The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

For the stage musical of the same name, see Priscilla Queen of the Desert - the Musical.The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stephan Elliott
Produced by Al Clark
Michael Hamlyn
Written by Stephan Elliott
Starring Terence Stamp
Hugo Weaving
Guy Pearce
Bill Hunter
Music by Guy Gross (score)
Various artists
Cinematography Brian J. Breheny
Editing by Sue Blainey
Studio Gramercy Pictures
Distributed by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Release date(s) August 10, 1994
Running time 103 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Filipino
Budget $2,000,000
Gross revenue $11,220,670


The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film based around the journey of three drag queens travelling across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named "Priscilla". The film was written and directed by Stephan Elliott and starred Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp as the three drag queens, one of whom is a transsexual and the other two are homosexuals. Containing elements of comedy, the film's title is a pun on the fact that in English speaking cultures, a "queen" is a euphemism for a homosexual.[1]

The film received predominantly positive reviews and won an Oscar for Best Costume Design. It was also screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.[2] The film has provided the basis for a musical, Priscilla Queen of the Desert - the Musical, which opened in 2006 in Sydney, before subsequently also travelling to New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Plot

Anthony "Tick" Belrose, who uses the drag pseudonym of Mitzi Del Bra (Hugo Weaving), is a Sydney-based drag queen who accepts an offer to perform his drag act at a hotel resort in Alice Springs, a remote town in central Australia. After persuading his friends and fellow performers, Ralph Waite, who prefers to call herself Bernadette Bassenger (Terence Stamp), a recently bereaved transsexual woman, and Adam Whitely, who uses the drag pseudonym of Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce), an irritating, flamboyant and obnoxious drag queen, to join him, the three set out for Alice Springs in a large tour bus which Adam/Felicia christens "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".

Whilst on the long journey through the Australian Outback, they meet a variety of characters, including a group of friendly Australian Aborigines whom they perform for, but also encounter the less accepting attitudes of rural Australia in such towns as Coober Pedy, and are subjected to homophobic abuse and even violence, including having their tour bus vandalised with the words "AIDS fuckers go home."

When the tour bus breaks down in the middle of the desert, this results in the trio meeting Bob (Bill Hunter), a middle-aged mechanic from a small outback town who joins them on their journey. Before they arrive at Alice Springs, Tick reveals that Marion (Sarah Chadwick), the woman who runs the resort where they will be performing, is actually his estranged wife and that they are in fact going there as a favor to her. Upon arrival, it is revealed that Tick and Marion also have an 8-year-old son, Benjamin, whom Tick has not seen for many years. It is also mentioned that Marion is a lesbian.

By the time their four-week stint at the resort is over, Tick and Adam head back to Sydney, taking Benjamin back with them so that Tick can get to know his son and Marion can have a long-earned break. However, Bernadette decides to remain at the resort for a while with Bob after the two of them become close.