Divorce! Abortion! Adultery! Alcoholism! Pornography! Christianity! Foot fetishism! Nuns! Polyester bravely tackles the big issues! Filmed in scratch’n’sniff Odorama and featuring the single greatest comedy double act in cinema history (Divine and Edith Massey), John Water’s delirious black comedy Polyester was released 45 years ago today (29 May 1981). In terms of Waters’ oeuvre, Polyester comes after dystopian lesbian-punk nightmare Desperate Living (1977). There followed a lengthy gap until he made Hairspray in 1988. Polyester can be viewed as a transitional work between Waters’ ultra-raunchy earlier shockers and the relatively more polished and accessible bigger-budgeted films from Hairspray onward. Polyester was the first Waters film to receive an R rating (all his previous ones were slapped with an X). An affectionate parody of Douglas Sirk-style 1950s “women’s pictures”, Polyester sees plus-size drag monster / leading lady Divine cast against type as long-suffering suburban housewife Francine Fishpaw. “I’m a good Christian woman!” Francine wails at one point. “She weighs 300 pounds and is an alcoholic! She eats an entire cake at one sitting. You should see her stretch marks!” Francine’s boorish husband Elmer unchivalrously notes. “She's the hairiest woman I've ever laid eyes on!" Divine never “phoned-in” a performance in his life, but his depiction of Francine’s anguished descent into alcoholism and nervous collapse is an acting tour de force. Polyester is particularly notable for romantically partnering Divine with 1950s heartthrob Tab Hunter (he also croons the theme tune, with lyrics by Chris Stein and Deborah Harry of Blondie!) and for being Massey’s final appearance (as cleaning lady-turned-debutante Cuddles Kovinsky) in a Waters movie. My favourite line: Francine’s shrewish mother La Rue (Joni Ruth White), struggling to make small talk with Cuddles, asks, “Scrubbed any interesting toilets lately?” Now sing along with me: “You know about abundant women / Well, this girl only aims to please / Outside there's a load of noisy neighbours / Upstairs there's a polyester squeeze …”
