Polyester (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | polyester |
| Original title | polyester |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1981 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Waters |
| script | John Waters |
| production | John Waters |
| music |
Chris Stein , Michael Kamen |
| camera | David Insley |
| cut | Charles Roggero |
| occupation | |
| |
Polyester is an American satire published in 1981 by John Waters . The American middle class family is being targeted in a deliberately tasteless way. The first performance of Polyester took place on December 11, 1981 .
action
The housewife Francine Fishpaw wants to lead a normal life with a normal family in a normal suburb of Baltimore . But she is not granted that, because her family threatens to break up: When it emerges that her husband Elmer owns a porn cinema, an angry mob of indignant and God-fearing fellow citizens is standing on the doorstep. Francine is not happy with her children either: Daughter Lu-Lu gets pregnant by the well-known rowdy Bo-Bo and drops out of school, son Dexter is a glue sniffer and foot fetishist who regularly steps women on the feet out of joy and in the media when the infamous "Baltimore foot-stomper" is wanted. Then there is Francine's impoverished, but all the more snobbish mother LaRue, who can never please her. Francine finds consolation and support from her loving friend Cuddles, the former cleaning lady of the Fishpaw, who has made her fortune through an inheritance.
Francine finds out her husband is having an affair with his secretary Sandra and files for divorce. Lu-Lu, meanwhile, wants an abortion while Dexter is arrested for attacking the feet of women. In addition, Elmer tries to destroy his wife psychologically by all means during the divorce process. Francine can't take the pressure anymore and turns to alcohol, so she eventually has to get help from Alcoholics Anonymous . On Halloween, Lu-Lu's friend Bo-Bo raids and ravages the Fishpaw's house, but is eventually shot by Francine's mother. Lu-Lu, who has meanwhile been placed in a convent because of her pregnancy, discovers her boyfriend's body and wants to kill herself, but Francine can stop her. The family dog Bonkers , on the other hand, commits suicide with a rope.
Francine's life slowly turns back to the good when Dexter is released from prison cleansed and Lu-Lu becomes a peaceful hippie . Francine receives a fortune from Elmer through the divorce and finally manages to defend herself against the harassment of her mother. Finally, Francine meets the charming playboy Todd Tomorrow, the operator of an intellectual drive-in theater , who also proposes to her.
One night there are dramatic turns: Elmer and Sandra break into the house and want to kill Francine in order not to have to pay the divorce money, but are killed in a bizarre way by Dexter and Lu-Lu. Francine, meanwhile, discovers that her mother is actually Todd's lover: they both want to drive the housewife insane and collect her divorce money. When Cuddles and Heintz, their German chauffeur and fiancé, appear in front of the Fishpaws' house, they accidentally run over Todd and Francine's mother. Francine and her children can finally happily return to normal suburban life.
background
Polyester is one of the few films that has been shown using the Odorama process ( smell cinema ). The cinema-goers received scratch cards which, when used, give off the right scent for the scene. The smells included: 1. Roses, 2. Flatulence , 3. Glue, 4. Pizza, 5. Gasoline, 6. Skunk, 7. Gas, 8. New car (inside), 9. Dirty shoes, 10. Air freshener. In 1999 and 2011 these scent cards were reissued for screenings of the film at various film festivals. Spy Kids - All Time in the World was one of the few films that took up this concept again (with so-called aroma scope cards).
In the film, Waters parodies America in the 1950s and the melodramas that were made at that time, such as that of director Douglas Sirk . These often dealt with the problems of middle-aged women in society and were shot in expressive, strong colors.
The theme song Polyster was sung by Tab Hunter and written by Blondie members Chris Stein and Debbie Harry . The song The Best Thing featured in the film is sung by Bill Murray .
Reviews
At Rotten Tomatoes , polyester has a positive rating of 89% based on 19 reviews. The film service wrote that Waters was "making the American middle-class family the object of a bizarre, absurd and deliberately tasteless satire that in some places strains the nerves of the audience." Janet Maslin in the New York Times wrote that this Waters film was less grotesque and not all suitable for midnight performances and called it “hip and stylized”.
Web links
- Polyester in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Polyester atrotten tomatoes(English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Beth Accomando, Christopher Maue: FilmOut Screens John Waters' 'Polyester' In Odorama . In: KPBS Public Media . ( kpbs.org [accessed March 24, 2018]).
- ↑ polyester. Retrieved March 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Two thousand and one. Film lexicon FILMS from A to Z - polyester. Retrieved March 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Janet Maslin: 'POLYESTER,' AN OFFBEAT COMEDY . ( nytimes.com [accessed March 24, 2018]).