Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) by Joseph B — 19 Apr 2016

Peter Weir's beautiful 1975 mystery "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is a majestic tour-de-force like nothing else Weir would ever make in the future. At the center of the story is the strange disappearance of three schoolgirls and their math teacher from the Appleyard College for Girls in Victoria, Austrailia, and the reverberating effect it has on the school, the girls and the community afterwards. Through the whole film the strange and alluring rock formation called Hanging Rock that was formed more than a million years ago hovers over the characers and its mysteries baffle everyone in the film. As one girl puts it, Hanging Rock "has been waiting a million years, just for us.".

It's St. Valentine's Day and the girls are going on a picnic to celebrate. As if a bit of foreshadowing for what will come, before they leave the school the beautiful and amiable Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert) tells Sara (Margaret Nelson) that she won't be there too much longer. Sara hasn't many friends, she's an orphan and Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts) doesn't like her much and forces her to stay behind in order to learn Felicia Hemans poetry. While at the picnic, strange things start to happen like the watches of some of the characters stopping. Miranda and three other girls decide to go up the rock.

What happens the further up you go on these rocks is a mystery throughout the entire film. The camera always looks up at the faces of these rock formations as it cuts to looking down at the people trying to make sense and climb up it. It may be frustrating to some people to never receive any closure to the disappearances of the girls and teacher. Hauntingly hypnotic music taunts the viewers when the rock formation is at the center of the scenes.

A young Englishman named Michael Fitzhubert (Dominic Guard) is questioned because he saw the girls before their journey up the rock. At first he doesn't mention that he followed them for awhile. This turns out problematic when Sgt. Bumpher (Wyn Roberts) in a exchange with Michael hints at sexual assault after a revelation that Mrs. McCraw (Vivien Grey) was seen going up the rock in just her underwear. This prompts Michael to recruit the help of his valet Albert (John Jarratt) who agrees. After Albert leaves Michael overnight he returns the next day to see him injured but a piece of cloth in his hand. After returning Michael to safety Albert returns to the rock and finds one of the girls.

The disappearance causes some extreme hardships for Mrs. Appleyard. Suddenly she's losing money because parents are taking their young girls out of the school. This causes her to be extremely hard on Sara leading to devestating consequences.

The film is based on the novel by Joan Lindsey who had a final chapter that resolves the story but it was taken out at the suggestion of her editor. Later that final chapter would be released pothusmously.

Nothing underlies this film more than sexual hysteria and the possibility of sexual abuse against the girls. The girl returning is missing her corset but it's not repeated to the sergeant because it's unnecessary information. This is a great film that acts and thinks like a horror film without all the gore and shocks in favor of a simple structure and unresolved story.