The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian road comedy film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot follows two drag queens, played by Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce, and a transgender woman, played by Terence Stamp, as they journey across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named "Priscilla", along the way encountering various groups and individuals.
The film was a surprise worldwide hit, and its positive portrayal of LGBT individuals helped to introduce LGBT themes to a mainstream audience. It received predominantly positive reviews and won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the 67th Academy Awards. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and became a cult classic both in Australia and abroad.
Priscilla subsequently provided the basis for a musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which opened in 2006 in Sydney before traveling to New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Broadway.
Plot
Anthony "Tick" Belrose (Hugo Weaving), using the drag pseudonym of Mitzi Del Bra, is a Sydney-based drag queen who accepts an offer to perform his drag act at Lasseters Hotel Casino Resort managed by his estranged wife Marion in Alice Springs, a remote town in central Australia. After persuading his friends and fellow performers, Bernadette Bassenger (Terence Stamp), a recently bereaved transgender woman, and Adam Whitely (Guy Pearce), a flamboyant and obnoxious younger drag queen who goes under the drag name Felicia Jollygoodfellow, to join him, the three set out for a four-week run at the casino in a large tour bus, which Adam christens "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."
While on the long journey through remote lands bordering the Simpson Desert, they meet a variety of characters, including a group of friendly Aboriginal Australians for whom they perform, the less accepting attitudes of rural Australia in such towns as Broken Hill. They are subjected to homophobic abuse and violence, including having their bus vandalized with homophobic graffiti.
When the bus breaks down in the middle of the desert, Adam spends the whole day repainting it lavender to cover up the vandalism. The trio later meets Bob, a middle-aged mechanic from a small outback town who joins them on their journey after his wife leaves him. Just before they arrive at Alice Springs, Tick reveals that Marion is actually his wife, as they never divorced, and that they are going there as a favor to her.
Continuing their journey, they stop for repairs at the remote opal-mining town of Coober Pedy, where Adam is almost mutilated by a homophobic gang before Bob and Bernadette save him. Adam is shaken, and Bernadette comforts him, allowing them to reach an understanding. Likewise, the others come to terms with the secret of Tick's marriage and resolve their differences. Together, they fulfill a long-held dream of Adam's, which, in the original plan, is to climb Kings Canyon in full-drag regalia.
Upon arrival at the hotel, it is revealed that Tick and Marion also have an eight-year-old son, Benjamin, whom Tick has not seen for many years. Tick is nervous about exposing his son to his drag profession and anxious about revealing his homosexuality, though he is surprised to discover that Benjamin already knows and fully supports his father's sexuality and career. When their contract at the resort ends, Tick and Adam head back to Sydney, taking Benjamin back with them so that Tick can get to know his son. However, Bernadette decides to remain at the resort with Bob, who has decided to work at the hotel after the two of them have become close.
Wikipedia article: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ↗
External links
- Review The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the Internet Movie Database
- The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at Box Office Mojo
- The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert at Oz Movies
- The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on AustralianScreen Online
- Iconic Priscilla bus given to Broken Hill – By Margaret Paul at Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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