The Divine Obsession
Sex film. While performing for the last time as a member of The Cockettes, Julia Franklin recalls her turbulent life over the past few years. As a teenager, she leaves her Cleveland home and sweetheart for an acting career in New York, but becomes involved in sex movies. This film, although not great by any means, deserves a 7 simply on account of its uniqueness and the fact that Loyd(Troma)Kauffman directed it. The Divine Obsession chronicles the life story of a hapless stripper who is intent on blowing her brains out at the end of her last show. While her rather mundane strip act lags on, we the audience are treated to a group of quirky vignettes, all of which seek to explain her sad and depressing life. Similar, but far inferior to the following year's Cry For Cindy(see my review), The Divine Obsession still manages to remain interesting enough to maintain one's attention for the full 90 minutes it runs. Furthermore, the film's production values are quite high for the time and director Kauffman certainly makes an effort to rise his film as far above the grunge level as he can. Kudos must also go to him for the fact that the entire film mocks both hardcore films as well as those who go to see them. This film is most useful for a collectors library rather than an individual looking for a grubby piece of sex filled sleaze.