Picnic
at Hanging Rock (1975)
On
St. Valentine's Day in 1900 a party of schoolgirls set out
to picnic at Hanging Rock. ...Some were never to return
Director - Peter Weir
Writers - Joan Lindsay – Novel
Cliff Green – Screenplay
Starring
- Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse, Kirsty Child,
Tony Llewellyn-Jones, Jacki Weaver, Frank Gunnell, Anne-Louise
Lambert, Karen Robson, Jane Vallis, Christine Schuler, Margaret
Nelson, Ingrid Mason, Jenny Lovell, Janet Murray
Review by Noel Baily
Stylish as a prisoner on death row walking the "green
mile" in an Armani suit!
Though
obviously not to everyone's taste, evidence I suggest, that
it functions along anything but broadband, hence many miss
the signal! I still believe unequivocably that this is not
only Peter Weir's finest moment (forget the curiously bland
and soul-less TRUMAN SHOW) but the most significant if not
stunning movie, yet released in Australia. It remains well
up in my top 20 films of all time.
The
story? three girls disappear during a picnic at Victoria's
Hanging Rock in the late 1800's! Sounds intriguing doesn't
it? Don't look for intrigue! Don't look for action, dynamic
twists, UFO's, purpose or even an EXPLANATION! Just take-in
what you see!
"Eerie"
doesn't cover it! Is this horror? psychological drama? cinematic
art? over-the-top poetic license concerning the real disappearance?
Fact is, its anything you want it to be, but if it doesn't
reach out and compress your emotions at various points, then
perhaps you are either dead, a clone or just plain way down
the brain chain!
There
has NEVER been a film like PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK that so
stylishly and culturally presents a bygone era with its niceties,
eccentricities, cruelties and yes, simplicites! Performances
are absolutely spot on from Rachel Roberts tortured school
principal Ms Appleyard to the ultra feminine and immaculately
turned-out Helen Morse as M'selle Ms Poitier.
The
costuming is quite magnificent and as so many have commented,
there is a mesmerising influence exerted by this film - on
certain viewers. You cannot look for a rational explanation
here but you are free to interpret whatever you wish. This
was Weir's legacy. I have seen this film probably 30 times
and like a magic mirror, can see more in it each time I look!
Fact,
fantasy, sexual awakening, collective hypnosis? Have fun deciding!
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