Female Trouble
If the opening credits end with a dedication to a member of Manson’s Family, and one of the very first scenes features a teenage protagonist kicking up a row during the Christmas dinner, destroying the present and toppling the tree on her own mother, there is no doubt about it: it’s a John Waters flick. The middle part of the famous Trash Trilogy(which also includes Pink Flamingos and Desperate Living), Female Trouble is both a parody of the family melodrama and a subversive tale of crime and fame. The story of Dawn Davenport (played by Divine), who seeks applause by committing increasingly elaborate offences, is a typically Watersian provocation. The director first makes the audience laugh until they cry, only to challenge their well-being a moment later. In Female Trouble, using the example of Dawn’s relationship with her fans, the director argues that in practice, a seemingly innocent fascination with excesses, violence and transgression is tantamount to complicity in crime.
phot. © 1974 WBEI
John Waters
Born in 1946 in Baltimore, Maryland. Since childhood interested in macabre and black humour, he completed one semester of a film school in New York. His amateur films shot with friends exhibited conscious violation of moral and aesthetic standards (Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs). His Pink Flamingos was a great commercial success, enabling him to make higher-budget movies, the most popular of which was Hairspray, adapted to a Brodway musical and to a high-budget remake with John Travolta. Waters is also a stand-up comedian and actor appearing in films of his friends.
Selected filmography
1969 Mondo Trasho
1970 Multiple Maniacs
1972 Różowe flamingi / Pink Flamingos
1974 Kobiece kłopoty / Female Trouble
1988 Lakier do włosów / Hairspray
1994 W czym mamy problem? / Serial Mom
Cast & Crew
