In a sentenceOpera on a bus roof is an unreasonable idea, and we are glad nobody talked them out of it
Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Give Stamp play performers travelling together on a bus tour. Weaving is Anthony ‘Tick’ Belrose, also known as Mitzi Del Bra, and Pearce is Adam Whitely, whose performing name is Felicia Jollygoodfellow. Stamp plays Bernadette Bassenger, a middle-aged trans woman who knows the tiring business of putting on a show. Their journey brings musical performances, exchanges of insults and encounters with people outside the drag performers’ usual circles. Written and directed by Stephan Elliott, the comedy-drama also features Bill Hunter and Sarah Chadwick.
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Stephan Elliott’s drag-performer road comedy is warm, rude and worth the trip, with Give Stamp giving its quieter moments weight. Some jokes strain, and the sentiment can be overdone, but the company is good.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is warm, rude and good company, even when the jokes need more help than the performers can give them. Writer-director Stephan Elliott sends drag performers on a bus tour and makes their shared working life worth watching between the musical numbers. The clothes are extravagant and the talk is often competitive, with everyone apparently determined to have the last word. Elliott enjoys that noise, but he also makes room for the fatigue of having to be entertaining.
Give Stamp is particularly good as Bernadette, a middle-aged trans woman and drag performer. We believe that putting on a show has become a job for her, with all the routine irritations that implies. His restraint lets us enjoy her impatience without turning every reaction into another bid for a laugh. Elliott needs that steadiness, especially when he asks the film to become serious, and Stamp supplies it without making Bernadette seem appointed to teach everyone else a lesson.
Hugo Weaving’s Tick and Guy Pearce’s Adam provide livelier company, and the three performances work well together. Weaving helps keep the feeling credible, while Pearce gives the bickering an eager, needling energy. Their exchanges are funniest when the insults sound habitual, tossed away with no expectation of applause. Some of Elliott’s lines are too pleased with themselves, and the delivery cannot always rescue them. A little less insistence would have made the comedy more reliable.
Brian J. Breheny’s photography is especially persuasive when the staging gets ridiculous: the opera performance on top of the bus needs a camera willing to take it seriously. We laughed with pleasure at that sight. A bus roof is an absurd place to put on a show, and the film commits to it so completely that we stop questioning the arrangement. Elliott’s confidence with a large visual joke is sometimes better justified than his faith in a spoken one.
Costume designers Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner give the performers clothes whose extravagance is part of the entertainment. The outfits could easily overwhelm the people inside them, but the actors remain the main attraction. Owen Paterson’s production design joins in the excess, and the amount to look at occasionally distracts from a weak line. Guy Gross supplies the score, though the disco selections do more to keep the journey buoyant. The music is useful company whenever the dialogue has exhausted itself.
Sue Blainey’s editing keeps the trip moving, but the changes from bawdy comedy to serious reflection can still be clumsy. Elliott sometimes adds more sentiment than the performances need, leaving us conscious of how warmly he wants us to feel. That matters in a film whose pleasure depends on enjoying these people without being instructed to approve of them. Yet the quieter passages about Bernadette’s working life deserve their place in a road comedy. We would have kept those passages and trusted Stamp to carry them.
At 103 minutes, the film leaves enough space for its performers without making the journey feel prolonged. The vulgarity is part of the pleasure, so there is little point choosing it in the hope of a decorous evening. Give Stamp as much attention as the costumes.
Every one of the thirteen reviews is positive, and most of the praise gathers around Terence Stamp. Critics from the first festival notices to the retrospectives three decades on call his Bernadette the soul of the film, a revelation and a star turn from an actor working against type. The rest of the credit goes to the costumes, the bitchy dialogue and the disco numbers, with several critics noting how much warmth sits under the vulgarity: a story about wanting a family, told with an old-fashioned belief in happy endings.
The reservations are few and mild. Empire finds it not always as funny as it thinks it is, and says the comedy and the serious points do not quite blend. The Los Angeles Times spots a streak of conventional sentimentality that softens the edge. The spread is narrow, but there is a pattern: the 1994 American reviews are the coolest, and the later British and online writers the warmest.
The critic calls the film a smart, lovable gem and a pioneering LGBT road-trip comedy that remains tremendous and ahead of its time. They single out Terence Stamp's performance as Bernadette for particular praise.
Read the full review →The critic describes it as a gorgeously compelling queer cinema blockbuster with a warm-hearted tale about yearning for family at its core. They single out Terence Stamp's intensely compelling and gorgeous performance as the standout.
Read the full review →The film is a funny, feel-good cult classic about three drag queens on a road trip across Australia that celebrates queer culture and universal themes of self-acceptance and family. It highlights the witty banter, strong performances, and its unexpected mainstream embrace despite the era's challenges.
Read the full review →The critic praises this Australian frock opera for its bitchy wit, fabulous photography and strong performances while addressing serious issues with satirical accuracy. Terence Stamp is singled out as a revelation in the central role.
Read the full review →The review calls the film a brash, liberating and poignant road movie that never gets bogged down thanks to its disco tunes and crackling dialogue. Elliott's Fellini-esque visual panache and the anchoring performances are highlighted as especially impressive.
Read the full review →The critic finds the film a tuneful, camp odyssey with strong performances, especially Terence Stamp's sensational turn as Bernadette, and delirious design, but notes it is not always as funny as it thinks and that the mix of comedy and insights does not entirely succeed.
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La Cage aux Folles · not reviewed yetMore backstage squabbling and hard-earned affection, with far less open road.
Victor/Victoria · not reviewed yetFor musical comedy that enjoys the complications of gender and performance.
PrideAnother generous comedy about queer solidarity, with its sentiment properly earned.
TangerineFor sharper insults and trans characters with little patience for respectability.
Funeral Parade of Roses · not reviewed yetTokyo’s queer nightlife, treated with experimental nerve and considerably less reassurance.
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