Female
Trouble (1974)
"'Pink
Flamingos' was a hard act to follow. I knew that if
I tried to top the shit-eating scene in 'Pink Flamingos,'
I'd end up being 70 years old and making films about
people eating designer colostomy bags. All my humor
is based on nervous reactions to anxiety-provoking situations,
so I wanted the ideals rather than the action of 'Female
Trouble' to be horrifying" - John Waters
This was
John Waters' first film after his huge underground success
with "Pink Flamingos" in 1972 and it's obvious from
the start that he made it from a position of cult super-stardom.
The opening credits immediately show this - they are
much more professional than anything Waters had used
in his films before. The film isn't, by any means, as
commercial or as slick as any of his later films like
"Hairspray" (1988) or "Cry-Baby" (1990) but it is more
commercial in appearances than "Flamingos." In fact,
it looks better than "Desperate Living" (his next film
in 1977).
This is
also Waters' first film with a real linear storyline
and he sets the film to span over 14 years from 1960
into (and beyond?) 1974. Divine stars as Dawn Davenport,
beginning as a hair-hopper teen (there are many similarities
to "Hairspray" in this early segment), whose whole life
revolves around flunking out of school and getting a
pair of "cha-cha heels" for Christmas. Waters films
the opening sequence in what appears to be an actual
school. His position as a filmmaker has obviously progressed
past the "stolen shot." Divine is hilarious for the
first hour of this movie chewing up scenery (and umbilical
cords), starring in a segment where (dressed as a man
and as Divine) she/he rapes herself (using a double
named Sally Turner to help, of course), and fighting
with her snotty daughter. As always, Divine is at her
best when she rambles incessantly about her beauty and
herself; This film is no exception and we don't get
tired of it until deep into the film.
But, back
to the plot: At first, Waters finds a wonderful young
actress to play Dawn's daughter Taffy. The youngster
he employees here is a gem. This is the kid that should
have played Adore in John Schlesinger's "The Day of
the Locust." Later, in another stroke of genius, the
teen Taffy is played, hilariously, by the always dependable
Mink Stole. Divine and Stole are perfectly repulsive
here fighting endlessly (verbally and physically) and
making everyone else in the film lucky enough to do
a scene with them seem like a great performer, including
Michael Potter as Gator, who, with his sexy gap-toothed
smile, is perfectly cast as Divine's husband. Unlike
Tab Hunter (who starred with Divine in "Polyester" and
"Lust in the Dust"), this guy has incredible chemistry
with the huge drag queen.
Edith Massey,
who has a wonderful time here and creates a character
that makes a wonderful transition between The Egg Lady
from "Flamingos" to Queen Carlotta from "Desperate Living,"
gets the most uproarious scenes in the film as she begs
her nephew Gator, before he marries Divine, to make
her proud and become a "fag" - after all he is a hairdresser.
But of course, Gator is hopelessly straight. The whole
schtick is a hoot even though Waters and Potter ruin
it later when Gator is outright cruel to a homosexual,
even if he is a simpering Nellie queen. Still, Waters,
always one to exploit anything controversial for his/our
delight, sends up social mores to a new height here
with this line of dialogue between Massey and Potter.
It's a moment in cinematic history that may never be
equaled.
David Lochary
and Mary Vivian Pearce, two actors who -like Divine
and Stole - had been in Waters' films from pretty much
the very beginning and were part of his clique in Baltimore
(his hometown and the setting for all his films), have
little fun as Mr & Mrs. Dasher. As proprietors of a
beauty salon for a select, "special" clientele and proponents
of the idea that crime and beauty go hand in hand, their
revelation becomes the film's theme. But Waters ruins
any joviality they might have by making them incurably
frigid. Of course, this is more perverse than having
them get off (sexually) on Divine's antics but it doesn't
make it any fun. This may be the only flaw within the
film until the final reel.
Still,
Waters' film is almost always fun to watch with Vince
Peranio's sets sometimes stealing the show and becoming
the real star of the film. The grotesque, campy beauty
of the actors only serve to further enhance those same
wonderful qualities in the surroundings. Divine's house
(actually Waters apartment) is just too much and it
only gets better after Lochary and Pearce redecorate.
Of course, Peranio has little control over the school
and (later) the courtroom settings yet the actor's rare
beauty cover for him here. Of course, if you can watch
the film without consistently noticing the wallpaper
and props around many of the scenes, you should get
your eyes examined.
Eventually,
"Female Trouble" loses momentum and gets quite dreary
in the end. Waters paints himself into a proverbial
corner, much like he does in "Serial Mom" (1994) and
let's his story evolve into something much too realistic
as he moves the plot into a courtroom setting. Much
like the later film, the courtroom scene here is long,
dull and totally devoid of humor. Waters lets the comic
unrealism become hopelessly real and the result is a
grinding halt to any moment he may have built up. Oddly,
this is the same direction and result that "Serial Mom"
takes so it's unfathomable why Waters let the later
film repeat the mistake he made here, early in his career.
But here,
unlike "Serial Mom," Waters has an ace in the hole:
His marvelous ending; A visual homage to the creative
endings The Beatles experimented with a few years earlier
audibly, the final sequence here is a masterpiece that,
curiously, expounds upon the mayhem we have witnessed
in the film and pointedly expounds upon the theme of
crime and criminals in American society and the havoc
they wreck in their lives. A strong point to this theme
is how these criminals can become deluded media stars.
This was a new concept in the 70's and one that Waters
usually exploited, the results sometimes bordering on
sickness, with careless abandon. But here he contemplates
the fate of the criminal and ends the film with a startling
moment that pointedly leaves us thinking. It's quite
a remarkable climax in a film that shows no predisposition
to do this that comes from a filmmaker with the same
wont.
"Female
Troubles," Waters' first film from the position of super-stardom,
is another masterpiece from the man who made trashiness
a cinematic treat. No one will ever be able to equal
the statement that Waters made in the 70's with his
low-budget masterpieces. He created a whole genre that,
even in 1994, no one is even exploring on a miniscule
level, including Waters himself; He has moved on to
much more commercial, but increasingly less successful
films. But "Female Troubles" remains Waters' most self-conscience
film. It's final thought may startle and confound those
who expect only mindless fun from the filmmaker. Those
who are apt to think a little more about his films will
find a substance here than exists in no other work by
this cinematic trendsetter.
Note: This
film was again tagged with the line "A Dreamland Production,"
an early moniker for Waters' films.
Waters
made the film for $25,000.
Divine
sings the title song. Waters wrote the lyrics. Divine
would later go on to enjoy a recording career with many
of her songs becoming cult and club favorites.
Many of
the cast had other jobs on the film. Lochary worked
on hairstyles. Stole took some photo stills, and conversely,
Production Chief Pat Moran also had a role in the film.
Also starring
Cookie Mueller and Susan Lowe, two more of Waters' regulars.
Costumes
and Make Up by Van Smith, Special Effects by Ed Peranio.
In additions
to being the title song lyricist, Waters edited, produced,
directed and filmed the picture.
Divine
took trampoline lessons at the YMCA in order to film
the nightclub act scene.
The scene
in which Divine swims across a small river evading the
police was cut from the 35mm (commercial) print of the
film but remained in the 16mm (non-commercial) print
which played in many colleges. The scene appears in
the videotape version released by Continental Video.
The baby
in the childbirth scene was Susan Lowe's newborn just
home from the hospital.
The film
is dedicated to Charles ("Tex") Watson, a Manson family
member who Waters wrote to and later befriended in prison.
Watson made the wooden police helicopter that appears
in the frame with the dedication.
The prison
scenes were filmed in the Baltimore City Jail. The warden
was a fan and even allowed Waters to show the finished
film to the prison population. Waters writes about the
making of this film in his book "Shock Treatment." He
also writes about his experiences with prisons and criminals
in that book as well as his book "Crackpot."
The film
mentions Richard Speck several times. As is his wont,
Waters exposes his morbid curiousity with crime by mentioning
a serial killer. Speck is, in fact, considered America's
first mass murderer. He killed 8 nurses in Chicago in
the late 60's. One of Speck's lawyers wrote about the
case in a book called "Crime of the Century."
The working
title for the film was "Rotten Mind, Rotten Face."
Divine's
real name was Harris Glenn Milstead. He only appeared
as a man occasionally, playing dual roles here as well
as in Waters' "Hairspray" (his last role) before his
death in 1988. He played as a man in Alan Rudolph's
"Trouble in Mind" in 1985. In reviewing Divine's performance
in "Female Trouble" for his book "Guide for the Film
Fanatic," Danny Peary said of the actor, "Verbally,
facially and physically no female has seemed so confident
about her beauty since Mae West."
The late
Massey worked in a bar in Baltimore when Waters discovered
her. After appearing in many of his films, she opened
a thrift store and toured the country singing in a punk
band.
Lochary
died of complications after overdosing on angel dust
after making this film. Waters, distraught over the
loss of his friend, made his next film ("Desperate Living")
center around females.
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