Review of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) by Thomas G — 16 Feb 2010

Filmmaker Peter Weir has an impressive resume, which includes one of my favorite films about the power of the classroom; Dead Poetâ??s Society, and the wonderfully inventive fable The Truman Show. But none of his works compare to the natural beauty of the mysterious atmospheric overtones in Picnic at Hanging Rock, adapted from the Joan Lindsay novel of the same name. The film is most famous for the depiction of three girls and a teacher who goes missing when on a school field trip on Valentineâ??s Day to Hanging Rock, a weird, if not dangerous geological formation. Additionally, the narrative never once spells out the answers, or gives answers. If this sounds awfully close to an art movie that is because it is an art movie. Telling the story through beautiful cinematography, much like a Terrance Malik or David Gordon Green would, Picnic at Hanging Rock is a movie that puts more stock in symbols and careful motifs rather than a straight-forward Hollywood police procedural. And it is all the better for it.

The action takes place in 1900, at an all girl school in the Australian bush. The head principal of the school, Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts), has requested the students to go on a field trip to Hanging Rock. Sara (Margaret Nelson) is a quiet rebel who seems to be oddly obsessed with her friend Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert), one of the three girls who go missing, which include Irma (Karen Robson) and Marion (Jane Vallis). The introduction scenes leading up to the trip to Hanging Rock seem ordinary and simple. You got your group of best friends, girls helping tie each otherâ??s corsetâ??s, the mean principal lecturing to the mute Sara to memorize a poem, and horse ride there that includes a swift passing through a town where the children chase the carriage. When we get to Hanging Rock, the beautifully designed images begin to paint a narrative that invokes uncertainty and curiosity. There are two boys at Hanging Rock who take a kind look at the four girls who scurry past a dirty puddle. Michael (Dominic Guard) and Albert (John Jarratt) carefully observe the girls, with Albert saying some offensive things aloud to his buddy.

Edith (Christine Schuler) is the heavier one of the group of four that break off from the rest of the class and explore the volcanic rock formation to its deepest confinements. She complains most of the time, but the three girls seem to be sort of mesmerized by the whole campaign. They start shooting out lines that question the existence of humanity and the how every thing starts and ends at the same point at a valid time. They each take off their shoes, and going barefoot, explore a more narrow part of Hanging Rock. What seems to be a bunch of crazy prophecies begins to take a more important presence when Edith screams, runs back to the class, and eventually, buses back to the school where Mrs. Appleyard is informed about the disappearance of the three girls and the one teacher. Contrasting from a regular procedural and more concentrated on creating a certain mood for the audience, Weir begins illustrating a movie that creates as many theories as it does questions. And this is by no means a flaw.

Part of writing a review, well Iâ??d say the most crucial element, is retelling the experience you partook in. Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of those movies that moviegoers ponder over for years, coming up with their own theories and interpretations that range from simple to wildly out of left field. I felt supernatural vibes coming from the poetic first segment of Hanging Rock. The pitch perfect eerie musical score and the layered dread of the tone really enhanced my suspicions. The suspense driven scenes driving Michael back to Hanging Rock to look for the missing girls is startling and extremely creepy. It also sheds some light on the mystery, as Albert, after finding Michael in a trance of sorts, discovers Irma, one of the three missing students, lying unconscious. She is alive.

However, contrary to the good news delivered, Mrs. Appleyard claims she is more concerned with the 6 students that will be missing from next tenure. Parents are pulling their children out of the school because of the tragedy, and rather than mourn over the loss, Appleyard obsesses over the long overdue payments regarding the quiet rebel Sara. Picnic at Hanging Rock slowly transitions from kidnapping mystery to meditation on the repressed emotions of tightly wound up females through the perspective of Sara. In the beginning reels you learn she has some sort of lesbian-like connection to Miranda, the heart and soul of the story. Attracted by both the boy and the girl in the film, Miranda is the catalyst for the filmâ??s theme of sexual awakening. The symbolic three rocks representing not only the three girls but the curvatures of a certain female body part, the way Mrs. Appleyard conducts business with a teacher in her office, and the taking off of the shoes showcasing the readiness for consensual love really add to the sexual tensions embedded throughout. Why does Edith fail to follow suit? She is just not ready, perhaps not as confident in herself like the others. Edith also claims that she saw Miss McCraw running toward the plateau without her skirt on. All of this information is given a haunting dignity because it wisely takes place off screen.

But before further study is taken into account, one must consider the following; does the film really give answers, or just clues that lead you to your own answers? I think Weir, and Joan Lindsay for that matter, craft a story built on clues that lead you to your own answer. The girls could have been raped and murdered by two boys, abducted by aliens that left one girl behind withholding the memory of her encounter, fall down a deep hole never to be seen again, or stuck in some sort of time loop or black hole similar to a Bermuda Triangle of sorts. All of these theories have more holes in them than Swiss cheese. However, what does not have holes is the way the film unfolds in new ways and different directions with every scene that transpires right before our eyes. Weir has crafted a true study of humanityâ??s connection with nature.

Picnic at Hanging Rock arrives to a tragic and heart-breaking conclusion. It is sad, poignant, and informative all at the same time. Overlooking the way the film is shot would be a severe crime, telling the story as if it really did occur in the year 1900- but do not be confused with wrong comparisons to The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. Valentineâ??s Day did not occur on a Saturday in 1900, nor was there ever an account of three girls and a teacher who go missing at Hanging Rock, a fictional name of a very true rock formation in Australia. I actually keep finding myself comparing it to Lars von Trierâ??s Antichrist. Stay with me; both account people encountering nature, with deadly/dangerous consequences. Each have a bundle of questions that keep the viewer intrigued and at the same time takes a stance on a feminine issue; Antichirst scours the inner demons of the female mind, and if they are their by origin or by conditioning. Picnic at Hanging Rock explores the beaten minds of the female gender, oneâ??s so wound up in routine and academics it is obvious to see why some of the girls resemble lesbian and mute behaviors.

Ranging from the sublime acting and subtle script from Cliff Green, to wonderful stills from Russel Boyd and the creepy score composed of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, Picnic at Hanging Rock is an enjoyable film for those looking for artistic deconstruction. As the birds circle the sky overlooking Hanging Rock and its mystery vibe, so too does the missing girls and the teacher that followed with them. The geologic formations, for my money, reminded me that we are all here on this earth for a certain purpose. What that purpose entails is too powerful to be seen, much like the solution to the missing. The doctor proclaims Irma to be one of the most fascinating cases he has ever looked upon. She took off her shoes yet does not bare any of the symptoms on the bottom of her feet. Did she somehow manage to fly? Get abducted? If you are looking for answers, do not bother visiting Picnic at Hanging Rock. If you are searching for a spellbinding mystery with careful thematic undertones, then you are surely in luck.