The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

1994
R
1h 44m

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

57K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:01

Dark Comedy Road Trip Comedy Music

Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.5/10

57K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,906

196

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 11 wins & 19 nominations total

Trivia
As of 2024, this is still the most recent contemporary-set film (i.e. non-period, non-fantasy, non-sci-fi) to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

Goofs
When they are in the bar in Broken Hill, Old Shirl comes over and slaps her right hand down on Bernadette's. Then, in the next camera shot, it's her left hand.

Quotes
Bernadette: [to Shirley] Now listen here, you mullet. Why don't you just light your tampon, and blow your box apart? Because it's the only bang you're ever gonna get, sweetheart!

Crazy credits
A scene after the credits finish shows an Asian garden where a blow up doll (released earlier in the movie in Australia) lands on a man, who looks quite puzzled.

Alternate versions
The film was "Shown in Dragarama" at select theatres at the time of release. This involved some theatres using a mirror-ball and colored lighting during the "Finally" dance number.

Connections
Edited into Picnic at Wolf Creek (2006)

Soundtracks
I've Never Been To Me
Written by Ken Hirsch and Ronald Miller
Performed by Charlene
Published by Stone Diamond Music Corp. / Jobete Music
Courtesy Motown Record Company LP

User reviews179

Review

Featured review

7/10

Queer classic

When I first saw this film in my adolescence I have to admit I wasn't a very big fan. I found it to be depressing and a bit droll. After revisiting it so many years later I have a slightly better opinion of it. Looking at it with different eyes I appreciate aspects of it that I didn't before. If you haven't seen this queer classic it tells the story of a single gay dad who hasn't seen his son in ages and gets contracted by his former wife to do a drag show at a resort in the middle of the desert. The man is surprisingly Hugo Weaving of the Matrix films and he brings along his two friends. An aging transvestite whose just lost her lover played by a solid Terence Stamp and a flirty, young, charasmatic drag queen played by a surprisingly engaging and sexy Guy Pearce of Memento. The film tracks their journey across the desert and all the mishaps that go along with it. In the end I definitely enjoyed it more but it left me wanting a bit more character and story development. That being said it's still a wild, fun stylish ride with a great soundtrack.

Budget: $2M Box Office: $29.7M

7/10