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Polyester (1981)

Directed by John Waters · Cinematography by David Insley

R86 min61 frames

ComedyDrama

It’s Scentsational!

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Stills, screencaps & shots from Polyester

16 of 61 frames — the full set is searchable by lighting, lens, shot size, color and mood with a free account.

Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A woman stands in front of two red display boards with white text placards. She is speaking into a microphone…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A woman lies in a bed with a white headboard and rumpled linens. She clutches a white sheet to her chest…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A small dining area features floral patterned wallpaper and a circular glass-top table. A woman and a man in…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A pale yellow room features framed wall art above a hospital bed. A person in a white uniform rests their…Polyester (1981) movie still: wide — An empty urban sidewalk features a row of cylindrical concrete bollards at night. A municipal bus drives down…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A dining room decorated with yellow walls and floral patterned plates on the table. An older man wearing a…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A woman in a blue robe stands before floral wallpaper while holding a telephone. A framed inset image of a…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A residential room featuring dark wooden cabinetry and a cluttered metal sink area. Three people are standing…Polyester (1981) movie still: wide — A rural asphalt road lined with trees during an autumn afternoon. Two men are attending to a car with a flat…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — An interior hallway features a blue door frame and a plain grey wall background. A woman in a tweed jacket…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A blue-walled room decorated with various colorful drawings of high-heeled shoes on paper. A young man shows…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A residential kitchen features dark cabinets, tiled walls, and cluttered countertops at night. A woman in…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A cluttered vanity table sits in front of a window covered by yellow curtains. A person with dark hair…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A small shaggy black dog hangs from a noose against a solid teal surface. The animal is positioned vertically…Polyester (1981) movie still: medium — A narrow domestic hallway has patterned blue wallpaper and a partially opened white door. A middle-aged man…Polyester (1981) movie still: wide — A drive-in movie theater at night shows a bright red image of a champagne bottle. Several vintage and…
Polyester (1981) — © New Line Cinema, Dreamland

Polyester — official trailer

What is Polyester about?

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.

Polyester is a 1981 American satirical black comedy film written, produced, and directed by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, David Samson, Mary Garlington, Ken King, Mink Stole, Joni Ruth White, and Stiv Bators. It satirizes the melodrama film genre and the "woman's film" category, particularly the work of Douglas Sirk, which directly influenced this film. The film is also a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s, involving topics such as divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, racial stereotypes, foot fetishism, and the religious right.

Second paragraph from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where can you watch Polyester?

US availability for Polyester (1981). Data by JustWatch, listings on TMDB. Availability changes — check the provider for current listings.

Who stars in Polyester?

Who made Polyester?

What does the cinematography of Polyester look like?

Sampled across 61 frames, the coverage of Polyester leans heavily on medium shots (72% of the sample). Cinematographer David Insley keeps 51% of it in soft, low-key light. Night and dusk account for 52% of the frames. Focus stays shallow in 56% of the frames, isolating subjects from their surroundings. The production design places the film in the 1980s.

What is the color palette of Polyester?

The dominant colors across the sampled frames of Polyester (1981) are #332d2c, #f7f6f5, #0c0b0c, #ede6d1, #d5d3c8, #473a37 — measured from the per-frame color data FrameThrower extracts for every film.

  • #332d2c
  • #f7f6f5
  • #0c0b0c
  • #ede6d1
  • #d5d3c8
  • #473a37

See the full Polyester colour palette — every hex with its share, plus warmth, saturation and luminance.

A reference database for filmmakers

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Techniques in this film

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