Desperate Living (1977)
Starring: Mink Stole, Edith Massey, Liz Renay, Susan Lowe, Mary Vivian Pearce
Director: John Waters
Synopsis: Whimsical degenerate fun... John Waters style
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

 

There was one insurmountable problem facing John Waters when he set about making Desperate Living after Female Trouble.

No Divine.

The mighty one was unavailable for this particular film, depriving Waters of his brightest and most dynamic star.

That Waters was nevertheless able to muster up such a perfectly decent account of society's underside in his usual unflinching and thoroughly disgusting fashion is testament both to his own singular genius and to the considerable talents of his travelling entourage of glorious misfits.

The film follows Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), who conspires to murder her husband with the aid of her humungous maid, Grizelda (the enormously talented Jean Hill), before fleeing to the demented shanty town of Mortville, ruled with an iron fist by the gorgeous but sadistic Queen Carlotta and her leather-clad SS-style cohorts. Conditions in Mortville are quite beyond description, even by John Waters' standards.

The place is a cesspool populated by human vermin, yet somehow, amidst all the madness and depravity, there exists a surprising warmth and humanity. Edith Massey is wonderful as Queen Carlotta, a breathtaking sight in her majestic gowns and oversized crown. One cannot help wondering what heights the film might have reached had Divine also been involved.

Fans of Waters are unlikely to be disappointed, although newcomers may well find the proceedings just a touch shocking—and perhaps a little muddled.

Certainly, this is not in the class of Pink Flamingos or Female Trouble. However, there is yet another superlative performance from Mink Stole as the paranoid and increasingly unhinged Mrs. Gravel. Her acting operates on an entirely different level from everyone else around her.

The glorious Mink remains one of the great unsung treasures that John Waters introduced to the world.

Desperate Living is marvellous, tacky, trashy, cheesy and gloriously demented fun. If you're looking for vintage Waters, however, this perhaps doesn't quite make the grade.