Plot
Peter Weir's haunting and evocative mystery is set in the Australia of 1900, a mystical place where the British have attempted to impose their Christian culture with such tweedy refinements as a girls' boarding school. After gauzily-photographed, nicely underplayed scenes of the girls' budding sexuality being restrained in Victorian corsets, the uptight headmistress (Rachel Roberts) takes them on a Valentine's Day picnic into the countryside, and several of the girls, led by the lovely Miranda (Anne Lambert) decide to explore a nearby volcanic rock formation. It's a desolate, primitive, vaguely menacing place, where one can almost feel the presence of ancient pagan spirits. Something -- and there is an unspoken but palpable emphasis on the inherent carnality of the place -- draws four of the girls to explore the rock. Three never return. No one ever finds out why. The repercussions for the school are tragic, and of course Roberts reacts with near-crazed anger, but what really happened? Weir gives enough clues to suggest any number of explanations, both physical and supernatural. ~ Robert Firsching, RoviReview
The first significant splash made by the Australian New Wave on world cinema, Picnic at Hanging Rock is director Peter Weir's haunting, delicate, and exquisitely photographed tale of three young girls who disappear during a school outing in the year 1900. It hints at what is to come in films like Weir's truly shattering The Last Wave and in coming-of-age films such as Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career - a new look at an exotic country's early days and unique history. Weir was a foremost force in the rebirth of Australian cinema, using period pieces such as this one, combined with heavy atmospherics and a fresh take on colonialism, to promote a kind of mystical super-realism that is evident in most of his films and those of Australian directors who followed him. Weir's refusal to provide a satisfying end to his puzzle of a story is also emblematic of a fresh approach that strays from a rationalized Western viewpoint into more supernatural realms that are linked to the aboriginal culture of the continent. ~ Michael Betzold, RoviCast
- Rachel Roberts - Mrs. Appleyard
- Dominic Guard - Michael Fitzhubert
- Vivean Gray - Miss Greta McGraw
- Helen Morse - Diane de Poitiers
- Kirsty Child - Dora Lumley
Credit
David Copping - Art Director, Judith Dorsman - Costume Designer, Peter Weir - Director, Max Lemon - Editor, Patricia Lovell - Executive Producer, Bruce Smeaton - Composer (Music Score), John Seale - Camera Operator, Russell Boyd - Cinematographer, Hal McElroy - Producer, Jim McElroy - Producer, Clifford Green - Screenwriter, Joan Lindsay - Book Author| Picnic (1990 Film), Picnic (2000 Film) | |
| Pico De Gallo (2003 Film), Pictoplasma: Characters in Motion (2005 Film) |
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