A Cock, In A Frock, On A Rock.

There are three films from 1990s Australian cinema that people seem to keep coming back to when referring to that little renaissance that occurred in the first half of the decade, when the films seemed to not only be good, but also to connect in a major way with audiences both locally and internationally. They were referenced in the early noughties when films like Lantana, Moulin Rouge! and The Bank came through, and will be referenced more and more over the next 12 to 24 months after such successes as Samson And Delilah, Mao's Last Dancer and Bran Nue Dae. These three films also seemed to birth some of the brightest stars to come out of Australia from that period - even though some of them were known before, this cemented them in the eyes of the world.


We had Strictly Ballroom from 1992, which won at Cannes, BAFTA, Toronto and was nominated for a Golden Globe. Sure, none of the actors from the film went on to anything major, but the director, some guy named Baz, seems to have done pretty well for himself. We had Muriel's Wedding (it's Mariel...) from 1994, which was a BAFTA and Globe nominee and gave us Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths and whose director, P.J. Hogan, went on to films such as My Best Friend's Wedding.

And then there was this one, The Adventures Of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert, also from 1994, which I'm sure is in no small way responsible for Hugo Weaving's subsequent successes, as well as reminding everyone that Guy Pearce is not only hot hot hot, but also a terrific actor. This last also gave us the only Oscar recognition from these three films (yes, in craft, but we'll take what we can get thank you very much.)


Priscilla is the unlikely story of three drag queens from the Imperial Hotel in Sydney (when is that ever going to open again??? Seriously, unless it's finally reopened in the last couple of months, it has been closed for, what, two years for renovations. Or three years. A hella long time, whatever) taking a road trip through the Australian outback on a bus named Priscilla, heading to a residency in Alice Springs. Weaving, playing Tick, and Pearce, playing Felicia, are joined by aging transexual Bernadette (Terence Stamp) as they drink, drug and joke their way across the country, encountering bigots, fans, flies and fearsome terrain. When their bus breaks down they get down with the local Aboriginies for my favourite disco classic rendition in the fabulous soundtrack, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive dance routine accompanied by didgeridoos, before finding themselves rescued by the kind and non-judgmental Bob (Bill Hunter), who gets them on the road again before deciding to accompany them to Alice. As they go along they meet local hostility towards homosexuality (still rampant in rural Australia - the hostility, not the homosexuality) and secrets are spilled, meaning much more awaits them in Alice Springs than most people expected.

Technically, it's not a terrific film. The editing is a little sloppy, the direction a little hammy, and the script has some decent sized holes in it. What wins for this film and will forever leave it in my head and my heart as a brilliant classic are the soundtrack of old ABBA hits, the incredible costumes by Oscar winner Lizzy Gardiner and Tim Chappel, and the brutally honest portrayals by the three leads. Tick is scared of what awaits him but determined to keep up appearances, Felicia is camp and over the top but hiding sadness and fear inside, and Bernadette is the older, wiser sage, delivering advice and words of warning. But through it all, they want to have fun every step of the way.


Brilliant one-liners and production design from Owen Patterson abound, making this a truly and incredibly quotable film. Well worth checking out if you haven't seen it already, and if you have, I'm sure it is one that is well overdue for revisiting. 5 stars (despite the holes, it is a great achievement.)