THE NEW YORK TIMES
Friday, October 8, 1982

Metrocosms’ Series Starts With a Connecticut Couple

At 11 Sunday night, Channel 13 is introducing a local project called “Metrocosms.” For at least the next six weeks, locally produced films and tapes made by independents will explore “the many worlds within our metropolitan world,” as a press release puts it. Going right to the economic top and most exclusive, the series begins with Greenaway, a portrait of a Connecticut couple living on a private island off Greenwich, Conn. The Gilberts had six children and one, Sue Gilbert, is the producer of this unusual project, which is “dedicated to my mother, whose spirit made the film possible.”

Greenaway is seen as an enchanted, magical place, secluded but not isolated. It contained a world of privilege and elegance. The children had nannies and nurses as the parents traveled around the world. And one dressed for dinner. Mrs. Gilbert explains that she likes drama – “If you simply wear the same thing all day long, you don’t punctuate.”

The portrait is always threatening to disintegrate into caricature as the Gilberts expound their views of life, particularly that “they” – the Socialists and the Communists – are talking over. But in the end, responding candidly to no-nonsense questions, they emerge as sympathetic, even admirable defenders of a past that did have its virtues. The result is thoroughly absorbing.

Comments

As an educator with over 35 years in the classroom, I know the importance of helping kids make real-world connections to the literature they read. Greenaway is a brilliant companion piece to The Great Gatsby. From the opening shot of the island’s East Egg isolation to East Egg dinner traditions, it offers honest, candid, and unrehearsed connections to Fitzgerald’s American Dream masterpiece.
- Marcia Wright, educator, Staples High School, Westport, CT

My wife and I were glued to Greenaway. Well produced with interviews that felt intimate and honest. It must have been a challenge to interview your own family, but the story never seems too cute or overly sentimental. Kudos to you for finding a good crew and getting the fab helicoptor shots, etc… when your Mom started talking about LSD therapy…wow! That really took me by surprise.
- Kevin Tomlinson, director/producer, BACK TO THE GARDEN

“…a labor of unconditioned yet thoughtfully examined love.”
“…a magical film.”
- Charles Schott, family friend

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