''Desperate Living'' is a 1977 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film directed, produced, and written by

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

. The film stars Liz Renay,

Mink Stole Nancy Paine Stoll (born August 25, 1947), known professionally as Mink Stole, is an American actress from Baltimore, Maryland. She began her career working for director John Waters, and has appeared in all of his feature films to date (a distin ...

, Susan Lowe, Edith Massey, Mary Vivian Pearce, and Jean Hill. It is the third installment of what Waters has labeled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes ''

Pink Flamingos ''Pink Flamingos'' is a 1972 American surrealist independent black comedy film by John Waters. It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes '' Female Trouble'' (1974) and '' Desperate Living'' (1977). The f ...

'' (1972) and ''

Female Trouble ''Female Trouble'' is a 1974 American independent dark comedy film written, produced and directed by John Waters. It stars Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, and Edith Massey, and follows delinquent high school student Da ...

'' (1974), and the only one to not feature

Divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

. The film generated a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

around Renay, who appeared in at least two dozen other films. Following the murder of her husband, a suburban housewife and her maid agree to be exiled to Mortville, a

shantytown A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron s ...

ruled by a tyrannical

queen regnant A queen regnant (: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank, title and position to a king. She reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a kingdom; as opposed to a queen consort, who is married to a reigning ...

Plot

Neurotic and delusional

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

an housewife Peggy Gravel and her overweight maid, Grizelda Brown, go on the lam after Grizelda smothers Peggy's husband Bosley to death. A cross-dressing policeman arrests the pair and gives them an ultimatum: go to jail or be exiled to Mortville, a filthy

ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta and her

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

ous daughter, Princess Coo-Coo. Peggy and Grizelda choose Mortville, and engage in lesbian prison sex. They become associates of self-hating lesbian

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

Mole McHenry, who wants a sex change to please her lover, Muffy St. Jacques. After confiscating a lottery ticket from Peggy, Mole wins the

Maryland Lottery The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA) is an independent agency of the Maryland government. The MLGCA operates the Maryland Lottery and serves as regulator for Maryland's casino and sports wagering programs and a number of ancill ...

and uses the money to obtain

gender reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...

. However, Muffy is repulsed by Mole's

phalloplasty Phalloplasty (also called penoplasty) is the construction or reconstruction of a penis or the artificial modification of the penis by surgery. The term is also occasionally used to refer to penis enlargement. History Russian surgeon Nikolaj B ...

and insists he cut it off, so Mole gives himself a

penectomy Penectomy is penis removal through surgery, generally for medical or personal reasons. Medical reasons Cancer, for example, sometimes necessitates removal of part or all of the penis. The amount of penis removed depends on the severity of the ...

. Most of Mortville's social outcasts—criminals,

nudists Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

, and sexual deviants—conspire to overthrow Queen Carlotta, who banishes Coo-Coo after she elopes with a garbage collector named Herbert, whom Queen Carlotta's guards later shoot to death. Coo-Coo hides in Peggy and Grizelda's house with her dead lover. When Peggy betrays Coo-Coo to the Queen's guards, Grizelda fights them and dies when the house collapses on her. Peggy, however, joins the queen in terrorizing her subjects, even infecting them (and Princess Coo-Coo) with

rabies Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink. Early symptoms can include fever and abn ...

. Eventually, Mortville's denizens, led by Mole, overthrow Queen Carlotta and execute Peggy by shooting a gun up her anus. To celebrate their freedom, the townsfolk roast Carlotta on a spit and serve her, pig-like, on a platter with an apple in her mouth.

Cast

Production

Art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Vincent Peranio Vincent Peranio (born 1945) is a retired American production designer, art director, set designer, and actor. Peranio began his career designing film sets for John Waters. Because of his work with Waters, he is considered one of the Dreamlander ...

built the exterior sets for Mortville on a 26-acre farm in Hampstead, Maryland, owned by Waters' friend,

Peter Koper Peter Koper (January 1947 – May 21, 2022) was an American journalist, professor, screenwriter, and producer. He numbers among the original Dreamlanders, the group of actors and artists who worked with independent filmmaker John Waters on his ...

. The exterior sets were largely constructed of

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

and rubbish Peranio and Waters had collected from around Baltimore. Production manager Robert Maier recalled the challenges of shooting without adequate facilities, how the cast and crew overwhelmed the farm's septic system, how heavy rains nearly washed away the set, and how "charmed" Waters seemed through it all. The Mortville interiors were filmed in a 5000-sq-ft, second-story loft in a rented warehouse located in

Fells Point, Baltimore Fell's Point is a historic waterfront neighborhood in southeastern Baltimore, Maryland, established around 1763 along the north shore of the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, Baltimore Harbor and the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River. ...

. The space was unheated, noisy, and poorly suited for film production according to Maier. ''Desperate Living'' was edited for 10 weeks in the basement of

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

Charles Roggero's home. It was Waters' first film with original music, by Chris Lobingier and Allen Yanus, to provide a "cheesy '' Doctor Zhivago''-type score".

Casting

''Desperate Living'' is the only feature film Waters made without Divine prior to the actor's death in 1988. Divine had to reluctantly back away from the film because he was committed to appearing in ''

Women Behind Bars ''Women Behind Bars'' is a camp black comedy play by Tom Eyen, parodying the prison exploitation films produced by Universal, Warner Bros. and Republic Pictures during the 1950s. Plot Set in the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Villag ...

''. Susan Lowe, who had appeared in small or supporting roles in Waters' previous films, was chosen to take over for the role of Mole McHenry. This was also Waters' first film without

David Lochary David Crawford Lochary (August 21, 1944 – July 29, 1977) was an American actor, one of the regular "Dreamlanders, Dreamlander" actors in early films of the controversial "trash" film director John Waters (filmmaker), John Waters. He starred in ...

, because of Lochary's addiction to drugs. Waters said, "The reason that David wasn't in ''Desperate Living'' is because of PCP. That's all that's to it. I know that's why he wasn't in the film, and he knows it, too." Lochary died a few weeks after the film's release, when he injured himself while under the influence of the drug. Waters had received a copy of Liz Renay's autobiography ''My Face for the World to See'' and wanted to offer her a role in the film. He went to see Renay in a

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

show in Boston, then traveled to Los Angeles to offer her the role of Muffy St. Jacques. He offered her only a brief outline of the story, withholding some of the more graphic details for fear that she might refuse the role. Renay accepted the offer and flew to

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

for three weeks of shooting (which was, reportedly, all that the production could afford to pay Renay for her services).

Release

As with Waters' previous films, the premiere was held in the auditorium of the

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt consists of four colleges in applied arts and sciences, Robert G. Merrick School of Bu ...

. A brief controversy arose when lesbian groups attacked the film for its depiction of lesbianism, and for taking the title of a defunct lesbian magazine.

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

blew the film up from 16 to 35 mm and opened it at

midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours. ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, though the original poster (featuring a cooked rat on a plate) was rejected by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' to run, forcing a new poster to be created three days before the opening. The new poster featured Liz Renay in a screaming pose, fashioned from a production still. Critics from ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American lifestyle media brand that covers a wide range of topics from home decor and renovation, health, beauty and food, to entertainment, pets and gifts. The Good Housekeeping Institute which opened its "Experiment ...

'' walked out of the film after 10 minutes. Otherwise, ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' enjoyed the film, stating it had to be "seen to be believed". David Chute of ''

The Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the now defunct ''Boston Phoenix'', '' ...

'' said of the film: "In ''Desperate Living'', Waters comes close to creating a work of true trash art." On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Desperate Living 1977 films 1977 black comedy films 1977 crime films 1977 independent films 1977 LGBTQ-related films 1970s American films 1970s crime comedy films 1970s English-language films 1970s satirical films American black comedy films American crime comedy films American independent films American LGBTQ-related films American satirical films English-language black comedy films English-language crime comedy films English-language independent films Films about cannibalism Films about female bisexuality Films about incest Films about mother–daughter relationships Films about queens Films about rebellions Films about trans men Films about rabies Films directed by John Waters Films produced by John Waters Films set in Baltimore Films shot in Baltimore Films with screenplays by John Waters Lesbian-related films LGBTQ-related black comedy films LGBTQ-related satirical films LGBTQ-related crime comedy films