Poor Francine Fishpaw. Her husband owns a porno theater. Her
son is a foot fetishist who gets off on stomping the shoes of unsuspecting
women. Her daughter suffers from some sort of wiggling syndrome. Francine’s
grim existence encapsulates the worst of being a twentieth century housewife. Could
salvation from that existence be the possibility of romance with dashing Todd
Tomorrow? Or does disappointment and madness await Francine?
John Waters’s Polyester
is both a parody of Douglas Sirk’s classically overwrought melodramas of the
fifties and an awkward bridge between Waters’s early gross out movies and the
relatively mainstream likes of Hairspray
and Serial Mom. It is awkward because
Waters has trouble striking the right tone for this comic-tragedy. It is at its
best when going for straight comedy in the director’s usual over-the-top vein.
No one nails that tone better than Mary Garlington as incessantly squirming
daughter Lu-Lu. Strangely, it’s Waters mainstay Divine who seems to have the
most trouble acclimating. Tasked with playing the only normal character for
once, Divine bounces between moments of somewhat-sincere soap opera acting and
grotesque over-acting to portray Francine’s ugly decent into madness. I prefer
to see Divine throwing Cha-Cha heels tantrums to sobbing into a hankie, thank
you very much.
That Waters’s script also puts his leading lady through the
wringer makes the film feel unusually cruel, especially since we-the-audience
are expected to laugh at her trials. There was loads of nastiness in Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Desperate Living, but those pictures
were fun because one could always sense that Waters sympathized with and liked
his lead characters. That empathy feels lacking in Polyester, which is uneasy viewing as the Godfather of Puke’s most
depressing flick.
Yet, Polyester is
still essential viewing because its William Castle-esque gimmick is so
priceless. Waters made the movie in “Odorama”…which means audience members are
instructed to inhale little, numbered scratch-and-sniff cards at various stinky
points in the movie.
Your very own Odorama card is packaged in the Criterion
Collection’s new edition of Polyester.
Waters is not exactly known for his cinematography, so don’t expect Polyester to knock your cha-cha heels
off, but it still looks excellent for what it is: free of dirt and damage with
nice color. It also comes packed with more extras than that Odorama card. There
are deleted scenes and alternate takes culled from the original film elements.
There is a Polyester-focused excerpt
from Jeffrey Schwarz’s wonderful documentary I Am Divine. There is a 30-minute selection of period promo
interviews with cast members and the director, and most momentous of all, a new
38-minute chat between the always delightful Waters and the Village Voice’s (RIP) Michael Musto.
Waters’s feature commentary and the “Dreamland Memories” featurette have also
been ported over from Criterion’s Polyester
laser disc from 1993. Plus, the cover art is an absolute gas.
