John Waters' Polyester
Directed by:
John WatersScreenplay:
John WatersCinematography:
David InsleyComposer:
Michael KamenCast:
Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, David Samson, Mink Stole, Mary Garlington, Ken King, Mary Vivian Pearce, Nancy Morgan, George Stover, Stiv Bators, Jean Hill (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
For his first studio picture, filth maestro John Waters took advantage of his biggest budget yet to allow his muse Divine to sink his teeth into a role unlike any he had played before: Baltimore housewife Francine Fishpaw, a heroine worthy of a Douglas Sirk melodrama. Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine turns to the bottle as her life falls apart—until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow (vintage heartthrob Tab Hunter). Enhanced with Odorama™ technology that enables you to scratch and sniff along with Francine, Polyester is one of Waters’ most hilarious inventions, replete with stomach-churning smells, sadistic nuns, AA meetings, and foot stomping galore. (Criterion)
(more)Reviews (1)
Polyester is a portrait of a suburban American family that becomes dysfunctional from one day to the next. The daughter is an idiot, the son an aggressive pervert, the dad an unscrupulous boor and the mother a good-hearted, hysterical mouse who is dependent on all of them. Waters’ bizarre film, which has gained cult status in certain circles, is entertaining with its bizarre microcosm of characters, but without the endearingly over-the-top distastefulness that he served up in Pink Flamingos, it doesn’t leave such a distinctive mark.
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