Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) by Tonypolito — 08 Nov 2010

A dreamy, stylish, sensual period piece where several schoolgirls vanish during an 1900 outing from their Victorian-Era Australian boarding school. Unlike most mystery cinema, this film delivers endless clues but absolutely no solution whatsoever.

Foreboding & ominous dialogue, anthropomorphism of the Outback through its sounds, creatures and geography, and Zamfir's pan flute all gently transform events into a tale of creepy mystery. Acts 2&3 chronicle the subsequent disintegration of the school and headmistress.

From a fictional 1967 novel, informed by the author's boarding school years. A Criterion restoration.

Strongest clue on deck is Victorian-styled sexual/social repression constantly oozing from the school's elitist inhabitants. Schoolgirls subtlety profess their mutual love, though they are later warned off partaking in any "tomboy exploration." There's sensual/eager peeling off of the gloves, shoes, hosiery society demands; other references to prudish, restrictive corsets/clothing of the era abound. The lost girls hypnotically climb toward phallic "Hanging Rock." A gorgeous teacher ogles her student, proclaiming her a Botticelli angel. Female survivors of the incident, fortunately for them, are declared "intact." An English boy's torn between the stylish lost girls - and a rugged male Outbacker.

All while an obsessively stern headmistress (likely frustrated by husband's absence) and ever-watchful portraits of Queen Victoria ensure the strict obedience and control of everyone.

Hence the REAL disappearance (or symbolic disappearance, if you will) being portrayed in this film is that of repressive Victorian values/elitism from 1900s Australia, fended off by undeniable human sexuality - as well as by Australia's refusal of cultural domination by the British. Society - as the lost girls and many of the school's other inhabitants simply walked away from Victorian values, leading to their ending, as one schoolgirl states, "at exactly the right time and place.".

RECOMMENDATION: See it. A worthy viewing, telling and restoration.