I Am Divine

 

Jeffrey Schwarz’s latest documentary, I Am Divine remembers Harris Milstead, who is better known as his alter ego Divine, the drag-queen singer and actor made famous by a string of infamous appearances in John Water’s early films. Often cited as the person who introduced the drag act into a more mainstream and public conscience, Divine led a life as tumultuous as it was fabulous.

I Am Divine has garnered widespread critical acclaim following its premiere at South by Southwest in 2013, and rightly so. Much as he was to Divine’s career, John Waters is also essential to the documentary - always entertaining, both to look at (with his Clark Gable-like pencil moustache) and to listen to, his relation of their shared history acts as a vital backbone throughout. Together, they carved out their own part of cinema history, creating cult classics such as Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs and Pink Flamingo. It is in the latter, a black comedy, exploitation film that Divine infamously scooped up a handful of shit fresh from a passing dog, and eagerly stuffed it in his mouth. As far as iconic moments in cinema history go, it’s hardly Humphrey Bogart bidding a fond farewell to Ingrid Bergman as her plane waits, or Jack Woltz waking up to a horse’s head in his bed. But still, it serves as a perfect example of the lengths Divine would go for the iconic director, and the trust that they had with one another.

The documentary is also comprehensive in shedding light on Divine’s upbringing, featuring interviews with Milstead’s early girlfriend and the Mother with whom he had a fractured, but still often wonderfully supportive, relationship. Nothing in Divine’s life seemed straightforward. His compulsions consumed him, whether they were drink or, more consistently, food. His huge waistline, such an integral part to his overall look, and the thing that initially set him aside from other drag acts, was the result of a food addiction that he never beat.

From the low-budget days of his collaborations with Waters, to his surreal but inexplicably successful music career, Divine seems to remain consistent in his personality. The great tragedy is that death came only when he truly approached his peak.

Having again teamed up with Waters and a young Ricki Lake for the 1988 film Hairspray, Divine again pushed the boundaries of what was expected from a drag act. By appearing as a woman, but without the usual glamorous make-up and costume, he shocked both the world and his core fan base. With regular, middle-class Mum clothes, and a cheap haircut he looked the exact opposite of what he had always wanted to be. But not only was Hairspray the biggest mainstream success in the careers of Waters and Divine, it showed that the latter possessed what for years many had doubted he had - acting range. With his stock about to rise beyond anything he could have imagined, including a regular part on what was then the biggest sitcom in America, Married… With Children, Divine died in his sleep from an enlarged heart, the result of a lifetime of overeating.

I Am Divine is an entertaining, balanced and candid look at the life of a man responsible for dragging a previously unseen type of entertainment into the public eye, and acts as a fitting tribute to one of the most iconic figures in cult cinema history.

I Am Divine is showing at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 24 July 2014.

I Am Divine Official