It was early evening and I had not yet eaten, so I took a glass of wine and a packet of Haribos into the private screening of I Am Divine: the story of Divine. I touched neither, because early on in the film I felt a little sick. I’m unsure as to whether that queasiness was a result of the mention of dog excrement (more anon) or the scale of misogyny contained within its 90 minutes.
Divine, aka Glenn Milstead, was an American actor, singer and drag queen who died in 1988 of a massive heart attack. Divine developed a name for himself as a female impersonator known for outrageous behaviour in John Waters counter-culture pre-punk films. Following his death, People magazine described Divine as the ‘Drag Queen of the Century’. Divine embraced the counterculture of the 1960s, in the 1970s moved to theatre, and in 1981 embarked on the disco industry, achieving global chart success with ‘You Think You’re a Man’.
The film is made up of archive footage and head-and-shoulder interviews with school friends, acolytes and colleagues of Divine.
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