Picnic at Hanging RockI struggle to think of a single other movie that is as beautiful as it is enigmatic, as mysterious as it is tranquil, as Picnic at Hanging Rock, much like the angelic Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert), who goes missing along with three other students of Appleyard College--a private girls' school in Victoria, Australia at the turn of the 20th century--after an ill-fated trip to the titular Hanging Rock. After vanishing without a trace, investigations as to the circumstances of the disappearance commence, from both the police and other concerned citizens. Unlike other mysteries, the plot only continues to thicken, deepen, and answers are as illusory as the truth behind the film.
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At the beginning of the film, a title card informs us that on "February 14th, 1900" (auspiciously St. Valentine's day), four people vanished without a trace--the implication being that the plot recounted in the film (and its literary source material) are based on actual events. Needless to say, director Peter Weir exploits the idea of a "true story" to establish the sense in the audience that maybe...one day...the mystery might be solved. As a result, we as the audience become more invested in the hope--that tricky devil of an emotion--that the girls will reappear, and we will have answers. But therein lies the charm, the mystique of Picnic at Hanging Rock. I've heard it said that a story that is crafted for children will have more answers than questions, where a story for adults will pose more questions than answers--the idea being that as an audience, we get more satisfaction from hypothesizing about the "hows" and "whys", that we prefer this to simply being told what happened, forced to accept it at face value. Enigmatic direction and a copious amount of leading imagery, composition, and editing, coupled with the fact (if there are any facts at all) that almost everyone's accounts of what happens at "the rock" varies, means that just as one explanation seems plausible, so many others seem equally so.
I've always been drawn to the idea that Picnic at Hanging Rock represents a split second of the grand scope of nature, of the universe, forces primeval and ancient, and the arrogance of humanity's attempt to tame that power--encroaching little by little into a world beyond the scope of their understanding...like ants scurrying across the forgotten remnants of a Valentine's Day cake. The film's portrayal of Hanging Rock borrows (in spirit) some of the mystical legend of another Australian landmark, Uluru/Ayers Rock. According to Aboriginal myth, Uluru "Dreamtime" is a state of being that could best be described as a convergence of creation myth, and an overlapping of time and space, a kind of folding of planes of existence, if you will. While this is a gross simplification, the parallels are immediately apparent when assessing some of the possible reasons for the disappearance of the girls, as well as the bizarre events that occur at Hanging Rock, which instructor Ms. McCraw (Vivean Gray) dismisses as "something magnetic". And there's also no shortage of hints and insinuations that the disappearance of the girls is literally divine intervention--numerous paintings and images of angels and references to Miranda as a "Botticelli angel" exist to plant that notion firmly in our minds. I've also liked this idea, because this theory is also played for a bit of irony, when the naughty Irma (Karen Robson) doesn't quite "cut it" as an angel. This theory also resonates as terribly sad for lovelorn Sara (Margaret Nelson)--who is constantly admonished by headmistress Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts)--because she, like her Miranda, wishes to fly like an angel, too; regrettably, she cannot. Not to color your experience any further, but my first viewing put my mind on a path of conclusions regarding a young member of the gentry, Michael (Dominic Guard) and his servant/buddy "Bertie" (John Jarratt), and their impassioned conversation taking place after the girls' absence. While not entirely implausible that Michael and Bertie are more involved in the disappearance than what they (or the film) divulges to us, my subsequent viewings have changed my opinion of the events. And that--right there--is the strength of it; Picnic at Hanging Rock is a film unlike others, one that can mutate and adapt upon repeat viewings, even though the events, the scenes, and the characters all remain objectively the same. Just as Miranda narrates at the beginning of the film, quoting Edgar Allen Poe, "what we see and what we seem is but a dream...a dream within a dream."
Recommended for: Fans of mystery and those who can at least tolerate a pan flute; a tale of man's (or woman's as the case may be) struggle with the primal forces of nature--and even that which lies beyond nature, perhaps.
I've always been drawn to the idea that Picnic at Hanging Rock represents a split second of the grand scope of nature, of the universe, forces primeval and ancient, and the arrogance of humanity's attempt to tame that power--encroaching little by little into a world beyond the scope of their understanding...like ants scurrying across the forgotten remnants of a Valentine's Day cake. The film's portrayal of Hanging Rock borrows (in spirit) some of the mystical legend of another Australian landmark, Uluru/Ayers Rock. According to Aboriginal myth, Uluru "Dreamtime" is a state of being that could best be described as a convergence of creation myth, and an overlapping of time and space, a kind of folding of planes of existence, if you will. While this is a gross simplification, the parallels are immediately apparent when assessing some of the possible reasons for the disappearance of the girls, as well as the bizarre events that occur at Hanging Rock, which instructor Ms. McCraw (Vivean Gray) dismisses as "something magnetic". And there's also no shortage of hints and insinuations that the disappearance of the girls is literally divine intervention--numerous paintings and images of angels and references to Miranda as a "Botticelli angel" exist to plant that notion firmly in our minds. I've also liked this idea, because this theory is also played for a bit of irony, when the naughty Irma (Karen Robson) doesn't quite "cut it" as an angel. This theory also resonates as terribly sad for lovelorn Sara (Margaret Nelson)--who is constantly admonished by headmistress Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts)--because she, like her Miranda, wishes to fly like an angel, too; regrettably, she cannot. Not to color your experience any further, but my first viewing put my mind on a path of conclusions regarding a young member of the gentry, Michael (Dominic Guard) and his servant/buddy "Bertie" (John Jarratt), and their impassioned conversation taking place after the girls' absence. While not entirely implausible that Michael and Bertie are more involved in the disappearance than what they (or the film) divulges to us, my subsequent viewings have changed my opinion of the events. And that--right there--is the strength of it; Picnic at Hanging Rock is a film unlike others, one that can mutate and adapt upon repeat viewings, even though the events, the scenes, and the characters all remain objectively the same. Just as Miranda narrates at the beginning of the film, quoting Edgar Allen Poe, "what we see and what we seem is but a dream...a dream within a dream."
Recommended for: Fans of mystery and those who can at least tolerate a pan flute; a tale of man's (or woman's as the case may be) struggle with the primal forces of nature--and even that which lies beyond nature, perhaps.