Female Trouble

““I've got lots of trouble... Female Trou–.” So I took my mother to see John Waters– and my aunt, to see John Waters's film. I think that was another turning point. I think I was 19, in Philadelphia, and I took my mother and my aunt to see this. And at the end of it, you know, my aunt a little old Black lady, slapped me in the face. And I knew at that moment that I want– I knew for sure I wanted to be a director, because that's– I wanted to make people feel the way she felt. To me, it's not about just Feeling Good. It's about, “What have I experienced?” And it made my aunt experience something she had never seen before.”

“Okay, so where to begin? I think I'm going to start with John Waters classic, Female Trouble. This is the best thing in the world. John Waters forever.”

“Female Trouble. Because I think that this entire, what this represents and who John Waters is and who Divine was and everything about this movie is one of the only weapons against fascism we have.”

“Okay, yes, I'm taking this because I don't know it, I've never seen it and I really want to see it. Female Trouble by John Waters. I want to see this, I never saw.”

“Gotta take some John Waters, so well, guys, what about Female Trouble for now? Female Trouble, top five, really truly top five. I'm not being silly. Have you seen? No. It's so important. It's like it's like Jerri Blank in the seventies, you know, it's like it's it's so it's so special and moves so well. It's so important to me. Glamour has never been more grotesque, and Edith Massey is the funniest person ever to have ever lived, and you would you would love her so much. And like, and I do think it's like one of the most subversive things in Female Trouble is she, her character wants her nephew, I think it's her nephew, to be gay. She's like disappointed that... Yes, and she's like she's like, "One of those nelly boys." She's like she's like, "The world of a heterosexual is a sick and boring life." Yeah, oh, it's so beautiful. I want you to take it.”

“John Waters' Female Trouble. This, okay, I, I love so many John Waters films, but this is far and above his best. It's still weirdly timely. It is a saga about, punk rock and true crime and, evil celebrity, and it has the funniest, opening 10 minutes of any film I have ever seen. Oh my God, John Waters, forever in our hearts, and you're still alive.”

“You picked Female Trouble. Yeah, I did. Again, a classic, in a way.”

“Female Trouble is a masterpiece. I know that John Waters is one of your favorites. Yes. And this is my favorite of his. But Divine really gives everything, just really is full-performance all the way through for what at the time was probably, like, an underground film. Okay, thank you. I appreciate it.”