Sightlines · reception
How Desperate Living was received
1977 · John Waters · Desperate Living on Sightlines
The arc
Dismissed on release as too ugly and too grim even by some Waters diehards — the one without Divine — it's since been reclaimed, especially by queer audiences, as maybe his most radical film: a filthy lesbian punk fairy tale that was ahead of everyone.
What’s debated
The eternal Waters-fan split: is this the underrated peak of his outlaw period, or the lesser entry because Divine isn't in it?
Its footprint
The poster — a cooked rat served on fine china — is one of the great transgressive movie images, and 'Mortville,' the film's shantytown of exiles and criminals, lives on as cinephile shorthand for a trash-utopia; Edith Massey's Queen Carlotta became a genuine punk-era icon.
Where it stands
The connoisseur's John Waters pick — a midnight-movie cult object that Letterboxd completists brandish as proof they've gone deeper than Pink Flamingos.
Did you know? It's the only film of Waters' classic Dreamland era without Divine, who was tied up performing on stage — and co-lead Liz Renay was a real-life ex-gangster's moll (Mickey Cohen's girlfriend) who'd done federal prison time for perjury before Waters cast her.