Polyester

"It’s Scentsational!"

1981 1h 26m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 197

Comedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine Fishpaw turns to the bottle as her life falls apart -- until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow. Originally screened with "Odorama" scratch and sniff cards so the audience could (at their own risk) smell along with the film.

“It’s Scentsational!”

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Cast

Divine
Francine Fishpaw
Tab Hunter
Todd Tomorrow
Edith Massey
Cuddles Kovinsky
David Samson
Elmer Fishpaw
Mary Garlington
Lu-Lu Fishpaw
Ken King
Dexter Fishpaw
Mink Stole
Sandra Sullivan
Joni Ruth White
La Rue

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Waters
Writers: John Waters
Languages: Mandarin, English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

86 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.7× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

45 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Mandarin, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Waters, shot by David Insley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Michael Kamen. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Waters directs. David Insley behind the camera. Michael Kamen scores. Charles Roggero cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in Mandarin, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

186 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 3.7× over at the box office.
445 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Mandarin, English.
6International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
7Directed by John Waters, shot by David Insley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Michael Kamen. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Charles Roggero shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Divine and Tab Hunter and Edith Massey carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "It’s Scentsational!".
12IMDB entry: tt0082926 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
13Classified under 28 themes, including "infidelity", "pornography", "bad smell", "chaos".

The technical file

Cinematography: David Insley
Original score: Michael Kamen
Editing: Charles Roggero
Costume design: Van Smith
Makeup / hair: Christine Mason
Runtime: 86 min · 1h 26m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $300,000
Box office: $1,120,000
Return: 373% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Polyester (1981)

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John Waters

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-08-29
★ 7/10
Remember the sensation that was "Smellyvision"? Well armed with a card which had ten different smells concealed under some silver foil spots, we set off to watch the escapades of the "Fishpaw" family. Divine is on good form as "Francine", the much put upon wife of serial womaniser "Elmer" (David Sampson) and mother to "Lulu" (Mary Garlington) and her wayward brother "Dexter" (Ken King). Her well-to-do suburban life all starts to come crashing down when her husband's soft-porn cinema attracts some local attention - of the wrong sort; the daughter manages to become pregnant with the help of a local thug and the son, well he has a rather weird foot-fetish that involves stamping heavily on any feet that take his fancy. It's all going pear shaped marvellously well for her until the hunky and charming "Todd" (Tab Hunter) offers her a dreamboat opportunity to escape the tortures of her family life. It's great fun, this - the characterisations are no deeper than a puddle but the pace at which John Waters keeps the mayhem and mischief coming thick and fast with plenty of humour that is entertaining, though admittedly a bit puerile and basic at times, manages to parody effectively quite a few more serious American comedy films made in the late 1970s. It's short, sweet and well worth a gander if you have 90 minutes and you even get on-screen instructions as when to scratch and sniff!!

Production companies