Polyester (film)
| Polyester | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | John Waters |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | John Waters |
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| Music by | |
| Cinematography | David Insley |
| Edited by | Charles Roggero |
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Production
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| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
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Release date
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Running time
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86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $300,000 |
Polyester is a 1981 American black comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. It was filmed in Waters' native Baltimore, Maryland, and features a gimmick called "Odorama", whereby viewers could smell what they saw on screen through scratch and sniff cards.
The film is a satirical look at suburban life involving divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, foot fetishism, and the Religious Right.
The life of fat housewife Francine Fishpaw (Divine) is crumbling around her in her middle-class suburban Baltimore home. Her husband, Elmer (David Samson), is a polyester-clad lout who owns an X-rated theater, causing anti-pornography protesters to picket the Fishpaws' house. She also states that "all the neighborhood women spit at me" whenever she is at the shopping mall. Francine's children are Lu-Lu (Mary Garlington), her spoiled, slutty daughter, and Dexter (Ken King), her delinquent, glue-sniffing son who derives illicit pleasure from stomping on women's feet. Also adding to Francine's troubles is her snobby, class-conscious, cocaine-snorting mother, La Rue (Joni Ruth White), who robs Francine blind and only cares about her "valuable shopping time."
Francine seeks solace in her best friend, Cuddles Kovinsky (Edith Massey), an independently wealthy, simple-minded woman and the world's oldest debutante. Cuddles was once the Fishpaws' housekeeper, but she inherited a large sum of money from a very affluent family that she used to work for, and has befriended Francine. This infuriates La Rue, who admonishes Francine, "She was a scrub-woman. Give her... car fare...a ham at Easter, but for God's sake, don't hang around with her!" Cuddles tries to cheer Francine with "seize-the-day" bromides, to no avail.
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Wikipedia