Female Trouble - Enzian Theater

Glamour has never been more grotesque than in Female Trouble, which injects the Hollywood melodrama with anarchic decadence. Divine, director John Waters’ larger-than-life muse, engulfs the screen with charisma as Dawn Davenport, the living embodiment of the film’s lurid mantra, “Crime is beauty,” who progresses from a teenage nightmare hell-bent on getting cha-cha heels for Christmas to a fame monster whose egomaniacal impulses land her in the electric chair.

Shot in Waters’ native Baltimore on 16 mm, with a cast drawn from his beloved troupe of regulars, the Dreamlanders (including Mink Stole, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Edith Massey, and Cookie Mueller), this film—the director’s favorite of his work with Divine—comes to life through the tinsel-toned vision of production designer Vincent Peranio and costume designer/makeup artist Van Smith. An endlessly quotable fan favorite, Female Trouble offers up perverse pleasures that never fail to satisfy.

1974, 92 minutes, USA, Directed by John Waters, Rated NC-17

“Where do these people come from? Where do they go when the sun goes down? Isn't there a law or something?"
– Rex Reed, DAILY NEWS
“It's the hallmark of a classic that must be seen to be disbelieved.”
– David Ehrenstein, NEW TIMES LA
“Normal people should probably stay away.”
– Jeffrey M. Anderson, COMBUSTIBLE CELLULOID
“John Waters' trashterpiece is just as hilarious today as it was almost 50 years ago. Just bring your pearls with you in case you need to clutch them.”
– Trace Thurman, HORROR QUEERS PODCAST