THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT (1994)

The unforgiving sun bears down on three stranded misfits. Practising their routines on the dunes of the Australian outback, the dusty landscape comes alive with vibrant colours on display: reds, yellows, and blues. This trio have a knack for injecting colour and drama wherever they go.

Anthony “Tick” Belrose (Hugo Weaving) is called by his lifelong friend Bernadette Bassenger (Terence Stamp), who informs him their mutual friend has just died. Tick decides that they all need to get out of Sydney, taking Bernadette and Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce) on a road trip to Alice Springs, where a job should be awaiting them. However, along the way, they will discover much about their country—and themselves—that they hadn’t known…

Writer-director Stephan Elliott’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is an iconic musical-comedy-drama. With fantastic set pieces, great music, and spectacularly ornate costumes, Priscilla is a fun road movie at times. In others, it features unfunny gags and forced drama. With themes of self-acceptance and societal tolerance, this cult classic is a rather unbalanced work, one that has not aged as well as those who wear Wo-Man lotion.

Humour is subjective, which means that any complaints regarding why the jokes don’t land for me will ultimately feel like a futile endeavour. However, I would argue there’s a certain level of objectivity regarding what constitutes a hilarious film: Some Like It Hot (1959), Dr Strangelove (1964), Blazing Saddles (1974), and Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) all top lists of greatest comedies for a reason.

I can’t imagine Elliott’s film would ever top a list of greatest comedies; it’s rather lacking in laughs. The film features acerbic characters who resort to snide, catty jokes to mock each other. It feels quite contrived, and largely unkind just for the sake of it. Then it becomes clear that this form of spiteful one-liners will dominate the majority of Elliott’s screenplay, which feels like a shame; instead of providing a more nuanced approach to the unique nature of humour, our main trio essentially become a single entity as they sling pseudo-witty insults or overly elaborate threats.

I don’t think I laughed once during the film. The majority of the humour is crass and unsubtle, bordering on the ridiculous at times: “A cock in a frock on a rock…” But tasteless references to the tragic story of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton reveal that Elliott has a confused approach to his theme: for a film about tolerance, it appears only the feelings of our trifecta matter. Everyone else is fair game.

Besides Chamberlain-Creighton, the film’s been criticised for being both sexist and racist in its humour, which arguably muddies the film’s message about love and acceptance. This is exemplified by the introduction of Cynthia (Julia Cortez), Bob’s (Bill Hunter) wife, who is an unfortunate amalgamation of outdated Filipina stereotypes. The film’s crude, vacuous notion of what constitutes a joke is displayed in a now infamous scene involving ping-pong balls…

As a result of the rather simplistic gags, the film occasionally feels superficial when it probably shouldn’t. This is exemplified by Felicia being left outside the camper all night: there is seemingly no explanation for the cruel, vindictive decision to leave her stranded, with the subsequent theatrics being representative of the film’s mistaken approach to humour: just because it’s louder, doesn’t mean it’s funnier, and just because it’s cruel, doesn’t make it intelligent.

Bernadette even comments on the group’s propensity for engaging in frivolous, spiteful gossip about other people: “I’ll join this conversation on the proviso that we stop bitching about people, talking about wigs, dresses, bust sizes, penises, drugs, nightclubs, and bloody Abba!” As Tick utters with concern: “Doesn’t give us much to talk about, then, does it?” Her request for a surcease to their meretricious badinage highlights the emptiness of most of their interactions.   

However, despite the film’s questionable sense of humour, the film is rescued in part by the drama on display. Though occasionally feeling a little forced, it’s bolstered by strong performances from the main cast: Terence Stamp offers a very poignant showing as Bernadette, while Hugo Weaving demonstrates impressive range as a guilt-ridden father who is fearful of embracing his responsibilities.

One of the film’s strongest scenes involves Bernadette and Tick sitting at a restaurant, discussing their concerns for the future, the regrets that eat at them in the late hours of the night, and how they would do things differently if given the opportunity. It is a quietly moving piece of honest, simple drama.

As a road movie, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert fares mildly well, though it never quite reaches the heights of films such as Wim Wenders’ Alice in the Cities (1974). Elliott’s work lacks a certain aspect of situational conflict to create a genuine sense of threat or difficulty for our trio to overcome. While the group are stranded in the Outback and appear to be in a dire predicament, they’re very easily rescued, and we’re denied the opportunity to see how they would fare under real pressure.

Much like Wenders’ film demonstrated, an outside character—in this case, a child—provides perspective, allowing our main protagonists the opportunity to learn and grow. With this in mind, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert could have benefited from the introduction of Tick’s son, Benjamin (Mark Holmes), from the very beginning. Arguably, the whole plot would have been more interesting had Benjamin been a part of the journey, as it would have allowed the world as our heroes knew it to be seen through the innocent eyes of a young boy.

Still, the film offers an intriguing insight into the struggles many members of the LGBTQIA+ community face. This is adroitly done through flashbacks, as our principal protagonists reveal how their childhoods shaped who they are today. Elliott films these sequences with sincerity, though on occasion he resorts to crass gags about paedophilic abuse that once again come across as quite tactless.

One thing that Elliott cannot be criticised for, however, is the strong visual style that Priscilla, Queen of the Desert enjoys. Few films have such a vivid, colourful costume design. This is probably why it is still the most recent film to win the Academy Award for ‘Best Costume Design’ with a contemporary setting. As Tick practises dance routines in drag on the dunes of the Australian Outback, or Felicia sings from the top of Priscilla, their newly anointed van, the sense of spectacle is grand and difficult to deny.

If the looks are considered iconic, the film itself has since become massively influential. Other classics of the musical-comedy genre arguably owe a great debt to the film: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) in particular bears a striking resemblance to Elliott’s movie. The impact on both drag culture and Australian cinema is prominent, with pictures from the film heavily being featured during the 2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.

Of course, as is often the case with popular commodities, a needless sequel is now in the works, thirty years after the original. It is difficult to tell whether a standalone film, one that works fine without additional plots or subsequent instalments, will benefit from a sequel so late or if it will only damage the trailblazer. Both Danny Boyle’s T2: Trainspotting (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017) proved that it could be done, but I always approach such endeavours with a heavy dose of scepticism.

All of this to say, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is an iconic film, one that ultimately succeeds despite its failings. Mostly my gripe is with the humour; so if you find it funny, you’ll probably enjoy the film without issue (though I still think the gags about Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and the depiction of Filipina women are objectively distasteful). Outside of this, the plot features a few great human moments and believable drama to remain worthwhile viewing 30 years later.

AUSTRALIA | 1994 | 103 MINUTES | 2.35:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH • FILIPINO

Cast & Crew

writer & director: Stephan Elliott.
starring: Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Bill Hunter, Sarah Chadwick, Mark Holmes, Julia Cortez & Ken Radley.