Picnic at Hanging Rock

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  August 9, 2009

  her69eyes

  "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is based on a 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay that speaks of three girls and a teacher vanishing during an outing at Hanging Rock. Although the legend is believed to be true in some circles, it's impossible to find facts that suggest it did - there is no accou...( read more)nt of missing schoolgirls at the time, for instance, nor was Valentine's Day on Saturday in 1900. The film, however, is nevertheless so fascinating and inconclusive that it still spurs countless hours of debate as to the whereabouts of the girls.
  
  The film takes place at a boarding school for girls in Woodend, Victoria. The college teaches strict discipline and a conservation of the Victorian sensibility. Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts) runs this school, a rigid and uptight witch of a woman, who is clearly sexually repressed. In fact, many fans of the film have theorized that Appleyard is in love with one of her beautiful students, Sara (Margaret Nelson), an outsider who appears to have feeling towards her roommate, Miranda (Ann Lambert).
  
  Nineteen girls and two teachers head off for an afternoon field trip at Hanging Rock. They're all dressed in Victorian lace, and the expedition is accompanied by a hypnotic track of pan flute and a chorus of cicadas. Four girls will wander up through the rocks, and Edith (Chrstine Schuler), the chunky outcast, will wake up and notice she is alone. Were they taken away by surviving aboriginals? Did they fall into a crevice? Were they raped by the onlooking young boys also present on that day? Or perhaps it has something to do with UFO's or other supernatural forces?
  
  It doesn't matter. The film is a sort of rorschach inkblot test for the audience - we are given an extraordinarily vague situation, and are forced to draw our own conclusions. The film's mystery is not unlike the famous mystery from Michelangelo Antonioni's "L'avventura", in which a young girl is forever lost on an island in the Mediterranean.
  
  The sexual undertones throughout the film are rampant - most apparently on Hanging Rock itself. Vaginal caves, phallic rocks, bits of lace left behind to be discovered. The sexual desires remain forever hidden or repressed through the disappearances at Hanging Rock.
  
  The film's puzzle is fascinating, and I admired the entire sequence at Hanging Rock itself. It's perhaps a bit too long, however, and I didn't find Mrs. Appleyard compelling enough to sustain my interest in the latter half of the film. It's a movie easy to appreciate, but not as easy to love.

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  September 15, 2008

  bort16

  Good movies tell good stories. Great movies create an unforgettable sensual atmosphere while telling good stories. There is no more sensual art than filmmaking. Films can create distinctive moods. Moods that stay with you for days, weeks, months, years. In a recent review, I disc...( read more)ussed the eerie atmosphere of CT Dreyer's visual masterpiece Vampyr. That spurred me to revisit another masterpiece of mood.
  Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of the most memorable films I have ever seen. First, it tells a frustratingly intriguing story. On Valentines Day 1900, a group of Australian private schoolgirls go on an outing to Victoria's hanging rock. While exploring the rocks, three girls vanish into thin air after walking hypnotically onto a pathway. Another girl, terrified, runs away. On her way down she claims she saw one of their teachers, without her skirt, going up the rocks. She, too, disappears. It is not really a spoiler to divulge that the teacher and 2 of the 3 girls are never seen again. Not even a trace. The third girl is found a week later, alive but with no memory of the incident.
  The second reason why this film is so memorable, and the reason that elevates its subject matter, is the mood that Weir creates. He and his cinematographer capture the story in lush, dream like photography. They often used the simple trick of placing a bridal veil in front of the camera to shoot though, making the picture hazy and dreamish. The actors, particularly the school girls at the rock, move with a slow, meandering gait, as if hypnotized or drawn to something not even they understand.
  One of the keys to striking the mood and atmosphere of the film is the music. It is constantly ominous, but not simply by itself. The camera movements, the picture, the choreography of actors and the music all work together. It's this combination that creates the film's awesomely eerie atmosphere.
  And of course, Hanging Rock itself. If ever a natural landscape existed for the sole purpose of filming a movie, it is hanging rock. It is terrorizing in its odd beauty. It, along with the rest of the physical elements in the film, feel threatening at all times. When two young men, who saw the girls the day they disappeared, search the rock for any signs, one is nearly claimed by the rocks. (An interesting note, a few people have recently pointed out to me that the cuts and marks on this boy, and the cuts and marks found on the found girl are nearly identical - perhaps a hint to the films mystery?)
  And that is what has never left me.
  Obviously, the story in Picnic at Hanging Rock, based on the novel, stuck and continues to strike a sour note with audiences. Especially today. Understandable. People naturally want answers. However, I've always been a firm believer that what is imagined is always more terrifying, more interesting than what is presented. Just as the aliens in Signs were far scarier when they were left off screen or in blurred or shadowy images, just as the monster in Cloverfield was more interesting and intimidating before we got a clear look at it, Picnic at Hanging Rock retains it's elusive fascination through its ambiguity.
  The story also deals with a number of subtle and not so subtle themes. Sexuality is one example. The main character (although she has only about 1/2 hour of screen time) is the object of quite possibly a lesbian crush - Sarah, an orphan. She becomes the major focus of attention after the disappearance, along with Mrs Appleyard, the brutish schoolmarm, growing ever more distressed in the aftermath of the disappearances.
  Picnic at Hanging Rock is not an unforgettable film simply the reasons I have discussed here, but because of the way they all work together to create such a creepy and threatening atmosphere. It is the perfect example of the old adage 'the sum is more than the parts.'

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  April 7, 2008

  wellmeetagain

  First film from the "Australian New Wave" to crash onto U.S. shores. Fantastic visually and a top notch soundtrack. Highly recommended.

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  February 26, 2008

  pier007

  Picturesque blend of psychological thriller and victorian drama with interesting atmosphere and symbolisms. however, it is too ambiguous and taciturn for its own good.

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  November 13, 2007

  organgrinder136

  this one started off slowly and when pace did improve, the acted parts were over-done but throughout there was an unnervingly supernatural vibe and a clever idea of providing no answers or any resolution whatsoever. it held my attention due to this air and mystery surrounding hap...( read more)penings towards the end, despite me being dubious during the first half hour. by the time the credits roll by the viewer is left helpless as if they were in a dreamy world or lucid unescapable nightmare, and it's the old perfect recipe for anything supernatural or scary. it's what you don't see! as it finished i was a bit spooked and wanting a 2nd film to explain it all to me but as miranda says "everything begins and ends at the exactly right time and place"

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  October 31, 2009

  malcolmjovidennis

  Ghost story without the ghost? I dont know much about that but this movie is very well done. Im not sure what genre it is but it doesn?t sit awkwardly between two. Seeing this as a kid it scared me but it is a good movie. There are some plot holes and things are unclear but that ...( read more)is how the filmmakers intended it to be. Some say its a milestone in Australian cinema, I dont know a lot about that but it?s an atmospheric film with a good story and solid acting.

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  October 20, 2009

  Rikki89

  One of the most boring films I have ever seen

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  October 8, 2009

  Dracula787

  This film is notable for being the first widely seen film from the great director Peter Weir and secondly for being the first Australian movie to get a wide international audience. The film is set in Australia circa 1900 and deals with a girls boarding school placed on the thres...( read more)hold of the Outback. As the title suggests, the girls go on a picnic in, you guessed it, the hanging rock (which was sort of an odd rock formation in the middle of a desert). The trip goes awry when four of the students seem to go into a trance, walk off, and disappear.
  
  That?s an intriguing set up, but the movie famously offers no resolution to the situation, most of the girls are never found and the disappearance is never explained. So what we?re basically offered here is a mystery with no solution. That is sort of an infuriating set up that hurts the film from really satisfying as a mere story. This can be seen either as a frustration or as a challenge, what would make Weir put something like this together only to leave the audience hanging?
  
  Well, for one thing, we do get the story of how this disappearance effects the people at the school who didn?t disappear. Like the audience they are left baffled and troubled by the experience, the whole thing reminded me of a recent Atom Egoyan film called The Sweet Hereafter. Also, one can look at these girls wearing full Victorian outfits while hiking through this harsh environment, that?s a pretty odd sight and it reminded me of Ray Winstone trying to have Christmas in the middle of the Outback in The Proposition. It would seem that this suggests that European sophistication and the Outback does not mix, people going in with that attitude are only going to get killed. That they artfully disappear rather than tripping into a chasm only underscores the symbolism. One could perhaps come to the conclusion that the rustic ?ocker? behavior that Australia is known for emerged for a reason.
  
  What?s more, the film has some really good scenery (the titular formation is indeed impressive) and it generates some really somber atmosphere. As such this was hard not to respect even if the odd nature of the story makes it sort of an unsatisfactory viewing experience.

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  October 2, 2009

  jimbotender

  For what it's worth,ghost stories are at their best when the monumental hour of illusion takes place in the minds of the victims.Not exactly a feminist work of art but the eeriness of the girls and the trembling musical notes assist Weir to film in a surprisingly warm scenery his...( read more) treatise on questionable events,the mythology behind them and how nature is arguably both a friend and a foe to the living creatures.

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  August 28, 2009

  ristrawn

  simple trips could have mishaps... no where is safe-proof...

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  June 30, 2007

  lovemypeepstall

  Gorgeous movie!! The scenery and soundtrack really make this a magical film. There is only one word to describe this expirience: Surreal!!
  
  A great movie!
  
  P.S i think it was those boys who did it.

• Anne-Louise Lambert
• Dominic Guard
• Helen Morse
• Kirsty Child
• Rachel Roberts
• Tony Llewellyn-Jones.
• Vivean Gray

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• True or False: Mel Gibson had a role in Picnic at Hanging Rock.  Answer »
• This 1975 hit is considered to be Australia's first international No. 1 hit. It is about how several collage students and a teacher disappear while on a picnic. What film is it?  Answer »
• The soundtrack to Kill Bill features the haunting panpipe melody by Gheorge Zamfir - The Lonely Shepherd. Which other movie does the tune feature in?  Answer »
• Who was the director of the Australian classic "Picnic at Hanging Rock"?  Answer »

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