Can you imagine if this Australian production had been brought to Tinseltown for a pitch? “A transsexual and two transvestites drive a bus across the Australian outback on their way to a ‘drag show’ performance on stage in remote Alice Springs. It’s La Cage aux Folles meets Lost in America.”
It’s outrageous, hilarious and touching to watch as Bernadette (Terence Stamp), Felicia (Guy Pearce) and Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) set out from Sydney on the 3,300-kilometre road trip in a bus named Priscilla. Mitzi – whose off-stage name is Tick – has arranged a contract to perform in Alice Springs. Felicia – known as Adam when he isn’t dressed as a woman – is a free spirit, while Bernadette is an aging transsexual whose sense of humour often seems absent. But all three are going to need a sense of humour to survive this gruelling trip.
As they make their way across the desert, the three encounter various challenges – hot weather, foreboding terrain, an unhealthy Priscilla and most of all – hostile small-town residents who don’t know what to make of flamboyant drag queens parading down their main street.
There are spectacular sights along the way – the film was made by undertaking the trip for real. It’s hard to say what’s more eye-catching: the scenery or the drag queens in full get-up perched on the roof of the bus as it roars across the outback. It’s the ultimate fish out of water movie – the only group along the way that welcomes the three without judgement is an aboriginal community. Luckily for Bernadette, Felicia and Mitzi, a mechanic named Bob (Bill Hunter) also takes an interest in them and in keeping Priscilla going.
This is a road movie with a difference. The colourful costume displays are interweaved with conversations between the travellers that reveal who they are and how they came to be here. Each has a chequered past that led to this trip, and Felicia in particular has a secret or two that we learn along the way. In addition to exploring the idea of outsiders crossing the rugged outback – and finding the human inhabitants more hostile than the terrain or wildlife – this is also an outrageous musical, as we are treated to numerous performances by the brightly costumed dragsters. These are great fun, as is the comedy here, highlighted by Felicia’s obsession with the Swedish band Abba that extends to carrying around a souvenir rescued from a toilet bowl after a near-close encounter with an Abba member.
The performances by Stamp, Weaving and Pearce are excellent. Stamp probably faced the biggest challenge, as his character never gets to return to maleness. His grumpy, cynical Bernadette is fabulous. Bill Hunter (Muriel’s Wedding) is also very appealing as Bob the mechanic.
The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert is about celebrating diversity, and being yourself. It’s unlike any major film that came before it, although it did inspire several other transvestite films after its modest success.
