Female Trouble: Trouble with a capital "T" that rhymes with "P" that stands for Pool

            Female Trouble (1974) is one of several films directed by John Waters and starring Divine that depict violence and sex so candidly that this is the first NC-17 rated film I’ve had the pleasure(?) of seeing. This was also one of the hardest films to watch as I was cringing through most of it and looking away at other times. Reasons for this being that I found the cinematography just as abhorrent as the grotesque visuals that I did see clearly.

But to his credit, if I’m cringing at the sight of horrible people doing horrible things to other people then I guess John Water’s point has been made. And he gets this across while on a shoestring budget and the power of Divine and much like Natural Born Killers describes the rise to fame of criminals to celebrity status. I however don’t think Dawn Davenport (Divine) was as big of a star as she claims to be. Does she really get to be such a big celebrity that the whole nation goes bonkers for? She only appears to be just a local celebrity only being famous in her own neighborhood in Baltimore and only drawing a small fanbase. By the end she’s delusional but it’s the culmination of an entire film saying she’s always been like this. 

Unlike Natural Born Killers, where I’ve stated that by the end there is hope for Mickey and Mallory as well as having my sympathy for how dreadful their early lives were. Dawn gets no such sympathy. What’s the moment that sends her down this dark path, not getting a pair of shoes for christmas. While her parents are seen as loving individuals who at least try to understand their daughter, Mallory gets abusive parents and a sexual predator for a dad to boot and has reason to do what she does with Mickey. Wrong but understandable. Dawn’s pettiness is her downfall and any chance of trying to live a good life is gone from the get go of the movie.

Now there is a case that can be made as since the film and others like Pink Flamingo and the thesis of counter culture film in the 70’s and that this is sort of what life can be like for the downtrodden of 70’s America especially if you aren’t what society considers normal and that for if want to get by you gotta do whatcha gotta do. But this would be a good angle and could definitely put everyone in a more sympathetic light if that's what John Waters wanted to go for, but he didn’t as much the violence and the dialogue is played for laughs which makes Female Trouble certainly one of the darkest comedies I’ve seen even if I didn’t find much of the film as funny as some others.

Also do comment if you get the reference of the title.