Stephan Elliott

Priscilla is Elliott's masterpiece (in both senses). Frauds is a very good film, brilliantly plotted and executed, but lacking in empathy: I don't care about any of the characters, neither the exploited nor the villain. Priscilla hits all the marks. (I could go on, and probably should.)

Then we come to Woop Woop. Stephan had the permission of the universe (and his financial backers, I presume) to make this, because of the huge success of Priscilla. So we could think of this as being as-good-as-it's-ever-going-to-get in his oeuvre. It's so OTT (excessive, over-the-top) that it could not - as they say - 'find an audience'. But take a moment (as it were - because it's 97 minutes in duration) to stand in front of it (as if it were a painting) and regard it as a whole. It defies almost any kind of classification; there is hardly any empathy possible with any character; it's vulgar (I mean obscene but wouldn't want it to be banned). It's lots of things: it's Stephan Elliott. Accept it, enjoy it as best you can. It exists, thank the goddess: there's nothing really like it. I hope it's useful to suggest that it's not surrealist; it's hyperbolic. But, as I've already said, it defies classification.

Frauds (Stephan Elliott, 1993) wr. Stephan Elliott; comedy; Phil Collins, Hugo Weaving; story of the ways in which insurance investigator Roland Copping (Collins) interferes in and manipulates the lives of others with outrageous games and gimmicks; eventually he becomes involved in an escalating vendetta with a couple (Jonathan and Beth Wheat, Hugo Weaving and Josephine Byrne) who make an unusual insurance claim; surrealistic black comedy

Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, The (Stephan Elliott, 1994) wr. Stephan Elliott; Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce; comedy

Welcome to Woop Woop (Stephan Elliott, 1997) aka The Big Red; wr. Douglas Kennedy (novel) & Michael Thomas; Rod Taylor, Johnathon Schaech, Susie Porter, Dee Smart, Richard Moir, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Barry Humphries, Mark Wilson, Paul Mercurio

Eye of the Beholder (Stephan Elliott, 1999) Canada/UK/Aust copro; Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, Patrick Bergin; mystery thriller

Black Oasis (Stephan Elliott, 2008) biopic of Susan Cabot; NOT Australasian; not released?

Easy Virtue (Stephan Elliott, 2008) Canada/UK; NOT Australasian

Few Best Men, A (Stephan Elliott, 2012) wr. Dean Craig, dp Stephen F. Windon; Laura Brent, Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall; comedy

Horizon (Stephan Elliott, 2016) telemovie; Anna Bauert, Matthew Clarke, Indigo Felton; gay community; 55 min.; screened 1 November 2016?

Swinging Safari (Stephan Elliott, 2018) aka Flammable Children; wr. Stephan Elliott, prod. Jamie Hilton, pd Colin Gibson, costume Lizzy Gardiner, music Guy Gross, ed. Sue Blainey; Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Radha Mitchell, Jeremy Sims, Julian MacMahon, Asher Keddie; set in Dee Why, 1975, satire; released 18Jan

Garry Gillard | New: 4 November, 2012 | Now: 26 May, 2023