Desperate Living

Divine was touring as a cabaret singer when director John Waters made this comedy of the grotesque, but he filled the void admirably with the equally rotund Jean Hill and burlesque-queen Liz Renay. The film tells the story of Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole), a mad housewife who kills her husband then goes ...more

John Waters' best films tend to revolve around alternative families, groups of misfits bound together either, despite, or because of their grotesque lifestyles and antisocial attitudes. His usual leading "lady," Divine, brought curious touches of sweetness and humanity to odious roles as homicidal matriarchs in such trash epics as Multiple Maniacs and Pink Flamingos. Without Divine's jubilant presence, however, Desperate Living is saddled with a purely nasty tone. Mink Stole is brilliantly ...more