Little Edie Film Analysis

Since their conception, documentaries have strived to broadcast intriguing and captivating stories, pushing the boundaries of cultural norms and comfort zones. In 1972, Albert and David Maysles stumbled upon a fascinating tale of a mother and daughter inhabiting a dilapidated Long Island mansion, Grey Gardens, which later became the title of the film. Lee Radziwill, the sister of former First Lady Jackie Kennedy, approached the filmmakers in hopes of capturing the haunts of her childhood (Sutton, 2014), but the lens quickly shifted from Radziwill to her aunt, Edith “Big Edie” Beale, and cousin, “Little Edie.” The film falls within the participatory mode of documentary, which focuses on, “the interaction between the filmmaker and subject” (Nichols 2010, pg. 31). Dialogue between the filmmakers and the women classifies as diegetic sound, as it, “has a source in the story world” (Bordwell, Smith, Thompson 2016, pg. 285). The film relies mostly on this type of sound, other than sporadic non-diegetic background music. As a participatory film, the directors control elements of the mise-en-scene, such as the setting, costumes, and figure behavior, to their advantage. In the Maysles …show more content…
In the finished project, viewers can hear the brothers commenting on photos and answering the women’s questions. The men include snippets of their voices to remind the audience that, while they may film like flies on the wall, they act as guides for the Beale women, steering them to say and do what will elicit the greatest reaction. Their participation acts as a disclaimer; the Beale women speak freely, but realize the cameras roll along, morphing them from real people into a presentation of themselves. The women may exaggerate their star-struck past and plights of the present for the cameras, but overall, the film features the disappointing truth of these women’s