Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975)

4 / 5 Feb '10
Tagline: Australia's First International Hit!
Directed by: Peter Weir
Written by: Joan Lindsay, Cliff Green
Actors include: Rachel Roberts, Helen Morse, Vivean Gray
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Horror
Length: 115 minutes
Banned: Nope




Review:
This is a very mysterious film, and if you like clarity and explanation then you may not really dig this film as it's extremely open ended. It's beautifully filmed in Australia around an area called Hanging Rock (though I'm sure the title gave that away). A group of girls from a boarding school on a trip go to picnic at Hanging Rock, but when four girls go independently exploring, only one returns. At some point while climbing three of the girls seem nearly possessed as they don't seem to respond to the fourth girl's cries. The fourth girl goes running back, and the teacher who came to find them disappeared also. The rest of the film is dealing with the loss from the surviving girls perspective as well as a couple of fellas who knew one of the girls and their obsession with finding out what happened. It's quite fascinating, and although it's frequently mentioned being based upon a true story, it's definitely not. See there was even a mysterious extra chapter that later was written in the novel that actually explains what happened (kind of) for those who absolutely must know (yes I read it).

Availability:  On DVD

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