night falls on
Female
Trouble
1974
Directed by John Waters and starring Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pierce, Mink Stole and Edith Massey
Female Trouble is, without question, John Waters' most hilarious story and Divine's best acted leading role ever. Plus-sized, teenage bad girl, Dawn Davenport (Divine) is called an "habitual liar" by her teacher, antagonized by her more WASPy classmates and frequently cuts class, smokes, and passes notes. Clearly, school is not one of Dawn's priorities. But it's Christmas, and getting the present she wants (a pair of black cha-cha heels) definitely IS a priority. Come Christmas morning, Dawn gets a pair of shoes, but NOT the ones she wanted. All hell soon breaks loose. "I hate you FUCK YOU! Fuck you both you awful people!", she wails as she runs bawling into the street still in her nightie and fuzzy slippers. She hitch-hikes a ride with some lowlife named Earl Peterson (also played by Divine) and they stop in an empty lot for a quickie. During the very loud, but very well-filmed encounter, Dawn helps herself to Earl's wallet. Months later, a very pregnant Dawn contacts Earl Peterson, who isn't exactly overjoyed and gives her his advice. "Get the hook--go fuck yourself for all I care!", he barks. Later, Dawn goes back to her room at the Hotel Albion and gives birth to daughter Taffy.
Over the next decade Dawn embarks on a bizarre career path involving positions as a waitress, go-go dancer, hooker and mugger. During those years, Taffy has become the same kind of whiny, bratty miserable kind of ten-year old her mother surely was herself. Taffy isn't as dumb as she looks, however, and enjoys making her mother miserable by jumping rope loudly and being obnoxious. But Dawn gets the last laugh by chaining Taffy to her bed and groaning "I don't know what I was thinking about when I had her!" to her childhood friends Chiclet and Concetta. "That child is becoming a monster, you can't imagine! Whining and demanding attention day and night!". The girls encourage Dawn ("I'm glad I had an abortion!" Concetta yawns) and advise her to get her hair done in order to feel better. Dawn takes their advice and heads to the Lipstick Beauty Salon, owned by the snobby and eccentric couple, Donald and Donna Dasher (David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pierce). It is there she meets and falls in love with a hairdresser named Gator.
Gator lives with his Aunt Ida who has an unhealthy obsessive desire for him to be gay. "I worry that you'll work in an office, have children, celebrate wedding anniversaries...the world of a heterosexual is a sick and boring life!". But Gator is hooked on Dawn and they soon marry. Ida is livid and attacks the preacher at the wedding while wearing the same outfit in which she appears to the left. Consumed with hatred for Dawn, Ida constantly taunts her and makes life difficult for our heroine. Five years after marrying, Ida gets her wish as Gator and Dawn divorce. But Gator decides to move to Detroit "to find happiness within the auto industry" instead of back home with his Aunt Ida. Ida, who blames Dawn for Gator leaving, crashes Dawn's dinner party that night. "I got something for your face, motherfucker!" screams Ida, splashing a container of hydrochloric acid into Dawn's face. The Dashers, who were already set on using Dawn to conduct a "beauty experiment", kidnap Ida and convince Dawn that she is now the perfect candidate to prove their theory that the more severe a criminal act is committed, the more beautiful one becomes. Dawn, mentally and emotionally unstable since her teens, jumps at the chance for instant fame, committing crimes and eventually taking her revenge on Ida by chopping off her hand with an axe. Taffy, alarmed by the goings-on tries to find her father for help, only to discover he is a drunk and a pervert. In a rage, Taffy stabs him to death and runs away to join the Hare Krishnas. The Dashers, meanwhile, have been lavishing money and gifts on Dawn as they prepare her for her nightclub act which is meant to catapult her to fame. On opening night, Taffy shows up at Divine's dressing room, urging her to go to the Krishna temple and leave behind her life of squalor. Dawn snaps and strangles Taffy to death, then goes onstage and begins a shooting rampage. Quite insane by this point, but no less thrilled with her new celebrity status, Dawn stands trial. Ida and the Dashers have conspired to frame Dawn, however and her inept public defender is only a speed bump on Dawn's path to the electric chair for the climactic ending. Despite occasional mega-grossness, Trouble makes at least two interesting points about American society. The most obvious is that we do glamorize criminals. OJ, Kunanan, Dahmer, Manson and many more all received ridiculous amounts of airtime and are still being talked about to this day. Dawn was probably rightwhen she screams to the jury "Look at me! I'm the most famous person you've ever seen!" Certainly, to some present, that would remain true as long as they lived.
Another societal phenom Waters exploits is the young mother, unintended, unwilling and unable to be a good parent. "Can't you just sit there and look out into the air? Isn't that enough? Do you always have to badger me for attention?!?" Unwanted pregnancy is always something to laugh at in a John Waters movie! Just ask characters Lulu ("I'm getting an abortion and I can't wait!") and Sondra ("Children would only get in the way of our EROTIC lifestyle!") from his later hit film and first major studio release, Polyester.
This is easily one the most entertaining films you will ever see, despite the low production values and somewhat bad acting. The costumes, the makeup, the incredible dialogue and vicious rants that only Waters could write and only the Dreamland cast could execute make this a very funny cult mainstay. As far as I know, this film remains out of print AND would certainly merit an X rating from the censorship office, but I was able to order a copy online from a Canadian company called videoflicks.com. |
