Female Trouble - DVD Review

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

Two Discs (See Pink Flamingos review for first disc)
1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Dolby Digital 2.0
English Subtitles
Theatrical Trailer
Director's Cut
Audio Commentary
Run Time: 97 Minutes
Foldout Case

MOVIE
Rated NC-17 for language, drug use, and lots of sex and nudity.

I got Female Trouble on accident. I'd never read about it, I'd never heard of it. When I got my bootleg copy of Pink Flamingos from fellow film geek Rob, he said he'd dubbed some other Waters films for me. These others were Mondo Trasho that I still won't watch again, Multiple Maniacs, his most vile and offensive film to date, and Female Trouble. I was surprised by it, and shocked, and amused. Surprised mostly because of how much more I enjoyed it than Pink Flamingos. I mean that was supposed to be it, the end all be all. It wasn't. This one was. Long before I ever glimpsed the brilliance of Desperate Living, I got John's other early satire and was thrilled. First of all, the most noticeable difference between the two films was the fact that, while Pink Flamingos had a plot, it wasn't at all coherent; Female Trouble, on the other hand, not only had a coherent plot, but an ambitious plot, an epic story.
Divine plays Dawn Davenport (this film was made when John was still thrilled with the use of alliteration in names.) Dawn's a juvenile delinquent when we meet her, in high school, causing trouble by eating in class, starting fights and things of that ilk. She's pushed over the edge when, on Christmas, she doesn't get the cha-cha heels she wants because her mother thinks "Nice girls don't wear cha-cha heels!" Enraged, Dawn kills her mother by knocking the Christmas tree over on her, then runs away. She's picked up by Earl (also Divine) who takes her to a vacant lot and rapes her on a dirty mattress. Dawn's had one bad day. She's left alone to raise her daughter Taffy (Mink Stole) and finds solace at a Beauty Parlor run by Donald and Donna Dasher (David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pearce.) The dashers tell Dawn that she's destined for fame and that crime is beauty.
The film is still gross. All you have to do is see Edith Massey topless to realize that. But it's ideas are the offensive thing this time. John said he quickly realized he couldn't top Pink Flamingos for gross out so he didn't even try, instead he went a different route, leading to his two brilliant early satires. This one, satirizing the glory of being a criminal is the perfect vehicle for Divine, one that gives him ample opportunity to stretch his acting chops in a way he hadn't been allowed to. In both Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs, he played a character named Divine that was obviously just him being himself in a ridiculously over the top manner. In Pink Flamingos, he played Babs Johnson, but at the end revealed that Babs Johnson was just a pseudonym for Divine. Finally, though, Waters has given him a character other than the character they created of Divine and he shines. He's believable at every stage of Dawn's development, even as a teenager in high school (Divine was nearly thirty at this point.) Still one of the most enjoyable of early Waters films, I'll caveat that, the nudity and sex in this film is plentiful and not always pretty. If you're one of those strange people who sexual expression bothers, by all means don't see it. But if you got past the chicken scene (I won't say more, if you've seen it, you know it) in Pink Flamingos, you'll make it through.

VIDEO QUALITY 3
Female Trouble, while not as good looking as Pink Flamingos or Desperate Living has still been vastly improved from previous releases. The film is blown up to 35mm from 16mm, once again approved by Waters so, it is a different aspect ratio from the original at 1.85:1, but it looks good this way, and there's little of the blowup problems that often result, such as heads and feet getting chopped off. Since it didn't have the big re-release of Pink Flamingos, the picture hasn't been as carefully cleaned. But as with Pink Flamingos, I doubt it'll ever look better.

AUDIO QUALITY 3
Again we have a fairly unimpressive Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track. The sound design in the film itself has drastically improved over Pink Flamingos, less muffled and clear even when multiple people are talking at once. The dialogue is clear though sometimes hot. The music, including the opening song, pushes out the dimensions of the track nicely.

EXTRAS 3
Well, not an extra, but this is the full European release of the film, John Waters' director's cut. So several additional scenes are present. Other than that, we have Waters' commentary on a film that he still thinks is his finest achievement as far as story and script. He spends much of the movie laughing at his achievements and commenting on the improved look and equipment over Pink Flamingos. He says he prefers this one. So do I.

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Fans of the Farrely Brothers, do yourselves a favor and pick up some of these films to see just what they've been trying to do all this time and, as far as you're concerned, succeeding at. John does it effortlessly, and this is more proof of that. This film is proof of his talent as a satirist and that the Pope of Puke title is just an honorary one.

Go to The John Waters Collection, Volume 3 (Part I - Pink Flamingos)