priscilla

THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT
1994 - Australia - 103 min - Feature, Color
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment
Director Stephan Elliott

Genre/Type: Comedy, Road Movie, Gay & Lesbian Films, Ensemble Film, Buddy Film
Flags: Adult Situations, Sexual Situations, Adult Humor
Keywords: bus, cross-cultural-relations, homosexual, drag-queen, on-the-road
Themes: Gender-Bending, All Washed Up, Midlife Crises, Fathers and Sons
Set In: Australia
Cinematic Process: Arriscope widescreen
Produced by: Australian Film Finance Corporation / Latent Image Productions / Polygram / Specific Films
Released by: Gramercy Pictures
DVD Street Date: Mar 28, 2000
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Screen Formats: Letterbox for 16x9 TVs
DVD Sides: 1
Features: Collectible booklet / Original theatrical teaser trailers

Cast
Terence Stamp - Bernadette
Hugo Weaving - Tick/Mitzi
Guy Pearce - Adam/Felicia
Bill Hunter - Bob
Sarah Chadwick - Marion
Mark Holmes - Benji
Julia Cortez - Cynthia
Ken Radley - Frank
Alan Dargin - Aboriginal Man
June Marie Bennett - Shirley
Rebel Russell - Logowoman
Al Clark - Priest
Margaret Pomeranz - Adam's Mum

Plot Synopsis

The usually menacing British actor Terence Stamp does a complete turnaround as Bernadette, an aging drag queen who tours the backwaters of Australia with his stage partners, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce). Their act, well-known in Sydney, involves wearing lots of makeup and gowns and lip-synching to records, but Bernadette is getting a bit tired of it all and is also haunted by the bizarre death of an old loved one. Nevertheless, when he gets an offer to perform in the remote town of Alice Springs, the threesome ventures into the outback with Priscilla, a lavender-colored school bus that doubles as dressing room and home on the road. Along the way, the act encounters any number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while Bernadette becomes increasingly concerned about the path his life has taken. � Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Reviews

Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide

A campy ode to alternative lifestyles and the music of ABBA, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is nonetheless rarely played for straight laughs, respecting the dignity of its subjects too much to mock them. Instead, it's a rich study of how smiles and wit can conceal, or fail to conceal, private pain. Like the American movie it obviously inspired, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), Priscilla dresses up in drag a bunch of actors who (in retrospect, if not at the time) are more familiar to audiences in macho contexts: British heavy Terence Stamp and Aussies Guy Pearce (a hard-boiled cop in L.A. Confidential) and Hugo Weaving (the villainous agent in The Matrix). The trio has a rollicking good time across the outback, in spite of the vitriol they must often deflect, giving a sadly realistic glimpse of the defensive shield those at society's fringes must assimilate as a given part of their daily lives. Stamp in particular stands out, eloquently weathered for what seems to be his last hurrah. Director Stephan Elliott astutely captures the strange clashing of the big city (the flamboyant road trippers) and the back water (their hosts and hecklers). Beyond being a fond favorite among gay audiences, the film's sensitive character portrayal has earned it a wider appreciation that exceeds cult status.

Perry Seibert, AMG DVD Reviews

Stephan Elliot's cross-dressing comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert comes to DVD with a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. Spanish and French subtitles are accessible, and the English soundtrack is closed-captioned. Supplemental materials include theatrical trailers and teasers, as well as a collectible booklet. Fans of this cult favorite should enjoy this disc, while the uninitiated may find out what all the fuss has been about.

Scott Renshaw, REC.ARTS.MOVIES.REVIEWS

You know the times are a-changing when drag queens are to be the subject of *two* movies in the space of one year. We're not talking about SOME LIKE IT HOT or TOOTSIE or MRS. DOUBTFIRE; we're talking about genuine, larger-than-life, cattier-than-Felix drag queens. You might not think it the most marketable of subjects, but production is underway on a studio project featuring Wesley Snipes, TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, JULIE NEWMAR. And the thunder of that film is being stolen by the deliciously lightweight Australian import THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT. While it's gentle and respectful of its characters, it's also a big, goofy musical filled with belly laughs.

PRISCILLA opens in Sydney, where cabaret drag performer Tick (Hugo Weaving) receives a call from an old friend asking him to provide the entertainment at a resort hotel in the outback. Tick (who performs as "Mitzi") enlists the aid of two friends for the act: Adam (Guy Pearce), a high-spirited young queen stage named "Felicia;" and Bernadette (Terence Stamp), a transsexual veteran of Les Girls. Together, they set off across the outback in a bus dubbed Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. However, Priscilla proves to be something less than a royal coach, and its many breakdowns serve as preludes to a series of culture-clash encounters between the off-beat threesome and the considerably more conservative townspeople they meet along the way.

Perhaps the wisest decision made by writer-director Stephan Elliott was not to spend too much time contriving an excuse for Priscilla's passengers to go west. He is concerned primarily with getting them on their way and letting the characters carry the story, and at that he succeeds. The three principles are marvelous characters spectacularly performed. Hugo Weaving, who was so impressive in Jocelyn Moorehouse's 1992 feature PROOF, anchors the trio as the anxious Tick, who fears revealing to his cohorts that the "friend" he is helping out is actually his partner in a marriage of convenience...and the mother of his son. He is also frequently forced to act as referee in the squabbles between Adam and Bernadette. Guy Pearce plays Adam as completely carefree, a flamboyant youth who has had little experience with confronting ugly prejudice. Bernadette, on the other hand, is much more experienced, and grows impatient with Adam's giddy bitchiness. As Bernadette, Terence Stamp delivers a knock-out performance, summoning a uniquely genuine femininity to accompany a light-hearted world-weariness. This is no campy drag act he turns in, but a sensitive and funny study of a character who has had to deal with the singular challenge, as she describes it, of "being a man one day and a woman the next."

Stamp is also a treat in PRISCILLA's marvelously staged musical numbers. While Mitzi and Felicia perform with sass and energy, Bernadette goes through the motions professionally but looking exactly like she "did this *years* ago." Costume supervisor Emily Seresin deserves special kudos for the wild outfits which highlight the film; particularly noteworthy is an impromptu performance of "I Will Survive" for an audience of aboriginals (accompanied by digeridoo), and the big show at the resort featuring numerous gaudy costume changes.

PRISCILLA proves to be a mostly delightful piece of entertainment, suprisingly wise and touching.