PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK - Movie Review

[@nathanclark7235]

The lady who played Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert) is my psychotherapist! She helps me manage my PTSD. I see her once a month by Zoom video. I got to meet her in person in Bangalow New South Wales. Anne is a wonderful person and I'm deeply grateful to her for helping me at this time in my life. Picnic at Hanging Rock also happens to be my favourite film, and it blows me away that I get to talk to her about it. Anne, if you happen to find this comment, thank you so much for everything!

[@andrewthompson6908]

Never ask her about the significance of the number. 96

[@tinahillsdon2776]

@@andrewthompson6908 why

[@GlynDwr-d4h]

I'm fairly certain this movie had a huge influence on David Lynch. The Miranda character gives off Laura Palmer vibes and the basic concept behind it is that it's a mystery film that can never be solved, which is really what Lynch was doing in any number of films. If you watch Hanging Rock a second or third time, you start to notice weird details in it that are like clues and the film just becomes more mysterious with each viewing. The answer to the mystery seems to grow ever more distant and obscure the harder you look for it.

[@disgorgingconsciousness2250]

Awesome to see you review this film. Living in Australia, this film is especially important. Only last night were my mother and I discussing how both the story and film moved us so deeply.

[@lacrimatorium]

Also one of my all-time favorite films. I originally saw it in a theatre in Berkeley California in 1979. And I have been haunted by it ever since. Maggie have you ever considered all of the allusions to Greek mythology within the film? Miranda is compared to Aphrodite/Venus over and over. She is seen on the clam shell, a la Botticelli. Speaking of which, at one point she is compared to a Botticelli angel, while the picture in the book is of the Birth of Venus. Then there are the swans, the bird of Venus. The event takes place on St. Valentines Day, the celebration of sensual love. The girls on the rock look down like goddesses on Mount Olympus and speak in strange unearthly pronouncements. Weir has always been very cagey about this, much like Don McLean discussing American Pie. But those Greek mythological allusions were no accident. I have always considered this to be a meditations on the old gods. Almost as if the Greek gods returned, possessed the hearts of those they passed by, then returned back to Olympus. And to buttress my point, Weir's next film is the Last Wave, also a meditation upon the same. But obviously Picnic at Hanging Rock is about so much more. Thanks for thinking about this out loud Maggie.

[@eternaldoorman5228]

Ah, I thought it was Boticelli's Primavera, and I was going to go and check that. Joan Lindsay's interview around the time the film was made is interesting. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHinnHmEiNR5ibM

[@lacrimatorium]

@@eternaldoorman5228 Thanks. It's been a while since I saw the film, and I am quite far from my video library. But even if it was Primavera, the massage is the same. Thanks for the interview link.

[@davidsidwell]

I live only 1 hour from Hanging Rock and back in the 1970s some of my teachers researched the story. They pointed out something fascinating: MIRAnda, MARIon, IRMA. A 4th combination is RIMA, which they said was a crack, like in the ground....

[@aaronmcdonaldful]

Im glad you also noted the Sofia Coppola influence. The virgin suicides is without question a homage to Picnic at Hanging Rock and a very charming one at that. I studied the novel and film in my final year of High school, which coincidentally was the same year the virgin suicides was released. Sophio Coppola, understands the essence behind creating a visual feast. The relationship between aesthetic and music is so carefully thought out and stylised, you can almost taste it. I feel the same way with picnic. The narrative is less guided by dialogue, which is notably sparse and minimal, and allows the visual and musical elements to take a pivotal role in contructung the implicity of the story, and it does so in the most abstract and mesmerising fashion, inviting the viewer to create their own personal interpretation, in a similar way one would to a piece of music or an artwork in a museum. Every frame and camera angle captures the rock as if it were one of the central protagonists. The enigmatic scenery and sun drenched Australian landscape is a cinematographers fantasy and it's an even bigger blessing this film was made in the 70s, as it compliments the hazy atmosphere, the soft, creamy pastels and earthy tones blended in a saturated palette reminiscent of an impressionist painting. Actually the Heidelberg school, was a Australian art movement that was inspired by the impressionists. It's often called Australian impressionism as the painting style was very similar, yet the geography of the natural landscape in Australia, was completely unique to the Europeans and thus it attempted to piant the landscape accordingly.

[@cheapcinemachannel4548]

One of the best movies of the 70s, which is saying a lot. As someone who has spent a lot of time alone in the woods it captures the eeriness better than anything I can think of. The scenes at the rock, with that score.....extraordinary.

[@78deathface]

“Miranda is a Botticelli angel”

[@Shah-of-the-Shinebox]

Picnic at Hanging Rock, to me, is a nostalgic and haunting loss of innocence, it has a hazy feel to it. The color of it looks like a glass of champagne. Peter Weir is a very underrated director, who is more recognized for his mainstream films (Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show) while his earlier work (this film, The Last Wave and Gallipoli) is more profound and overlooked.

[@wanderingseth]

Perfectly described

[@running179]

I couldn't agree with you *more* about this film. I saw when I was about 17, and I've never stopped feeling haunted by it, esp by the lack of absolute info as to what happened to the girls and their teacher. And it's visually gorgeous. Just a masterpiece.

[@helvete_ingres4717]

Comes the closest of any film I've seen to a convincing depiction on camera of something mystical or utterly beyond verbal explanation, and achieved w/such simplicity - thru use of sound and crescendo and an ineffable something that transforms freely between religious dread, repressed sexuality, and spiritual ecstasy. The world and our understanding of it is a fiction that's full of holes - some girls walked into one such hole and never came out again. Call it a 'mystery' if you want, but it's no more and no less than that. This movie is the cinematic proof that mysteries are meant to be deepened, not solved. I don't see value in choosing 'favourites' - not with movies anyway, maybe with children it makes more sense - but nevertheless I've thought of this as one of mine since I first saw it

[@thoso1973]

I'd say it's more than the spark of a specific Australian film movement; it's the spark of a homegrown Australian cultural identity, separate from its British roots. Stunning film. I still haven't seen a bad Peter Weir film; not even a mediocre one either.

[@jdabishop9926]

Maybe the best use of pan flute in a movie

[@wooleyalan5229]

Great review. I was especially taken by your take on the girls' ascension up into the rocks. This was the most powerful part of the movie to me - the piano arpeggios and choral background (with all the key changes) lifts us all into making that ascension together with them. Very gripping.

[@kimn9802]

An intelligent insightful review. A rarity. You just gained a subscriber. The movie illustrates the mystery of the vast timelessness of the Australian landscape. It's steeped in elements of indigenous Australian spirituality and their relationship with the land.

[@Tolstoy111]

Peter Weir dealt with smaller, insular societies embedded within larger societies (Witness, Dead Poets Society, Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave... )

[@bradforddillman7671]

Love, love, love Picnic at Hanging Rock. One of my favorite films of the 1970s. A classic with so many unanswered questions in addition to the foreboding landscape and atmosphere. Right up there for me with another ‘70s Australian classic, Walkabout. Bravo.

[@Guigley]

A fantastic review, as always. 'Picnic At Hanging Rock' is the kind of film we talk about when we refer to cinema as an art form. It's also one of those films that always makes me want to know what others think in regards to its meaning. There's so many ways to interpret it.

[@kristinaF54]

I love this movie and story so much. First time watching it I was struck by similarities to Irish folk tales of the fairies (no, not cute little things with butterfly wings) who capture hapless wanderers that enter into their lairs either through openings in hills or wells or tunnels or lakes. Time and the laws of physics seem to go in abeyance in the fairies' domain (like dreams or hallucinations), where a year in fairyland could be a century in the human realm, and if you stay long enough in fairyland you can never return to the normal world or you'd age rapidly and die.

[@Sude1089]

Thank you for discussing this absolute masterpiece. I saw it a few years ago for the first time and instantly fell in love with the film. The fact there is no answers in regards to where the girls disappeared to is the greatest strength. I love the scene of the girls walking into the rocks. Wow.. Have you ever seen the television series The Leftovers??? I am 1000% certain it would be a favorite show for you! Especially as you mention Twin Peaks!! Cheers. 🥂

[@TheFourthWinchester]

I loved this movie, but I ditched the Leftovers in 2 episodes. It was way too boring for me.

[@CynsCorner]

So this is an open-ended ending then?

[@TheFourthWinchester]

I saw this movie a few years ago and was so completely in love with it. And none of my friends I showed it to appreciated it and found it boring while I was like this is the best goddamn movie Australia has ever made! I'm so happy you loved this movie! I love the feeling such movies induce in the viewer.

[@basehead617]

Your reference to Australia being closer to being on the edge of the wild, it was especially so in 1900 and it is incredibly important to the story.. it would lose so much if it was just in the UK somewhere..

[@classicvideogoodies]

This is an existential film -- about an upper or dominant class of people who feel they are disappearing. The story conveys this by showing them literally disappearing. Blow-up and L'Avventura also feature disappearances of people in various states of unease as part of their storylines and themes. That's my reading of it.

[@mdee8784]

This is a fascinating analysis of this Weir film. Having known some of his family and even attended his mother’s funeral in Sydney, I’m very sure he is of the old establishment type British families that made their way to Australia all those years ago.

[@railwaystationmaster]

Beautifully described ,the movie that captivated from the first few frames ,a true masterpiece with a mood that transcends the screen , getting into the soul and leaving us with so many questions .

[@NewAgeGigolo]

Your anlysis of this movie (and many on your channel) are amongst the most superior I have ever found. I say that as an old guy who has followed/read advanced film critique since the early 80's. Superb. Your channel MUST grow as you keep this up. Best!

[@Mido-128]

Thanks for reviewing this Australian classic. As an Aussie myself, when I first saw this film as a young person, it emphasised the danger of the Outback that anyone who lives here understands. We mostly live on the coast of this continent, but the centre is wild and unknowable, especially to the non indigenous peoples. The contrast between the European style structured boarding school and the Outback is striking. But I agree with all the other themes you also pointed to in your review. On a side note, I recently watched The Empty Man, a horror film that felt a bit like The Ring mixed with cosmic horror. The director worked with David Fincher on some of his films. It hasn't had a lot of attention until recently. I'll admit that it stuck with me for a few days after seeing it. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts on it if you ever get to see it.

[@taliamason7986]

You were there at the beginning of the wave. It must have been truly awesome to witness this as well as The Last Wave, My Brilliant Career, Mad Max, The Club, Gallipoli, Breaker Morant, The Man From Snowy River, Mad Max: The Road Warrior, Malcolm, Crocodile Dundee amongst many others. I was born well after the wave, the year before The Castle.

[@Mido-128]

@@taliamason7986 This film came out six years before I was born, but yes getting to see these films during my childhood was pretty cool!

[@vincenzoberetta1085]

The Empty Man is a great movie which, of course, suffered from the usual deceptive marketing: "The new horror where urban legends nuke college-mate after college-mate!" It is far from being this and thus disappointed those looking for escapist fare while never interesting the intended public. One of the best lovecraftian movies out there (in an age when "lovecraftian" is becoming itself an abused term). The idea of Cosmic Horror being, by definition, everywhere (the prologue in Central Asia is a tale by itself) and incomprehensible, is bold and brave - considering that, in a movie, you will never make your money back. I watched it after Chris Stuckmann promoted it and I had my eyes glued to the screen from start to finish.

[@Mido-128]

@@vincenzoberetta1085 I watched it after it was recommended by Jay on RLM. He said it was too long, but I didn’t mind that it took its time.

[@artimidorfederkiel304]

Interesting that you don't really touch on the big theme of Australian aborigines vs. British Victorian colonialism, which I guess is at the heart of the opposites the film tries to navigate through - the opposites between dream vs. reality, mysticism vs. rationality and order vs. chaos. Two huge existential forces at play. But true, the movie lends itself to all kinds of interpretations, not restricted to an exclusively Australian-centered point of view, and Peter Weir does an absolutely brilliant job there. Side note, in case you didn't know:The novel by Joan Lindsay originally contained a final chapter, in which the mystery was actually resolved. However, the editor advised against it, and so it was only published posthumously. Good call - the editor's idea, I mean, not the publishing of the chapter - and good call from Weir too to not include it in the film, I'd say. :)

[@bennyl.5]

I love a lot of Australian movies, especially Ozploitation movies like Turkey Shoot. This movie is absolutely gorgeous, every shot is very sensual, love it

[@RamblesBrambles]

I've just watched this ..again, after 20 years...I'm 47 now! So glad to see this reviewed by you! I still can't get over the feeling I had watching this the first time..it's left an indelible print of mystery..thanks x

[@aaronmcdonaldful]

Ps for all you Picnic at Hanging Rock-philes, I wholeheartedly recommend you watch this music video clip edited to the early 90s shoegaze classic "when the sun hits" by slowdive! Its so perfectly edited with the scenes of the film, even Neil Halstead, the lead singer has praised the guy who edited it. His other edits are worth checking out too! m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4TbZq2Erc6LsJY

[@mraleigh5627]

Just watched this and can't stop talking about it. I love that you connected this to Twin Peaks, as that is what I was thinking while watching. I need to watch the movie again.

[@URMASK]

After carefully considering the landscape, we've reached the conclusion that you are the best thing around. By far. Thank you for treating art like it matters.

[@seandchoi]

What a great review of one of my favorite films! For me, a different Australian film, Walkabout, evokes similar emotions as Picnic at Hanging Rock. Any chance that you could review it in a future video?

[@birk3nstock]

perfect timing. i literally just watched this 2 days ago for the first time. it blew me away and instantly became one of my all time favorites. literally every single frame is a painting. i also love how wier keeps us clueless the whole time along with the people in the film.

[@TheJohnDoeLibraryRoom.]

Great example of low-key Cosmic Horror. If there is a central point it seems to be that there are ancient things in the universe that are beyond our comprehension.

[@MarkAS56]

That was my first thought, too. The references to dreams. They went up, on their own or at the behest of something that set this up with at least the main girl, and were taken elsewhere by no human means. Then the horror of the truth began for them. The girl who made it back will probably start having vague dreams years down the road that will get worse and drive her mad.

[@michaelwood368]

"It ha something very floral and romantic and lush yet it's contrasted with this kind of horror" This is the film/novel tapping into the colonial experience of British expats learning about the natrual world in Australia. The film is fundamentally about the collapse of British lifestyles/values and the development of a distinct Australian identity; the story takes place a year before Australia's States federated and become a nation in and of itself. It can also be read as an allegory about the events of WW1, particularly the Gallipoli campaign which is a vital event in the history of Australia and New Zealand. Thousands and thousands of young Australians/Kiwis were slaughtered in a brutal trench warfare campaign which the British hierarchy knew was doomed to fail and only designed to drain Turkish resources. Gallipoli is famous for its harsh, rocky cliff faces and "Hanging Rock" implies execution or being lead to slaughter. There's also some amazing queer and feminist readings that I'm not even going to attempt, other than to say there's sooo much going on here it truly is a literary film in the purest sense of the term.

[@HBICTiff]

So glad to see you review this wonderful film. Probably one of my favorite horror films of all time. I own the Criterion Collection version of it and the cinematography really shines!

[@hamzasaid3368]

Have you seen An Elephant Sitting Still? A Chinese film that's 4 hours and has zero cuts in scenes. It was a breath of fresh air for me after binging newer movies. Especially moonfall.

[@-Roos97-]

An Elephant Sitting Still is amazing!!

[@hamzasaid3368]

@@-Roos97- It became one of my favorite films. Really need to watch more slow cinema after this.

[@alexwiththeglasses]

A big thank you to deepfocuslens for reminding me about this film & my own instincts. It was this and Peeping Tom that really fascinated me in my youth. What little I’ve done in music & writing during my 60some years hasn’t really reflected my tastes or instincts or sense of aesthetics… In however many years I have left I’m going to try & follow my instincts more. This young lady’s review of a film I haven’t thought about in years triggered all that😆🙏

[@DaveWhoa]

and it was released in 1975, long before most of us had internet, so we couldnt help but wonder - "what happened to those girls?" ... after watching it, it was just a mystery

[@jabariweathers309]

Haunting film. Peter Weir is a phenomenal filmmaker, and I think you nail his style in the first minute of this. Have you seen the Amazon series? It is so weird to me that there was an attempt to reinterpret this one on the small screen.

[@classicvideogoodies]

Chan is Missing (1982) is an indie film that looks and feels totally different, but also deals with the existential theme of people feeling their identities are disappearing and their world is crumbling. This will be in the Criterion Collection this year, joining other films in the "I feel myself disappearing" sub-genre, such as Blow-up and L'avventura.

[@hoibsh21]

Poetic review of a poetic movie. PAHR is one of my favorites, thanks, I want to see it again!

[@electricbugaloo1976]

I love this film. It’s such a haunting masterpiece. I just got so lost in this film. You can’t shake it. It sticks with you.

[@PonyboyGarfunkel]

I recently read the novel and yesterday watched the film for the first time. Both have a haunting quality and satisfying ambiguity that I continue to mull. I like it when a work sticks with me, as these have. Have you seen "Let's Scare Jessica to Death?" It, too, is ambiguous and haunting. It features an Oscar worthy performance by the heroin actress, Zohra Lampert, as she struggles to reckon reality. The film has a subtle touch, despite the title. By now, I have likely watched it ten times. I do that, with films I love (Harold and Maude and La Strada,, are examples) A novel that haunts me is Katherine Dunn's "Geek Love," a gritty work about the bond in a family of carnival freaks. I have a taste for weirdness.

[@Bobmacca64]

A fascinating movie indeed...I'm not sure everything really falls into place for me by the end of the film, but then again I get that it was not meant to:) This film still maintains a lot of mystery and ambiguity long after the credits roll. Which in this instance is more than OK. Because for me, it's so ethereal that it kind of exists within a world that is beyond our grasp:) While still being visceral and authentic at times, if that makes sense:) It's visually wonderful, it has some incredible moments, and the score is to die for. Yet, it's so mysterious that one viewing is far from enough, I guess. I could see myself revisiting it every year and finding new things to love about it. A great film for sure.

[@eternaldoorman5228]

Great review! It's available free on YT so I watched the whole thing again before I watched your review. I first saw this when I was in my teens. I used to run a film club at college and we just rented out VHS tapes and played them in a lecture theatre. I was amazed at how I could remember so many of the lines coming up. The film is packed with polarities. The most striking is that between Mrs Appleyard and Sarah. I think they're the only two characters history we learn anything about. And then there are the class differences in the school staff, and between the young Englishmen and the Governor's manservant. There's also a "three fates" structure centered around Boticelli's Primavera that I haven't unpacked yet. I'm going to do a longer blog post about it later today I hope. Thanks for doing this Maggie, you made my whole week! I don't know whether you've seen these videos about the author Joan Lindsay's influences, they're both very interesting. One is an interview she made just before the film was released. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHinnHmEiNR5ibM kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYTSqWpmbJurjqs

[@lc3920]

Yes! My favorite of all time! So glad to hear you love it as much as I do, and for the same reasons. Personally, after rewatching it a few times and doing some research, the disappearance seems supernatural and possibly related to Indigenous Australians’ spirituality to me. I see the film as a quiet cosmic horror, and Hanging Rock as an entity outside of time and space. I’d recommend reading the novel also.

[@helvete_ingres4717]

why try so hard to produce a concrete answer? Is it not entirely against the spirit of the film? Reading the novel can't possibly strengthen the viewing experience and can only detract from it. I 'read the novel' with another film I loved which was Under the Skin, and it was a waste of time

[@lc3920]

@@helvete_ingres4717 uhh I was just offering my view on the central mystery? I don’t know why that’s so bad. Yes, the film’s intent is to be ambiguous, but I just see it in this way through the hints that I’ve picked up. Also, I was just saying that the novel was an interesting read that added a lot for me.

[@terencereyes696]

Really love your meticulous and in depth review of this movie!! I'm happy to be able to find your channel amongst a bunch of vapid KZbinrs who can't provide any valuable input to the movies they watch.

[@Suite_annamite]

Don't forget to catch Showcase's 6-episode remake from 2018!

[@russellb5573]

"They look like they're tripping their balls off!" A phrase that never came to mind when I first saw it on the big screen many years ago but this film is so seductive, beguiling and entrancing, while this feeling of mythic, earthly dread pervades and seeps throughout it, suffocating you in the heat. I understand what you mean though. Great review

[@AT-st5dr]

I’m from Melbourne Australia which is only about 40 minutes from hanging Rock I always go to hanging Rock it’s a real freaky vibe there a lot of the rocks have faces carved into them

[@jmscott_]

Just watched this movie not long ago. Wasn’t into it at first, but I keep getting chills whenever I think about it. It has a strange power over me that freaks me the fuck out

[@123rockfan]

The soundtrack and some of the acting made me laugh out loud many times. But when the movie becomes quieter in the second half, I absolutely loved it.

[@geminijinxies7258]

This one is undoubtedly something special. I watched it a very long time ago and now when thinking back, it feels like recalling a dream! My own take. There's forbidden love between the girls and then jealousy and murder, but that type of logic is probably not working to well for this very mysterious and otherworldly film.

[@splifftachyon4420]

An excellent, very insightful assessment of this film. Picnic At Hanging Rock is one of my all-time favourites-I've seen it a number of times. Still, you've given me fresh perspective and new things to think about, so I'm now looking forward to watching it again with those things in mind.

[@barbarellaville]

A brilliant film. Definitely works the same psychological space as 'Mulholland Dr.' In both films we get an ever-deepening sense of mystery and misdirection but (here's the key) without narrative incoherence. The stories are at once baffling and perfectly straightforward in their telling, both complex and simple - even offhandedly simple. 'Picnic' is one of those movies that makes you think it's about one thing, but really is about something else. Is the movie "about" the disappearance of the girls, or is that just the catalyst for an exploration of the themes of institutional control vs. nature/the hysterical? As with any good ghost story, the "ghost" of the question of the girls isn't REALLY what the movie is about narratively. It's not about the girls who disappeared - it's about the psychological consequences of those disappearances on the ones who've been left behind. Anne-Louise Lambert, who plays Miranda, about five years later would play Mrs. Talmann in Peter Greenaway's 'The Draughtsman's Contract.' If you like 'Picnic,' I would also recommend 'In the Winter Dark,' another "Outbacky" Australian psychological horror film, based on a Tim Winton novella, about a monster of a very ambiguous nature. Since you mentioned Blair Witch - the last great horror film of the 1990s -, it's a Gen. X retelling of Hansel and Gretel, in which the (adult) children go into the woods in search of the mother/witch rather than being banished into the woods BY that mother-witch figure. Talk about absentee parentism! Subverting the usual sexy trope of horror movies, Blair Witch shows "kids" becoming more and more clothed (as opposed to unclothed), infantalized, and desexualized the deeper into the horror they go. The expected pornographic element of horror is stripped away. When Heather first drives up to Mike's house, she calls out to him "Don't we get to meet your mamma?" During the early interview interview scenes, we see a woman behind obscuring sunglasses, telling scary Blair Witch stories, with her child in her arms, screaming "No no!" and literally trying to silence her with their hands.

[@ulfingvar1]

Yes, one of the best films ever made, one of my top 5, and while I certainly have admired and liked many of Weir's later films, he, like once Orson Wells with Citizen Kane, peaked with this early one.

[@KawaTony1964]

This was the film I saw for the first time around 2002 that got me interested in art films. I started seeking out more films like this, and the search led me to many films that aren't typical Hollywood action movies like I had been watching. I've always had a more optimistic feeling about PAHR than most reviewers whose reviews I read or watch online. I find hopefulness in the film because both Miranda and Sara come back in visions to the people who care about them. Yes, they died, but nature somehow preserved their essence. They were not destroyed. I think PAHR is a transcendental film suggesting that nature transcends man's religion. Everybody is filled with anxiety about questions they can't answer ("there's some questions got answers - some haven't"), though they try with their religions and societal rules, and that seems to be the point of ending the film with an unresolved mystery just like usually happens in real life. I always thought the pan flute music seemed like the voice of God trying to sooth the stressed-out people like a pet owner calming a pet. Miranda seems to be the one who is attuned to nature, and understands there is no need to worry.

[@helvete_ingres4717]

Yeah I saw it 'optimistically' too, I understood it as they went to Heaven - or they passed into whatever phase of existence those human words are made to try (and inevitably fail) to convey. And this meaning is vague and ineffable enough to leave the film no less ambiguous - it's just clear to me the episode on the Rock was mystical in nature, and followed some kind of transformation from religious terror of the creature fearing annihilation, lit. 'fear of God', to a serenity and bliss of oneness w/nature or the universe or God (and the only acc image approximating this greater reality is the natural image of the titular Rock or the image of the wild and untamed Australian outback in general). I always found it significant that the fat, annoying girl is left behind and not included in those who disappear - her being there in the scene and not included in whatever happened must have suggested some kind of difference, she doesn't belong in Heaven like the more angelic girls who disappear (Miranda being the most angelic of them, iirc she is explicitly likened to an angel at one point, angels being intermediaries between Heaven and Earth in Judeo-Christian myth). It works on archetypal images of beauty and innocence - which would be politically incorrect to acknowledge today, since these things are racialised in Western consciousness, the girls' whiteness is part of the effect. And while there's no element of non-whiteness in the film as regards people, you could think of the frontier of the Outback (home of the indigenous people of Australia) as the end of Western civilisation and of whiteness. So in short, you could say they're 'dead', but sublimated beyond mortal existence.

[@russellb5573]

Would liked to have known which version you prefer and watched to bring us your review. Have you seen both versions? The Directors Cut sustains the tension, while the theatrical cut has a little more information

[@nailbunny182]

Something I found to have some just-out-of-reach meaning was when the French teacher called Miranda a Botticelli angel... while looking at a picture of "The Birth of Venus."

[@jackreed7287]

Peter Weir is an amazing director. Ethereal Miranda always stays with you.

[@trevorstanding6462]

Picnic at Hanging Rock could be a companion film to Walkabout. Both films are about mystery and lost innocence.

[@voiceover2191]

Wow a Peter Weir review, especially from his early period, pretty rare and couldn't agree more on how great this movie is, only topped in my mind by "The Last Wave" which always completely transfixes me start to finish.

[@running179]

PS: I wish that you'd spoken about Sarah's longing for Miranda, and the tragedy of Sarah and her never finding her brother, who was living right nearby. She was a hauntingly tragic character.

[@fattymcfatso1083]

The removal of shoes and stockings in a Victorian context is the same total nudity.

[@KenFromBeara]

Glad you are finally reviewing this movie. A bloody masterpiece. The tv series is just as good

[@MLElf]

Hi yah! Are you into Boards of Canada? If so did you see/hear the connection?

[@firecrackerheart]

i am very stoked to see this now. i've heard great things, & your review is quite compelling!

[@iansharp7422]

From the golden period of Australian movie making. Weir's best film and he's made quite a few.

[@carlossaraiva8213]

You perfectly got this movie. And a female perspective of it is fundamental because the entire movie is about the feminine, both from the inside - the girls - but also from the outside - the men and also proper society (also composed of the women who enforce it) that looks at them. One of the ironies of the movie is that the voyeurists - the men - are also the most compassionates, while the most pure but also the most vile characters in the film are women.

[@evamosbauer2865]

When I was a girl I lived near the famous rock ,this movie was based on truth and fiction ,their really was a girls boarding school in the late 1800s and two school girls really went missing fitting the same description as in Joan Lindsay Book and movie Picnic at Hanging Rock ,the two girls were all most likely raped and murdered and its easy to get rid of a body so many pit holes on the rock ,the movie was made to make you feel they disappeared by magic so leaves the watcher drawn into the unknown

[@markaubuchon]

Stunning melding of the the scene of the Girl's ascent up the Rock with Brian Eno's "Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy." Should have been used in the movie soundtrack! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXvSqYOaga-aaposi=TOqRl1ix-n-Yrk_g

[@basehead617]

One of the most atmospheric films ever made! Revels in ambiguity...

[@raoulmontefiore4803]

I think this film is so successful as a horror film because fear is very close to uncertainty. Especially when you are transported back to a time and milieu that is presented absorbingly as both more innocent and more precarious, hence more credulous of the terrifying possibilities.

[@cp3502]

You said, "The idea of one thing that changes your life forever, that stays branded in your memory, that was really beautiful or really terrifying, maybe insignificant, who knows, yet it stays with you forever while you slowly age and become more isolated and stagnant with time." You should see Ordinary People (1980). That movie definitely gives you that feeling.

[@angusorvid8840]

Great film. I also enjoyed The Last Wave, a thriller with a theme of aboriginal prophecy and climate catastrophe, and his first film, The Cars That Ate Paris.

[@eala9800]

It also deals with colonial myth in Australia. Often these myths/stories dealt with how the European settlers didn't understand the land like the first nations people did. The land is often portrayed as alive and malevolent towards foreigners. It is interesting that the only one that is returned is the French girl not the Australian-born members of the group.

[@mvjonsson]

Definitely an aesthetic and atmospheric influence on Sofia Coppola's Virgin Suicides.

[@helvete_ingres4717]

no shit, it's practically a remake set in '90s U.S suburbs

[@hamzarouri8454]

Idk, I wasn't a huge fan of this film. I appreciate the atmosphere, beauty, and idea of it, but I just wasn't entertained by it. However, I did love Peter Weir's other Australian new wave film, that film being The Last Wave. I guess that film's idea of an impending end just haunted me way more.

[@cp3502]

Finally saw this movie today, and to be honest it felt like a horror movie. Maybe it's my mind considering just the worst possible outcomes; supernatural and natural that may have happened to these girls.

[@Lord_Heron]

Very nice review, I also love this film too. House of Tolerance was superb but for me totally ruined by the use of some modern music on the soundtrack. I am still annoyed about this to this day as otherwise the film is amazing.

[@tiredhub3270]

Your review is better then the movie itself.

[@MrTom1379]

Originally there was a conclusion but it was removed from the book it’s out there if you want to look for it

[@Mlreau]

Cars That Ate Paris gothic comedy 1975 was another ozzy new wave

[@PatHaskell]

Love listening to your rambling.

[@satorified1612]

For some reason my girlfriend and I thought this was a true story and I obsessively investigated the case on the internet; what could’ve possibly happened to these girls? Finally, I got my answer; it’s fiction. 😂

[@raminagrobis6112]

It totally dwells on the esoteric beliefs of a certain popular school of thinking, where just about anything can happen outside the usual laws of deduction and logics. As a scientist, as much as I loved the cinematography extremely, its aesthetics, the realistic character concepts, and the conflict between social conventions and sexuality, etc. but felt very frustrated by the "resolution" of the whole story, which didn't even attempt to formalize what the hell was up with Hanging Rock, whether figuratively or plainly. A running gag back when it was released (I was 20) was that "Encounter of the Third Type' was the sequel to 'Picnic at Hanging Rock'.😂 In retrospect, I still feel frustrated when I attempt to revisit it (which I still do - as I mentioned, I think it's a major-quality movie), but I keep watching it for the pleasure of the experience. The best definition of a "guilty pleasure" movie for any scientist or person that can't agree with the "message" because he/she can't forgive that amount of esoterica... And btw, as usual, you offered us the most enlightened critic/review of "Picnic...". And I share your enthusiasm for that movie, despite its concessions to esoteric beliefs (à la "Morning of the Magicians" by Pauwels and Bergier) that I don't endorse in the least, and even despite to be honest. To me, forgiving "Picnic..." for the latter flaws is anathema, which shows how fantastic movie really is in my conflicted appreciation 😅.

[@helvete_ingres4717]

oh man, its effect on you is practically a proof of concept for this movie. Did it ever occur to you that your 'frustration' is a good thing, or a strength of the movie? All this conceptual baggage you bring to the experience - 'science', 'laws of deduction and logics', 'resolution', 'what the hell was up' etc., why do you insist on them so strongly? Does 'logic' tell you there's a logical reason for everything, or is that a mere article of faith? Do you subject the real world outside of movies to this rational-empiricist containment? Does that work out any better than when you do it to a movie story that doesn't conform or submit? And do you really think the movie would be better if it were to 'formalise' (whatever you mean by that) what happened? Tbh you sound like the perfect person to watch this movie with, but bear in mind that's my opinion and I possess a strong streak of what I can only term philosophical sadism :D

[@raminagrobis6112]

@@helvete_ingres4717 Thanks for your analysis of my comment. First, I can be easily misunderstood as English is not my mother tongue, and I can often lack the mastery of English that's necessary to make perfectly nuanced statements on any topic outside of my specialty. And being a scientist, I'm very much aware of the difficulties I have with such a movie at a level that has no bearing on my personal artistic standards. So if I was not clear the first time (despite repeatedly stating,), let me reiterate: I love that movie very much. And I still feel frustrated by it (cf. original post). You understand this? What are you attacking exactly? You also show a definitely obvious streak of bad faith. Perhaps it's my fault that I went even deeper in explaining how problematic that movie really is for me, to no avail. What more could I say? Well, I still think the conclusion is deeply flawed, but it works if I suspend my disbelief for the duration of the movie. I hope I have been clearer. Please re-read my second post in this thread. Perhaps it will help you to accept the cause for my "frustration". I gave it an 8/10 rating on IMdB. Is that enough for you? Something inside me tells me you'll reply it isn't.

[@TheWaynos73]

I think Weir wanted you to feel frustration and without a resolution because it makes you a participant in the story’s events. You feel what everyone else in the school and the town felt. Helpless and wanting an answer.

[@fattymcfatso1083]

Please everyone discuss the significance of the girls removing their shoes.

[@baddog6003]

I think it'd be cool if you made more random blog videos talking about random shit.

[@davidellis5141]

An eerie mystery that is near impossible to solve. Excellent Film !

[@tswanky]

A good review of a complex, philosophic movie.

[@airmark02]

This film is a kind of unforgettable hallucination

[@UngKristen]

Reading about the cut scenes, whoever decided to cut them had some good judgment. The finished film is so eerie and unresolved, there really was no need to clear anything up

[@deepfocuslens]

Yes....the cut ending is on youtube. I'm so glad they didn't use it.

[@maciek8159]

So glad to see an intelligent review on a awesome movie. Most people our age react or talk about stupid super hero movies but not you, you got class!

[@mejia29]

Ah Picnic at Hanging Rock, one of my top favorites. So glad your reviewing this movie. Have you also seen Valerie and Her Week of Wonders? Visually and thematically I think these two movies are similar. Both are brimming with imagery, femininity and sexuality. A true dark, surreal, fairytale gem. Would love to hear your opinions on it as well!

[@helvete_ingres4717]

don't see the parallels 'visually and thematically' unless it's something fairly superficial like young girls in lace frocks (if that's even the right word). The movie you mention is very..European. B/c it is. Does a stereotypical take on the 'surreal' that many European films of that time would have done, Picnic at Hanging Rock does something more subtle and imo more powerful, yet at the same time is more conventional and 'Hollywood' than some European low-budget fantasy like Valerie, acc Valerie come to think of it seems much closer to something like El Topo than this, if you make meaningful/non-superficial comparisons, has that cult/midnight movie quality to it, slightly trashy quality that Picnic doesn't have at all

[@mejia29]

@@helvete_ingres4717 I can definitely see the comparison to El Topo now that you mention it.

[@AdamFishkin]

Introverted is a good way to describe Weir's work. I can vouch that "The Truman Show" was nothing like I expected .... it's still comedic, but not in the wacky rom-com way that a high concept premise tended to draw out in the 90s. There are many powerful silences where Truman Burbank just takes in his surroundings or figures out his next move. And similar to "Picnic at Hanging Rock", the aesthetic choices are very deliberate. The artifice doesn't quite reach Lynchian horror, but it still has an aggressiveness that contrasts sharply with the understated, deeply sincere person in the eye of its storm.

[@TheWaynos73]

Picnic is one of the finest Australian films ever.

[@maddalena5708]

You are right, it is a masterpiece

[@lathanandrews417]

I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of the more artsy/abstract films (like the ones Deep Focus Lens appreciates). However, this film is one of the few exceptions for me. Not sure why; it just works. Luv it

[@robsutherland5744]

I loved this movie. Thanks for your review.