Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Melvin W

  
  Miranda: Everything begins and ends at the exact right time and place.  "A recollection of evil." Picnic at Hanging Rock is like nothing you would expect. It has a horror film plot, but it never turns into a horror film. It's haunting, sure, but never terrifying, and… More
  Miranda: Everything begins and ends at the exact right time and place.  "A recollection of evil." Picnic at Hanging Rock is like nothing you would expect. It has a horror film plot, but it never turns into a horror film. It's haunting, sure, but never terrifying, and I am perfectly fine with that. What the movie is, is a brilliantly subtle piece of filmmaking. The atmosphere during the Hanging Rock scenes is amazing and the cinematography throughout the whole movie is perfect. The movie turns into a realistic missing persons story. Shit happens in this world that will never be explained. This story is told with that belief. Stuff happens, and we will never know the outcome. People are abducted and killed daily and some of them we will never find and we will never completely know the truth about what happened to them. Was it a human being? Was it something otherworldly? Who's to say? That's what this movie is all about. A group of students at a girls college in 1900 Australia go for a picnic at Hanging Rock. Four students go away from the group and start exploring the rock formations. Even as we watch them, we have no real idea what is going on, as they disappear behind a rock never to be seen again. One student doesn't follow them and makes it back fine. A teacher goes looking for the missing students and is also never seen again. From there, search parties are put out and the girls wonder what happened to their classmates. But you get the sense that everyone knows it is a lost cause. There's a lot to love if you can stand the extremely slow and eventless pacing of the film. I could to a certain extent, but I found myself, at times, getting very far away from the movie. I couldn't concentrate on the film the whole time, but I could always come back and get right back into the film. With more viewings I think I would like it a lot more.  This movie kind of reminds me of an event prior to The Blair Witch Project. It's the unexplained that leads people to always want answers, but they never will be able to get them and if they try, they too will become part of the mystery. From everything you hear about this movie, it is weird that once you finally watch it, it is nothing like what you expected. Still, it is as haunting a movie as you could ever wish to see, without ever actually being scared.

• Anthony L

  
  Hitchcock once said "The terror isn't in the bang but in the anticipation of it". That rang true as far as I'm concerned with Picnic at Hanging Rock. There may not have been a bang but that's kind of the point. The intrigue and suspense in this film is never… More
  Hitchcock once said "The terror isn't in the bang but in the anticipation of it". That rang true as far as I'm concerned with Picnic at Hanging Rock. There may not have been a bang but that's kind of the point. The intrigue and suspense in this film is never really uncomfortable, it's often quite alluring but as curious the conclusion may be, you almost don't want to know what really happened. That and the beautiful cinematography, haunting soundtrack and steady pace make this something rather special and unforgettable.

• Lafe F

  
  This movie spooked me out with its haunted story of missing schoolgirls and one of their teachers in the Australian wilderness. There's something inexplicably mysterious and evil at Hanging Rock; I'd be scared to go to the actual location where they made this movie. Peter… More
  This movie spooked me out with its haunted story of missing schoolgirls and one of their teachers in the Australian wilderness. There's something inexplicably mysterious and evil at Hanging Rock; I'd be scared to go to the actual location where they made this movie. Peter Weir's film is something special. The scenery is quiet, warm and beautiful at first, but then it turns frightening, like a trap was set off when the girls entered it. Stuck in my mind is the final view of the three girls walking up the path into the rocky opening. The desperate piano and haunting pan pipe music, combined with the low rumbling sound effects really sets the eerie mood. There is something wrong permeating the entire movie, as if it was cursing the viewers. What happened there? The second half of the movie suggests different things, but, as many have said, the more they reveal, the more of a mystery it becomes. Any definite answers or closure would make the movie forgettable. I can see how the Blair Witch Project got some of its ideas here. If those schoolgirls had a camcorder, what would it have captured?

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"What we see and what we seem are but a dream, a dream within a dream."</i> A story about the disappearance of several Appleyard College students, and a teacher, from Hanging Rock. <center><font size=+2 face="Century… More
  <i>"What we see and what we seem are but a dream, a dream within a dream."</i> A story about the disappearance of several Appleyard College students, and a teacher, from Hanging Rock. <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock is a very realistic film, which becomes a fantasy by using a device so simple, it's brilliant. Something is shown to us; then it is taken away in a manner that denies logical explanation to the viewer and the characters alike. Picnic at Hanging Rock spends a fair amount of time committed to creating a garden of eden through the camera. The grass is tall, the leaves are green, the flowers are blooming, birds sing, streams glisten in the sun, all of which is over looked by a very rugged, archaic rock formation, with erosion holes that almost form faces if you look close enough. Picnic at Hanging Rock's decision to embrace anti-conventional realism possibly owes something to the likes of new-wave film makers like Antonioni, Godard, Truffaut, all of whom want to put distance between the screen and the viewer. But for this film, that won't do. Yes it needs to be realistic, but it also needs the viewer's investment. Picnic at Hanging Rock will not have you turn away, I can guarantee that. This is not a bleak film like L'Avventura, this is an enriching and haunting piece of work which makes true statements. When something goes wrong, everybody wants an answer. Weir sells it to us flawlessly, never over doing it or under doing it. As impressive as the movie is, it's not quite great. The performance quality feels over-mannered and the last quarter or so of the movie, feels a bit draggy, choosing to spend time with some of the less interesting characters. I should probably mention now, that this is a movie supposedly based on true events, events which remain unanswered. So all the better it is then that the movie remains also unanswered. Picnic at Hanging Rock, is easily and delightfully beyond standard classification. It is an art film, but one that values the viewers investment more than it values self-indulgently being a rogue (a frequent complaint about art films) ...this is one worth seeing.

• Cindy I

  
  A few minutes into this movie, I was like "Is this what the big deal about this film is? A lot of soft-focus, slow-motion photography (which I have to admit is gorgeously done) of tender young schoolgirls in various stages of undress? PLEASE tell me it's not that lame!"… More
  A few minutes into this movie, I was like "Is this what the big deal about this film is? A lot of soft-focus, slow-motion photography (which I have to admit is gorgeously done) of tender young schoolgirls in various stages of undress? PLEASE tell me it's not that lame!" And I had the fear that Peter Weir was making a mountain out of a molehill, that the story of the missing girls was going to be easily explained away. But something changed once the remaining girls made it back to their school. The tension and just general weirdness really ramped up, and by the end (which I'm not giving away here...those of you who have seen it know what I'm talking about) Rachel Roberts as the headmistress had completely creeped me out. I've been thinking about this film all day. There are a lot of unanswered questions, but I kinda think that was Peter Weir's intention. I thought about watching the film again, but I think I've seen everything that's there. It's up to me to work out the film for myself, not just of the girls' disappearance but also the relationship between the headmistress and Sarah. This is a film that is going to stick with me.

• First L

  
  Picnic at Hanging Rock could be an episode of "History's Mysteries" if only it were an actual historical event. It is, however, an entirely fictionalized account of the disappearance of several members of an all girls school from their class excursion to the aussie… More
  Picnic at Hanging Rock could be an episode of "History's Mysteries" if only it were an actual historical event. It is, however, an entirely fictionalized account of the disappearance of several members of an all girls school from their class excursion to the aussie landmark "Hanging Rock" on Valentine's day, 1900. What makes it strange is not so much that the girls simply wandered away from the group as they seemed to vanish from the face of the earth entirely. I think the period setting lends itself to the bizarre tale, as this situation in modern times would be handled with GPS units and helicopter searches. The rustic setting and minimal search equipment available creates an impression of hopelessness or futility. Director Peter Weir makes a case for supernatural phenomenon, but the film feels dated to the 1970s and the supernatural phase the country went through during that time (Leonard Nemoy's "In Search Of" was a big hit, and kids everywhere kept an eye out for Bigfoot or U.F.O.s). It feels a little like "The Blair Witch Project" meets "The Wicker Man" for some reason. This film has moments of potential greatness, it just fails to act on them and be all it could have been.

• Thomas B

  
  Beautiful and thrilling. Full review later.

• Pierluigi P

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

• jay n

  
  Fascinating mood piece

• Drew S

  
  Now here's a fucking weird film. The atmosphere is like...this gorgeous bubble, teetering bizarrely on the brink of popping, but it never does. It's enchanting. The unresolved plot and dizzyingly slow pace may alienate most viewers, but it really contributes to the film… More
  Now here's a fucking weird film. The atmosphere is like...this gorgeous bubble, teetering bizarrely on the brink of popping, but it never does. It's enchanting. The unresolved plot and dizzyingly slow pace may alienate most viewers, but it really contributes to the film here. I, for one, think the girls got abducted by aliens.

• Steve K

  
  Amazing film. Creepy, well acted. Enigmatic.

• Dr Blood  

  
  With this hauntingly beautiful film, director Peter Weir marked the dawn of a new age in Australian cinema.

• vieras e

  
  Oh, what a wonderful film! The mood was very atmospheric and the setting idyllic - apart from the ruggedness of the rock. Indeed, they were living such a perfect prelapsarian existence (except for poor Sara) before that rock got a hold on them. Some of the girls were such sweet,… More
  Oh, what a wonderful film! The mood was very atmospheric and the setting idyllic - apart from the ruggedness of the rock. Indeed, they were living such a perfect prelapsarian existence (except for poor Sara) before that rock got a hold on them. Some of the girls were such sweet, pretty and innocent little things I could've just eaten them up. I am not at all surprised that Sara is so smitten with Miranda. Who wouldn't be? I love the way everything was left unresolved. *SPOILERY* I was a little concerned when Irma was discovered that everything would be ruined by having the mystery solved, but luckily she remembered nothing. Btw, have any of you who have seen this noticed the faces? The sad, disgruntled faces etched into the stone?

• Steve B

  
  I liked it when I saw it back in '91, but watched it again last year and wondered what the hell I'd been thinking.

• Mike T

  
  I have heard this film called illusory, majestic, eerie, haunting and sexy. Somehow it manages to be all of those things, but this is one of the first movies I've seen in a while that has me truly lost for words. Ingeniously crafted by Peter Weir, it hypnotizes its audience and… More
  I have heard this film called illusory, majestic, eerie, haunting and sexy. Somehow it manages to be all of those things, but this is one of the first movies I've seen in a while that has me truly lost for words. Ingeniously crafted by Peter Weir, it hypnotizes its audience and leaves an impression like few other movies will. An essential classic.

• Steve S

  
  This looked for all the world to be a clever historical thriller, apparently based on a real event. It smacked of lesbian love triangles, deception and murder, not unlike Heavenly Creatures. Not only did it end ambiguously, I later had a chance to check out the book and discovered… More
  This looked for all the world to be a clever historical thriller, apparently based on a real event. It smacked of lesbian love triangles, deception and murder, not unlike Heavenly Creatures. Not only did it end ambiguously, I later had a chance to check out the book and discovered that it is complete fiction. The author, Joan Lindsay did her best to imply, both in the book and in interviews, that it was factual. The woman is a fraud and a dolt. Her original explanation at the ending was so absurd, it had to be edited out and the story made into a mystery that is never solved. Without any sort of conclusion, be it one that solves the mystery or not, the movie has a hollow feel that would be intriguing it it were a true story, but is simply meaningless otherwise. Nevertheless, Picnic At Hanging Rock makes a good atmosphere piece and has some great location photography and wardrobe, it you can get past the fact that the story is never resolved, and never really happened.

• Eduardo C

  
  Miranda's reading of Edgar Alan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" is a beautiful and effective way to open "Picnic at Hanging Rock". The film takes place in an Australian finishing school in the year 1900 where Edgar Alan Poe's vulgar, low-brow… More
  Miranda's reading of Edgar Alan Poe's "A Dream Within a Dream" is a beautiful and effective way to open "Picnic at Hanging Rock". The film takes place in an Australian finishing school in the year 1900 where Edgar Alan Poe's vulgar, low-brow publications would hardly be considered proper for a young lady. There is also the matter of Miranda's reading itself: wistful, haunting and completely devoid of irony. The film has not even started and we already know that this girl is not of her time. There is an undercurrent of repressed sexuality running through the Victorian school, but unlike the majority of her teachers and classmates Miranda happily acknowledges it. She is friendly, outgoing, flirtacious and demure. Where other girls rely on timid smiles and absent caresses without fully being aware of what they are doing she is remarkably open about her feelings. During the fateful expedition to Hanging Rock, Miranda and three other people effectively vanish without a trace. Days later, one of the girls is found but is unable to remember anything that happened to her. The mystery of their disappearance haunts everyone who encountered it and is never truly resolved. What is it about unsolved mysteries that so incites our passions? We struggle to attribute meaning to the random, to bring some order out of chaos as if our lives depend on it. Our need for the illusion of control over our own lives is so great that we would willingly renounce beauty of the ethereal for the false security of anything we can pretend to explain. The obsession with the girl's disappearance ultimately leads to the school's downfall. It closes down and characters move away, but they never really move on. They don't seem to want to. They keep searching, hoping for that one last clue that will bring balance back into their respective worlds. To say that the disappearance makes no sense, however, is false. It makes perfect sense even if it cannot be explained. The film goes out of its way to show us what happened, how and why without ever feeling the need to sacrifice poetry for prose. From the very beginning Miranda's disappearance is not only inevitable but natural. It is clear she does not belong to this world, much less to this school. Before the trip she even warns Sara, whom she cares deeply about, to learn to love someone else because she will not be there for much longer. Her arrival at Hanging Rock is marked by every clock stopping at 12.00. Nothing seems out of the ordinary until, one by one, Miranda and her her friends begin to ascend the mountain. This was no idle act of exploration. The rock called to them, and they had heard and responded. Also called was Mrs. McCraw, whose masculinity and fierce intelligence make her no more a product of her time than Miranda. Trailing behind is Edith, who was not called, is very much a product of her time, and is desperately trying to keep up with the girls she so idolizes but unwilling or unable to fully commit to it. It is no surprise, then, that Edith eventually turns around, frightened, and runs down the hill while the other girls ascend and ascend until they are never seen again. The ascent itself is particularly revelatory. The girls seem almost posessed by a sexual frenzy. It begins seductively enough, with the girls moving as one as they begin to shed their clothes without saying a word. The more clothing they shed the more fervently they ascend. When the film shows it from their point of view the climb is liberating. When the film switches to Edith's point of view it is terrifying in its intensity. To the rest of the world, the disappearance was a tragedy. To the girls and the teacher, it was a blessing. There was nothing for them in this world, after all. Having been spirited away they are now no longer a part of a specific time but of all time. Some creatures simply were not meant for this world and it is an unbearable act of cruelty to forcefully keep them here.

• MJS M

  
  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 threshold… More
  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 threshold 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.

• Dimitris S

  
  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… More
  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 treatise on questionable events,the mythology behind them and how nature is arguably both a friend and a foe to the living creatures.

• Tom S

  
  Plants got 'em.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings