Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The (1994): Stephan Elliott’s Campy Aussie Comedy, Starring Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving (LGBTQ, Drag Queens, Transexual)

Queer Cinema: The Essentials

The flamboyant costumes, fabulous music, and Terence Stamp’s tender performance as a transsexual, contribute a lot to the joyous experience of the campy Australian comedy, Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Grade: B

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Theatrical release poster

The film is described by its director Stephan Elliott, who last year made the dreadful Frauds, as a “musical comedy and road movie with a difference,” which is a polite way of saying that its main characters are drag queens.

A trio of performers rent Priscilla, a dilapidated bus forever promising to break down, on a trip from Sydney to a gig in a remote Northern town. They have gained fame for lip-synching l970s disco songs and strutting their stuff in gaudy costumes. Along for the ride are Tick/Mitzi (Hugo Weaving), who now fears his young son will discover who he really is; the aging transsexual Bernadette (Terrence Stamp), facing his boyfriend’s death and growing old alone; and pretty boy Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce), whose gig is to flaunt his outrageous outfits on the roof of the bus.

Gay Directors, Gay Films? By Emanuel Levy (Columbia University Press).

The three queens make their way into the Australian outback, where they expectedly encounter macho men, desert rats, ruffians and friendly aboriginals. Structured as a melodrama, the movie’s message is too obvious; it’s about having fun and coming to terms with your personal demons, no matter who you are.

Unfortunately, the screenplay is only intermittently witty. The movie’s biggest laughs are based on the hideously colorful costumes (hot pink, red, and yellow) and the campy performances (both intentionally and unintentionally).

Music by ABBA (“Mamma Mia”)

The film featured a soundtrack made up of pre-existing “camp classics” (pop music songs that have a particular fanbase in the LGBT community). The original plan was to have a Kylie Minogue song in the finale, although it was later decided that an ABBA song would be more appropriate because it was “more timeless”

The film itself featured four songs, performed by the drag queens as part of their show within the film; “I’ve Never Been to Me” by Charlene, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, “Finally” by CeCe Peniston, and “Mamma Mia” by ABBA.

Inevitable comparisons were made between this Australian product and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, a comedy produced by Steven Spielberg, which features macho actors Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo in the same conceit–all in drag.

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