her for 25 years!

- I took care of this damn house for 25 years!
- I'm... I'm on the air.

Dare say my mother was ever taken care of
by any man but my father...

and I'll push you under the goddamned bed!

No, Edie, I think Al was referring to Gould.

Yes, he was.

He took care of Mother by accompanying her
to the movies and playing the piano!

Took care of me and the washing...

No one took care of Mrs. Beale.
She had my father's money and her own money.

- What money?
- The Bouvier money.

And another thing,
Mrs. Beale wasn't taken care of sexually.

I think he was nicer than anybody
I've ever known in my whole life.

He was a writer. He wrote
seven books at one time. He was brilliant.

And he played the piano magnificently...

and composed exquisite music
and dedicated about 80 songs to me.

So Edie didn't have to worry.

No, she didn't have
to worry the way she did, no.

She made me leave the Barbizon.

Well, I thought you'd been
in New York long enough.

- You were getting lines in your face.
- But I didn't want to leave.

- I was getting my big chance.
- Oh, no, you were not.

That married man was not going
to give you any chance at all.

- I was getting my audition in 1952!
- You were not.

- I was going to get it!
- Well, you didn't get it. You missed out.

I was just getting up
what you call a little nerve.

Now, listen, you're wasting that thing on this,
'cause it's just nuts.

- When she said I had to come home.
- I thought you should come home.

She started high-pressuring me
to come back in March of 1952.

It was time after 25 years.

And she kept it up until the end of July.

- July 29th, I checked out, got on the train.
- Well, you should come down.

- Came back, and was never able to get back.
- It's very hot in New York.

It's very hot in New York on July 29th.

"You and The Night
and The Music." It's beautiful.

- Do you know that one? You do know it?
- Mm-hmm. Sure.

Do you really? Sing it for me. Sing it.

♪The night was young
and you're so beautiful

No. "You and The Night and The Music."
Sing that song.

- I don't know that. I thought you meant...
- You thought you did.

- ♪You and the night and the music
- He knows it.

- Go on.
- I don't know the rest of it.

"Fill me with flaming desire."

The words are wonderful.

♪Love like yours and mine

♪Is a glowing thrill

♪Of sparkling wine

♪Make the most of time

♪Ere it has flown

♪You and the night
and the music

♪Thrill me
with flaming desire

♪Setting my being

♪Completely on fire

♪Oh, you and the night
and the music

♪Dance till the music
is through

I forgot. Oh, listen, this is it. "Love."

♪Till the moment is through

♪After the night

♪And the music die

♪Will I have you

Edie! Oh, Edie!

- Where's Jerry, Edie? Edie, where's Jerry?
- I don't know, Mother.

- That's what I'm wondering.
- Don't you think you'd better find him?

Mother wants me to watch him
the whole time he's in the house.

No, you told me not to have him back here.
Like I watched Tom.

- No, thanks.
- My eyes dropped out. Mother and her friends.

I never cared for the three people
that my mother liked.

I couldn't get on with Mr. Beale...

and I didn't care for her composer friend...

and as for Tom Logan,
he drove me crazy in the house.

I loved Tom.
He played the guitar so beautifully.

He sang and was in a rodeo,
and even was in Hollywood.

You'd have to admire somebody like that.

- She was a pushover.
- He had no place to go.

And then he asked my mother, he said,
"I've just been fired from the Sea Spray.

Would you like a maintenance man?"
Mother took him home.

I didn't want a maintenance man.
I said, "I'll take you home for one night."

- That's the story of Tom Logan.
- That's what I said.

There wasn't a thing
he didn't know how to do.

He could fix anything.
Lights, plumber things.

He knew how to do everything.
Just one of those terribly clever men.

He couldn't do any work. He made
good salads, but he was drunk all the time.

Oh, no. He came up here
every morning at 6:00, knocked on my door.

We talked over the menu for the day.

Including a half a bottle of rosé vin...

or wine or whatever it's called.

Naturally, we couldn't get rid of him,
and I had to stay here.

What I should have done was leave,
and he would have left right away.

All right, you don't believe in religious
compulsion. It was a religious thing.

- If I had left, he would have left.
- No, I deserve...

- Because the work would have been too much.
- He didn't want to go.

All alone in the house for Tom. All I had
to do was leave. I'm so stupid that l...

Well, where would I have been?
I'd have been all alone in the house.

I think you would have, Mother.

- Edie! Yoo-hoo!
- What?

The Marble Faun is at the door.
He can wait.

Let Jerry in. Hurry up.

I'm gonna look at this path without Jerry.

This is a sea of leaves.
A complete sea of leaves.

If you lose something, you can't
find it again; It drops to the bottom.

I lost my scarf. I'll never get it again.

Best scarf I ever owned.
The most beautiful color blue.

It dropped. You know, it fell off my head.

To hell with The Marble Faun.

- Hello?
- Hello, Edie.

Oh, hello, Jerry darling.
Do you want to come in?

I just came for the faucet
so I can get down to the hardware store.

Mother said you called. Was
that you on the phone very early?

Yeah.

How are you?
I'm looking at you now.

Really well.

I'll come down and let you in.
Do you want to come up here?

- You want to come up?
- All right. For a moment.

Mother's screaming to have me let you in.
I'd better do it.

I'll be at the back door here, okay?

I'll come right down.

Jerry's puffing and blowing.

No. I'm tired, and I don't
want to get any tireder.

What do you want, Jerry?

Who wants a nice piece of corn?

- I don't want any. Thank you.
- Jerry, you didn't get enough to eat tonight.

- Well, I can't resist. I'm sorry.
- The margarine.

Jerry, you're gonna put
some of this on, aren't you?

Yeah.

- You wanna do it for me?
- Why, yeah. The pleasure's all mine.

If I don't burn myself.

Which piece of corn do you want, Jerry?

- Doesn't matter.
- See how polite he is?

You want some, Edie?
Where's your plate, Jerry, for it?

- I couldn't eat in front of the camera.
- I've got very big hands.

This corn is out of this world.

Oh, did I do it nicely? He always
compliments me on the way I do my corn.

There they are.

There are your raccoons. Run away from
your drinks and do that to your raccoons.

Hear him?

Yeah, he's there. I can hear him.

Everything's in the attic...
Everything from sloths, otters...

badgers, uh, possums, raccoons.

I don't leave the bags anymore.

'Cause I had to get up
200 cellophane bags this, uh...

Horrors. Somebody's removing
the books from my room.

Where did this little book come from?

Edie!

That's Jerry. He locked himself out.

No, Jerry hasn't locked himself out.

He locked himself out.

Who's knocking at the door?

He's around there.

Who got this book out of my room?
I cleaned this whole attic up the other day.

Now, who's been dropping books around
is what I want to know.

I would have seen that book.

He evidently has been
up in that room reading it.

All right, Buster, old pal,
come and get it.

There's somebody knocking at the door, Edie.

Yeah, all right, Mother.

Yes?

Is Jerry here?

Oh, yes. I'll get him for you.
Just a minute.

- Hey, Jerry.
- Yeah?

I think your friend's
in the... in the, uh, front.

I found a little book dropped in the attic,
Mother. He's been up there.

Well, you should keep him out.

He told me he was working on that thing.
He wasn't at all.

- Want a little bit, Edie?
- No.

You don't want a little bit?

- My God!
- What?

- I just thought of something.
- What?

Give me that.
What did you think of? What? Come on.

The guy was standing outside the window...

and he was passing books out to him.

- You think so, Edie?
- Yes.

- I don't believe all that.
- Yes!

I don't believe it. Want a taste, Edie?

I don't want any.

No. We lost the glasses.
The glasses are gone.

Next thing, those antiques
will all be missing.

See, you shouldn't have
a contact with the outside world...

because how do I know
that there isn't something up in that room?

If you get what I mean.

You can't tell what's
been put up in that room...

or what's been taken out.

Don't worry so much, please.

This cat's going to the bathroom
right in back of my portrait.

- Oh, isn't that awful?
- No, I'm glad he is.

I'm glad somebody's doing
something they want to do.

I was frozen this morning when I woke up.
Were you, Edie?

It did drop. It dropped.
It dropped quite a bit.

I missed you last night.

I was so lonely. She only left me
one little kitty to keep me warm.

And all these blankets were on the floors,
all this pile of stuff here.

Jerry's pretty good at waiting on me.

He can find things here
that I wouldn't find for half an hour.

- Jerry, the majordomo.
- I'm so sick of that kid.

- I have great pity for him.
- Lois says... Well, you know the trouble.

- And I like him, but...
- Lois says... You know the trouble.

- What?
- The trouble is, he's madly in love with Edie.

I said I thought Edie
was madly in love with him. Pardon me.

He might as well leave right now,
'cause he's never gonna get it.

- So that's it.
- Get what? Sex with you?

- What he's after.
- He doesn't want any sex with you.

- Well, that's all they're after.
- An old person like you? Good God!

- So why don't you tell him right now?
- Unheard of. Unheard of.

You should tell him right now
so I'm not bothered by him.

He doesn't want sex.

He's got about six girls in East Hampton.
He's so busy.

- No, but the point is, he thinks...
- I don't know what he's doing.

He's out every single night
with a different girl.

Yeah, but that's...
that's the point, you see.

He had a wonderful time.

He's gonna be here for years and years.
I see this coming.

He enjoys himself thoroughly.

- I hope.
- The guy's gonna be here for years and years.

- I doubt that.
- It's gonna be one of those things.

Like Tom Logan.

Aren't you gonna feed Whiskers, Edie?

Come on. Go in and feed Whiskers.

Now, don't eat it.
Give it to Whiskers, please.

- You're thin. You want to get thin.
- She's very mean to me.

No. I have to be very strict.
The priest said she needed a very strict hand.

What the priest told me.

"She sure needs
a very strong hand, your daughter."

And I tried to give it to her,
you know that?

After Mr. Beale, you know,
stopped living in East Hampton...

I had a terrible hard time with Edie.

She just went wild
after her father wasn't living here.

She went wild, absolutely wild.

I couldn't do anything with her at all.

Isn't it awful when a dancer gets fat?

Isn't it awful? God.

It's awful, I'm telling you.
It's awful! God!

My father believed in running
the children's lives, you know?

He wanted me to get my master's degree,
be a junior partner in his law firm.

- Take the ice cream.
- He was 165 Broadway, on the ninth floor.

And my knees would start to shake...

coming down on the ninth floor
of Mr. Beale's office.

My knees were rattling. My mouth was dry.

You were scared of your father.

And I'd go in, and he'd come forward
out of his office with his watch in his hand...

and then he'd look at the clock
on the wall, and he said...

"You're five minutes late," he'd say.

- Oh, my God.
- No, he had a very...

Then he'd sit down
and look at me like this and say...

"Take it off. Take that hat off.

Take that lipstick off.
Take that nail polish off.

- How dare you wear those high heels!"
- Oh, she's just acting.

Don't you want some of this?
Butter pecan.

He said the only thing to be
was a professional woman. He did say that.

- Didn't he, Mother?
- Well, I wouldn't say it's the only thing.

He didn't want me to get married.

I don't think people should
get married. I don't believe in it at all.

If you can't get a man to propose to you,
you might as well be dead.

- Oh, I don't think it's important.
- I think it's disgusting.

- Aunt Mary had the most wonderful life.
- Absolutely disgusting.

- For women to be alone.
- Lived to be 94 years of age.

What are they proving? They have to go around
with dogs or other women or something.

- Dogs are lovely.
- I... l think it's terrible.

I'll take a dog any day.

Why didn't you marry the man you wanted to,
like I did?

I think the saddest thing was my not
marrying into the Obelensky family...

'cause I adore them.

Any Obelensky is wonderful.
That's all I can say.

- He's a very sweet man.
- If he's related to the Obelenskys, he's okay.

- I didn't know he was any relation to them.
- Yes.

- I never knew.
- Serge's, uh, nephew by his half-sister.

Now, there was a boy I might have married.

Why didn't you marry Paul Getty?

I said, "How did you happen to come here?"

And he said, "Oh, I saw you at a dance,"
he said, "in South Hampton."

- I said, "You did?" He said, "Yes."
- He was just a kid.

He was 32. And I said,
"Eugene, what you need is a girl."

And he said, "No, Edith, I'm looking
for a wife. I wanna get married."

- He wanted to take Edie to Westchester.
- Wasn't that cute?

Tom had just died, and I did not want
another man in my kitchen with a cookbook.

I went downstairs...

He'd just made a cookbook.
He'd just written a cookbook.

- Mother got rid of him in 15 minutes.
- Don't want any cookbooks.

Mother got rid of him in 15 minutes
'cause he came from a celebrated family.

- He was very glad to leave.
- The Tyszkiewicz family.

And I suppose Mother didn't want me
to have anybody that was decent.

- You understand.
- I didn't want anybody in the kitchen.

It would have been perfectly all right
for me to marry Tom Logan.

Why do you want to marry a kid 32?

- I forgot to say that Eugene was a count.
- He didn't have a nickel.

I would have been Countess...
Countess Edith.

I didn't want my child to be taken away.
I'd be entirely alone.

Do you know what I go through
with this awful stuff?

Listen, I've got to eat lunch. I'm starving.

Well, you know me... always hungry.

I'm not gonna gain the weight back.

I didn't have any breakfast.

I'll put some lipstick on.

You want to give me
something to put on, Edie?

I'm beginning to laugh.

- These are my brother's drawers.
- Give me something to put on.

And I feel so strongly about mementos
and everything because of Mother...

that I was never able to ever clean out
these desk drawers and throw the stuff away.

- Would you believe that?
- You know, it's childhood stuff.

Oh, Edie, yoo-hoo!

What are they called?
"Memorabalia" or something.

- Edie, yoo-hoo!
- I couldn't throw anything away.

- Now, looking at this room.
- Oh, Edie!

Yeah, just a minute.

They discovered something terrific in here.

- Come on. I've waited long enough.
- Is it from Austria?

- Why, what happened?
- Never mind about me.

"The moving finger writes
and, having writ, moves on."

I was going to write
another line from Omar Khayyám:

"We come like water and we go like wind."

Edie, yoo-hoo!

- Well, I got that one up.
- Edie, bring me the telephone.

That's the man. This is the woman.

- I can't tell.
- Are you getting me the blue kimono, Edie?

I'm putting up the silver masks.

Edie, come here a minute. Hurry.

I can't get the thumbtack in the wall.

- I think I have the saddest life.
- Oh, Edie!

I have to go on with
the redecoration of this room.

- Yeah.
- Can you get me something to eat?

All right.

I made this.

Those are roses of all different years.

My shell collection. You can't see it,
it's so dirty. Isn't that tragic?

That's... These...
Then I have two things to go there.

And "Around the World"
is supposed to go there.

Edie, I can't do it.

Open it. I can't do it.

I'm just gonna put that up there 'cause
I like red in this room for some reason.

And I was gonna hang
the birdcage right here...

and have "Around the World" there.

But I haven't gotten to that.

Perhaps I'd better begin taking care of Mother
and bossing her and cooking her some food.

- What do you boys think?
- Bossing her around?

Yeah. I let her do what she wants.

I think maybe I ought to
give her cooked meals at certain hours.

What do you think? I don't have any clock.

You know, I never know what time it is.

You think she'd eat them?

I don't know.
You know her better than anybody.

I give her her head. I let her do
what she wants to do. I think it's awful.

She should eat, you know, chopped meat and
a baked potato at a certain hour for luncheon.

Then have a nice little dinner.

But that takes timing.

No, I'm not ready, and I have no makeup on!

But things are getting better!

Did you find my sign, "in bathtub"?

Right. I couldn't believe it.

Come on in. We're not ready.

- Is that Al down there?
- Yeah.

- Hello, Al.
- Hi.

- Take your time.
- Oh, God! I almost tripped.

I almost broke my neck then.
God, these stairs are dirty.

How could Edie leave these stairs like this?

Don't I look funny
coming down these stairs, hmm?

- No. You look great.
- Don't I? I feel funny.

I feel funny.

- Just like a night at the opera.
- Is it?

The night at the opera will be
when I get in that chair in the dining room.

That would be the night at the opera.

- Mother, Lois and Jack are here!
- Hello, Jack.

Happy birthday!

I say, where's the cushion, Edie?
Get the cushion. I'll ruin my dress.

- Oh, yes. She puts it here.
- Oh, God, and those chairs.

Are they dirty, those chairs. Hello, Jack.

Hi, how are you? Happy birthday.

Well, you're very cute
to celebrate with me today.

- I like you in that costume, Lois.
- Oh, why, thank you.

I see Edie hasn't...
You better not sit on those chairs.

- They look very dirty.
- They can sit on paper.

I thought you were gonna clean up, Edie.

I tried. I swept the, uh, hall.

Well, I'm kind of disapp...
Jack, you don't mind sitting by me, do you?

I swept the floor.
We have wine. I'll bring down the glasses.

Bring down the wine, please.

- And Edie's due... Lois is due ginger ale.
- Okay.

But don't let the cats out.

How do you like that thing
Lois did for me, Jack?

Are your eyes good enough to see that?

- Oh, sure.
- How are your eyes?

She's no waitress, I'll tell ya.

Well, she's got a pretty heavy tray.

Leave the tray here, won't you?
Oh, no, she's not gonna.

She's gonna do just as she wants, you know.

She's a Schrafft's waitress.
They always do just as they want.

Here's to Mother.
May she live to be at least 80.

- Oh, it's one more year. Ha, ha.
- She's in her 79th.

She's in her 79th now... 79th year.

She's gonna tell that
to everybody in East Hampton, you know.

- Well, that's life.
- Everybody's gonna know my age.

- Well, happy birthday.
- Thank you very much, Jack.

- ♪Happy birthday
- Sing me "Happy Birthday." Sing it.

- I sang it.
- Do it again.

- ♪Happy birthday to you
- ♪Happy birthday

- Very good.
- ♪Happy birthday

♪Dear Mother

♪Happy birthday

♪To you

Why do we have to have
paper cups when I wanted my...

I wanted my green goblets with all the gold
on 'em, and she wouldn't bring 'em down.

So disappointed on my birthday.

♪Sugar-free
Diet Pepsi is here

Oh, what a beautiful...
I knew I wanted to look at that cake!

Did you ever see anything like that?

"Happy birthday." Gorgeous!

- Imagine having red...
- That's terrific.

Somebody's calling me, Edie.

- My sister ordered that out of Sag Harbor.
- Hello? Yeah.

Hey, Mother, can you move
your chair a little bit?

Yeah.

This is the first time
we've used the long wire in the dining room.

Oh, hello, Polly.

Thank you, dear.
Are you gonna sing it all the way through?

Listen, I got your beautiful present.

Uh, Edie, have you brought
the present down yet?

I haven't opened any presents.

We're sitting down here
in the so-called old...

- What, dear?
- We haven't opened anything.

There's a great big box up there.

Tremendous box,
but we haven't opened the presents.

Well, you sent me a card. I got that.

I don't think she did send Mother a card.

Michele sent the cards.

I haven't started the cake,
but I'll read you what it says.

It says, uh... What does it say, Jack?

- Happy birthday, Edith.
- Oh, it says, "Happy Birthday, Edith."

- And that's all in red.
- Yes.

And then the flowers underneath are...

Well, yellow flowers and green.

It's a perfectly enormous cake.

Thank you, dear. Hang up.

- Did you say good-bye?
- That's the girl you hated.

- Did you say good-bye?
- Yeah.

Are they having eye trouble?
They freeze your eyes.

- Both of them have been operated.
- They had to have operations.

- They both had two operations.
- And then they weren't good either.

One lost her eye. One girl.

Yeah, the eyes disappeared...
Dried up and disappeared.

She has double vision. She has to wear
dark glasses over the cataract glasses.

She's absolutely cured, Edie!

- She's cured now.
- Did she say she was cured?

She said, "I feel wonderful."

The really nice thing to have
is to get deaf and get blind...

and then have some cancer
come in your face and your lips.

- Cancer?
- Cancer of the tongue or something like that.

- Yeah, cancer is worse.
- Yeah.

You want to open
my little presents and then...

Yeah, I am.
Edie, you ever see anything as cute as this?

A little pad there
you can write your requests on.

I need that more than anything
to write things down.

I have my things written all over boxes,
all over the bed, everywhere.

I got Epstein's address.

I've got... Who have I got there, Edie?

All the electricians in East Hampton.

All of 'em. Isn't
that a nice book, Edie? Look.

Terrific.

I can't be late now and I can't forget.

And I can't hate anybody
and I can't do anything.

The little book is gonna keep me straight.
Straight as a die.

Isn't that nice? I haven't had
a little thing like that in ages.

I had a wonderful time.

Your hands are cold. It
did you no good, my food.

- Oh, no.
- Your hands are cold, lady.

Well, I must be on my course, I guess.

- Good-bye.
- Well, so long, folks.

Thank you for your card and your ice cream.
I love you very much.

Oh, especially the ice cream.

Bring me my yellow cushion, Edie.

- Yeah.
- The cats are in here. Did you know it?

The cats are in with me.

Will you turn the heat off?
It is terribly hot in here.

Your room is terribly dirty.
It's got to be cleaned.

Not tonight, Geraldine.

There's a horrible smell.
I can hardly sit here.

I love that smell.
I thrive on it. Makes me feel good.

We have to hang the portrait
and clean the room.

No! Pull the chair out!
He wants to look at it!

I'm not ashamed of anything.
Where my body is is a very precious place.

It's "concentrated" ground.

Consecrated.

What are they doing? Take a picture of Edie.

I'm trying to think of... Oh, I know what
I can have. Oh, for goodness sakes, he is.

My God.

They see me as...
You know, you don't see me as I see myself.

But you're very good, what you do see me as.

I mean, it's okay.

- Are you pleased with those?
- You know, I see myself as a little girl.

- And all that.
- What I see is a very immature child.

She sees me as a baby, and I see myself
as... some kind of a little girl.

They see me as a woman. I don't see that.

But when I get out of here, I do.

You gonna babble on?

When I go to New York City,
I see myself as a woman.

But in here I'm just, you know,
Mother's little daughter.

I doubt that very much.
You wanna play Al the record I bought you?

Virginia Military lnstitute!

Oh, my God.
I can't get over this. I really can't.

And you can't dance at all.

- Why can't I?
- I never saw you do anything military. Never.

Are you absolutely crazy?
There isn't anything I can't do.

Darling David,
where have you been all my life?

Where have you been?
Where have you been? Where have you been?

Where have you been?

Only thing I needed was this man!

What?

- What did you say?
- All I needed was this man. David!

♪David

I wish I'd had David and Al
with me before this.

Yeah, well, you had your mother.

Yeah.

But they're more interested.

Good Lord. I can't believe it.

It's 145.

Here, kitty,
I got a big, nice piece of white...

Here, kitty.

You like that? That's nice.
No bones on that one.

Oh, that's a pretty song.
"Don't Throw Bouquets at Me."

You know, that was...
I was trying to think of the words to that.

- ♪Bouquet
- ♪No, don't throw

- ♪Bouquets at me
- ♪Bouquets at me

- ♪Don't
- Don't what?

Hurry up. Don't what?

- ♪Your lips to mine
- Oh, no. That's not it.

- No, you're way off the beat there. No.
- ♪Don't

Bad. Go to the bottom of the class.

No, that isn't it.

- ♪You're mine
- No, that isn't it either.

♪People will say

♪We're in love

- Her voice is improving.
- She didn't say "lahve."

You're not Czechoslovakian. "Love."

You don't say "lahve."

You say that...
You see, she knows she sings so badly...

that she has to wiggle
about 20 times to every note...

you see, to distract the people, you know,
but she really can't sing it right.

I can sing like mad.

You sing beautifully.
You're singing incorrectly.

Very ugly.
Always must do everything correctly.

Now start at the top now.

- ♪Don't
- ♪Don't

♪Throw

♪Bouquets at me

- Don't make funny faces.
- ♪My...

Now that's what I want. The next line.

- ♪Are much too much
- Oh, no. Way off there.

No, that's not it.

- ♪Ha har hee
- No.

"Ha har hee" doesn't make up
for a lot of words you can't remember.

- ♪People will say we're in love
- No.

Oh, don't do that omie thing again... "lahve."

Where in hell did you come from?

- I'm going to bed, kids.
- Okay.

I love you very much, both of you.

But, you know, she took
my pillow, and I'm in agony.

Why did you lose my pillow, Edie?

♪I'm warm inside
so I can sleep

♪And then I

♪Want to weep

♪I'm a-getting tired

♪So I can da-da-da

I didn't know you were going to be
so disagreeable.

♪Down around the lamppost

♪In the... something

If I only knew the words. Marlene Dietrich.

♪Down around the lamppost

♪It's Lily Marlene

That's an old war song, Mother.

I tried to get you.
I called and called and called.

- Oh, yeah?
- I guess you went out.

- How's everything?
- Then I called again. You were busy.

- What's going on?
- Guess what's happened.

What?

What I had felt was in the cards.

I'm telling you, I'm not gonna spend
another 10 years with this.

You know, I spent 10 years with the last.

- You mean Tom Logan.
- What is it now?

The Marble Faun is moving in.

- Who is?
- The Marble Faun.

- Jerry?
- Oh.

He just gave us a washing machine.

That cements the deal.
I gotta get out of here.

I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life
washing clothes in that goddamn...

- I don't blame you.
- It's a very nice washing machine.

It came from this house they're gonna sell.

You know, he had a job
as a gardener's assistant at this house.

And they're gonna sell the house,
so they gave him the washing machine.

But he's moving in.

I can't watch him, I'm telling you.

Of course, he's still gonna have
the gardening job, you know.

But I think he gets home at 4:00.

So, Mother says...
Do you wanna come in and speak to Mother?

- She'd like to speak to you.
- Okay.

Come on
in. I'm pulverized by this latest thing.

Well, you do!
You have a beautiful face, like a girl.

Like, you look like my mother.

The absolute image of my mother, Jerry.

Jerry, you're not going
to drink anything, are you?

- No.
- Well, what are you gonna have?

- I'll wait for the chicken.
- You're waiting for the chicken?

You mean to say you're not
gonna have soup or a drink...

or a highball or something like that?

Don't you think we better have some rum?

Oh, no. She didn't put any papers
on that thing today?

I asked her to.
Jerry, I'm badly treated all along.

I think my days at Grey Gardens are limited.

I think my days at Grey Gardens are limited.

- ♪When do we start
- Oh, God, please!

- ♪The scene is set
- Oh, Edie, take that scarf off.

- ♪That I'm in love with you
- Grab that scarf for me.

Oh, Edie, quit it, for God's sake.

There's an extra knife.
I'll put it in the middle. I forgot the forks.

Do you mind getting my slippers, Edie?
Get my slippers.

Will you, please?
You know where you put them.

You have to get very tough with Edie.

She won't do anything
till you get very, very tough.

"A strong hand," says the priest.
Said, "she needs a strong hand."

I said, "I know it. I brought Edie up
without her father. It was very difficult."

Then she went to New York
and did what she wanted to do.

You know, I wanted to get Mr. Beale back
and have him come back.

She said she'd leave the house forever
if I had her father come back.

♪Well, the moon is high

- ♪The breezes sing of it
- Would you bring my little radio?

Edie, will you bring my little radio?
It's on my bed.

Will you bring my little radio, please?

I've got to have some professional music.

She found the slippers.

Quite remarkable.

You got the radio, Edie?

- You got my radio? It's on the bed.
- ♪The night is young

How did you happen to find it so quickly?

Put this up there. Will you, Edie, please?

Put that up there. This thing.

All right, if you're gonna stay there
and eat, I'll eat here.

♪When did we start

Now I'm gonna put that terrible
racket of Edie to bed.

♪And I'm in love

♪With you

- She's always hated Marlene Dietrich.
- I can't stand that music.

She has. She absolutely
loathes Marlene Dietrich.

She makes me very ill.

- ♪The scene is set
- Oh, Edie, I can't take it, Edie.

I'll go right in the other room,
and I won't have any hot food or anything.

Don't do it, Edie! I'll get so mad!

Listen, will you stop it?
I'm going in the other room.

I'm singing it in American.

- I'll never see you again, as long as I live.
- I'm singing it in American.

I don't care. You're not gonna
sing that song. Stop it, will ya?

Why not?

'Cause I don't wanna hear it.
I'm your mother. Remember me?

- Well, I stood for yours all these years.
- Come on.

Well, my voice is beautiful and trained.

It was beautifully trained, my voice.

- I never tried to attract men with it.
- ♪The scene is set

Edie, stop it. I'm going
to get up now. Good-bye.

♪I'm in love with you

I'm going right in the other room
with the cats where I'll be happy.

I'm not gonna take it.
I hope my bathing suit falls off.

I hope it does.
Something fell offjust then.

Get out of here.
Don't make me mad. Get out!

You're making me very angry!
Go out! Go away! Stop!

Why?

- Mother, look at your chest.
- Well, stop it!

- Yeah, but they're gonna photograph it.
- Well, stop it! Stop that silly nonsense!

- Quit it!
- I can't have any fun in this house.

Go away.
You had enough fun all your life.

I've never had a minute's fun.
Not a minute.

- I never had a minute's fun.
- Go away! You don't look it!

Well, you made a rotten breakfast.

Horrible. You spoiled the whole thing.
I can't go over to my seat now.

- There's no back to this bathing suit.
- We won't look.

Mother, do you realize that your whole chest
was showing in that movie?

Everything is perfectly
disgusting on account of you.

You did it. You sure do bring out
the worst in your mother.

I think Mother's very mean to me.

I'm glad I stopped you.

Thank God. I'll have a little peace here.

Yeah, but I do several versions of that.

She's got a beautiful voice,
but you never heard it.

You never heard her voice.
She can really sing decently.

Sings very well. Better voice than I have.

But not that song.

Now sing "Only a Rose," now, Edie.
You ought to be able to do that.

Go on. Sing it.
♪Only a rose

♪Only a rose

♪Another day

♪Only a rose

♪I give you only a rose

- Dying away.
- ♪Dying away

♪Only a rose

To keep in harmony.

- ♪To keep in harmony
- ♪To keep in harmony

♪Only...

I don't think there's any point
in my meeting anybody...

that doesn't like music,
do you, Mother?

'Cause I can't stand them.
Finally, I can't stand them.

There's something lacking,
and it's music, isn't it?

I mean, in a man.

Well, it is nice to have a man
who can play the piano for you.

- No, that isn't all. She doesn't get it.
- Then you can practice.

Unless a man understands music,
there's no point in my even meeting him...

'cause I never could
figure out what was wrong...

you know, with stockbrokers
and tennis players and...

I tell you who was a songwriter and a dancer
and a playwright and everything.

Eugene Tyszkiewicz.
But Mother got rid of him in 15 minutes.

He couldn't speak English well.
He'd only been here seven years.

You didn't try his cooking.
He might've poisoned you.

- He was Serge Obelensky's nephew.
- You wanna marry a stranger?

I mean, he was a very, very decent guy.

I looked up his horoscope.
He was born November the 14th.

You want to marry a stranger?

- I have to go in now.
- He was a very wonderful boy.

- Too young for me, probably... 32.
- Who was this?

Eugene Tyszkiewicz. He was a twin.

I couldn't stand having
another cook in this house.

That isn't the point.

And he actually proposed,
under the window.

He had no home. He was living
in a third-class hotel.

Under the window.

He didn't have a thing.

He said, "Edith, if you want
to get married, I'll marry you."

- Not one single nickel.
- And I think that was decent, don't you?

- I don't see why.
- He probably wouldn't have, but just the same.

Not one person had entered
Grey Gardens for many years...

before Eugene Tyszkiewicz came around.

So I credit him
with all the nerve in the world.

Why, no one would even speak to us.

People that I had walked
to the Maidstone Club with for years.

- Don't believe a word of it.
- Admiring all the other people.

- Don't believe a word of it, kid. Not a word.
- All the other people...

If your father could hear you,
he'd turn in his grave.

He'd say, "My God, Edie!"

Well, anyway,
I think you were very cruel, Mother.

I don't think he's nice.

He came from one of the best
families in Poland.

And he was related to the Obelenskys.

And I think it's terrible that she wouldn't
give me a chance with Eugene Tyszkiewicz.

That was absolutely cruel
to drive the only beau away!

But he was 32!

- Do you want to marry a man 32?
- I don't care!

That was the only one besides these
horrible people that came around here!

- Have you got your thing lighted for that?
- Yeah, we're all lit.

- He was only 32 and from a very good family!
- 32, and she's 52!

- And she got rid of him in 15 minutes flat!
- No, he didn't. He said...

I'm bored with all these awful people
like Jerry, and all those people!

That wasn't the truth. No.

Tell him the truth. That was not the truth.

Uh, no, and that was not the truth.

He said, "How could such a warm,
lovely person over the telephone...

turn into anything so cold?"

That's what he said right down on the porch.

So I said... l said, "You'd better go home."
Never said good-bye or anything.

"How could such a warm, lovely woman over
the telephone turn into something so cold?"

I thought that was just a little too much.

Uh, I'll tell you the whole thing.
You might as well face it.

It's my mother's house, and she owns it...

and she wanted the people
she wanted in it...

and she didn't want the people
that I wanted in it.

But God knows whom I wanted in it.

I mean, besides Eugene...

and mother wouldn't allow Eugene
to stay even 15 minutes.

But I had to spend 10 years with Tom Logan.

And now we have Jerry,
who is Mother's friend.

So, you just can't do anything about it.

So I can see now why girls get married.

You know, they're forced into it.

It's all a question
of who you want to stay with.

Of course, I'm mad about animals, but raccoons
and cats become a little bit boring.

I mean, for too long a time.

I don't know.

I don't know.
I better check on Mother and the cats.

She's a lot of fun. I hope she doesn't die.

I hate to spend the winter here though.
Oh, God.

Another winter.

Very depressing,
you know, when winter sets in here.

You know, 'cause I don't like the country,
and I don't want to be here.

Any little rat...

Any little rat's nest in New York...

any little mouse hole,
any little rat hole...

even on 10th Avenue, I would like better.

♪Beneath the moon
and the sun

♪Too near or far

♪No matter, darling
where you are

♪I think of you

♪Night and day

♪Silence
of my lonely room

♪I think of you

♪The magic

♪Of dreams come true