Picnic at Hanging Rock (film)

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian mystery film that was produced by Hal and Jim McElroy, directed by Peter Weir, and starring Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse, Vivean Gray and Jacki Weaver. It was adapted by Cliff Green from the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay, who was deliberately ambiguous about whether the events had really taken place.
The plot involves the disappearance of several schoolgirls and their teacher during a picnic at Hanging Rock, Victoria on Valentine's Day in 1900, and the subsequent effect on the local community. "Picnic at Hanging Rock" was a commercial and critical success, and helped draw international attention to the then-emerging Australian New Wave of cinema.
Plot.
The film opens with white text over a black screen that reads: “On Saturday 14th February 1900 a party of schoolgirls from Appleyard College picnicked at Hanging Rock near Mt. Macedon in the state of Victoria. During the afternoon several members of the party disappeared without trace...”
There is then a sequence that shows Hanging Rock emerging from mist.
At Appleyard College, a girls' private school near the town of Woodend, Victoria, the students are dressing on the morning of Valentine's Day, 1900. Miranda, Irma, Marion, Rosamund, Sara, and outsider Edith read poetry and Valentine's Day cards.
The group prepares for a picnic to a local geological formation known as Hanging Rock, accompanied by the mathematics mistress Miss Greta McCraw and the young and beautiful Mademoiselle de Poitiers. On the command of the stern headmistress Mrs. Appleyard, jittery teacher Miss Lumley advises orphan student Sara that she is not allowed to attend.
Buggy operator Ben Hussey gets the group to the Rock by mid-afternoon. They picnic at the base of the rock. After a meal, Mr Hussey notes his pocket watch has stopped at the stroke of twelve, as has the watch of Miss McCraw, who believes that it’s caused by something magnetic. With permission from Mlle. de Poitiers, Miranda, Marion and Irma decide to explore Hanging Rock and take measurements, with Edith allowed to follow.
The group is observed several minutes later crossing a creek by a young Englishman, Michael Fitzhubert, who is lunching at the Rock with his uncle Colonel Fitzhubert, aunt Mrs. Fitzhubert, and valet Albert. As the girls climb higher up the rock, Edith complains that the rock is “nasty” and that she feels ill. Miranda, Irma and Marion are seemingly transfixed by the formation, however, as they continue to ascend and explore it as Edith follows. At one point, they take off their shoes and stockings, confusing Edith. 
Near the summit, Marion looks down at the rest of the party still at the picnic area below and seemingly does not recognize them. Miranda points out a group of towering monoliths, next to which all four lie down and fall asleep. At the picnic spot, everyone has fallen asleep as well except for Miss McCraw, who looks up at the rock inquisitively. Miranda, Marion, Irma and Edith awaken synchronously and, as if in a trance, all except Edith move towards the monoliths, ignoring her pleas. They walk further and into a crack between the monoliths, out of Edith’s sight. Witnessing this, Edith suddenly screams and flees down the rock in terror.
The distraught and hysterical party eventually returns to the college, where Mlle. de Poitiers explains to Mrs Appleyard that Miss McCraw has been left behind. Sara notes the absence of Miranda; and Mr. Hussey explains to Mrs Appleyard that Miranda, Irma, Marion, and Miss McCraw went missing. He also tells the police that Miss McCraw left the group while everyone was asleep. A search party, led by Sgt. Bumpher and Constable Jones of the local police, finds nothing, although Edith reveals to Mademoiselle and Sgt. Bumpher that she witnessed Miss McCraw climbing the Rock without her skirt. Michael Fitzhubert is questioned and reveals that he watched the schoolgirls, but can provide no clues as to their whereabouts.
Michael becomes obsessed with the mystery out of his guilt and infatuation with Miranda. During a garden party hosted by his aunt and uncle, he tells Albert that he wants them to go to Hanging Rock to conduct their own search. Albert appears to deny this, but the next morning he meets Michael with two horses and they ride to Hanging Rock. They find nothing so, despite Albert's protests, Michael decides to remain overnight and begins searching again the next day, leaving a trail of paper as he moves. Near the summit, around the same place where Edith abandoned the others, Michael lies down. He has visions of the girls walking into the crevice and hears dialogue from the day, then drags himself higher to the crevice and is unable to go any further, scratching at the ground. 
When Albert is later unable to locate Michael he follows the paper, finding a nearly catatonic Michael sitting in the crevice. Albert gets help and Michael is carried down to a carriage. As he departs he passes Albert a fragment of lace he’s had clenched in his hand. Albert again ascends Hanging Rock and discovers an unconscious but alive Irma. 
The residents of Woodend become restless as news of the discovery spreads. Mrs Appleyard advises Miss Lumley that this discovery will harm the school’s reputation even more, bringing to her attention that several parents have withdrawn their children from the school. At the Fitzhubert home, where Irma is treated for dehydration, the doctor's examination shows only cuts on her hands and broken fingernails; he affirms she has not been molested. A servant girl for the Fitzhuberts notes that Irma's corset is missing.
Mrs Appleyard tells Sara that her guardian hasn’t been sending any checks letters for the past six months. She says that all of Sara’s extra classes are to be cancelled and that if this continues she will be sent back to an orphanage. Later Miss Lumley finds Sara sitting on the stairs melancholically and sends her to bed, where Sara reveals to Minnie that she was in an orphanage with her brother before being able to come to the college through her guardian. She describes how she was abused by the matron, who shaved her head and painted it with gentian violet. 
Mademoiselle visits Irma who tells her that she has no memory of what happened on the rock. Michael is haunted by images of Miranda and the swans that he associates with her. Sara is similarly in mourning of Miranda, as she talks to a picture of her before being interrupted by Mademoiselle. Sara tells her that “Miranda knows lots of things other people don’t know,” including that she would disappear forever.
Irma visits her classmates during an exercise lesson in an outbuilding to bid farewell before going to Europe. The students begin to scream, demanding Irma to tell them what happened and where they are. Irma becomes swarmed and the chaos only ends after Mademoiselle slaps Edith for claiming they’re all dead. As everyone exits Mademoiselle hears Sara calling to her and finds her strapped to a posture board. 
That night, Mrs Lumley gives notice to a drunken Mrs Appleyard that she is resigning. Mrs Appleyard later goes up to Sara’s room and informs her that as her guardian has still not paid her tuition, Sara must return to the orphanage. Mrs Appleyard sobs in her office and Sara leaves her room. 
The next day, Albert reveals to Michael that he had a dream in which his lost sister, revealed to be Sara, visited him. Meanwhile, Mrs Appleyard informs Mademoiselle that Sara’s guardian came to pick her up early that morning. The students depart for their holiday, leaving only the staff at the college. Mrs Appleyard and Mademoiselle have a formal dinner, during which Mrs Appleyard makes unsettling remarks about Miss McCraw and Hanging Rock.
The following morning, Sara's body is found in the greenhouse by Mr. Whitehead, the school gardener, apparently having fallen through the roof from the school rooftop. Mr. Whitehead goes into Mrs. Appleyard’s office to inform her, but is rendered nearly speechless as she is disturbingly in full mourning dress with her possessions packed.
During a flashback to the picnic, Sgt. Bumpher states in a voiceover that Mrs Appleyard’s body was found at the base of Hanging Rock from an apparent accident, and that the search for the two schoolgirls and Miss McCraw continued spasmodically for several years without success, remaining an unsolved mystery.
Production.
The novel was published in 1967. Reading it four years later, Patricia Lovell thought it would make a great film. She did not originally think of producing it herself until Phillip Adams suggested she try it; she optioned the film rights in 1973, paying $100 for three months. She hired Peter Weir to direct on the basis of his film "Homesdale", and Weir brought in Hal and Jim McElroy to help produce.
Screenwriter David Williamson originally was chosen to adapt the film, but was unavailable and recommended noted TV writer Cliff Green. Joan Lindsay had approval over who did the adaptation and she gave it to Green, whose first draft Lovell says was "excellent".
The finalised budget was A$440,000, coming from the Australian Film Development Corporation, British Empire Films and the South Australian Film Corporation. $3,000 came from private investors.
Filming.
Filming began in February 1975 with principal photography taking six weeks. Locations included Hanging Rock in Victoria, Martindale Hall near Mintaro in rural South Australia, and at the studio of the South Australian Film Corporation in Adelaide.
To achieve the look of an Impressionist painting for the film, director Weir and director of cinematography Russell Boyd were inspired by the work of British photographer and film director David Hamilton, who had draped different types of veils over his camera lens to produce diffused and soft-focus images. Boyd created the ethereal, dreamy look of many scenes by placing simple bridal veil fabric of various thicknesses over his camera lens. The film was edited by Max Lemon.
Casting.
Weir originally cast Ingrid Mason as Miranda, but realised after several weeks of rehearsals that it was "not working" and cast Anne-Louise Lambert. Mason was persuaded to remain in the role of a minor character by producer Patricia Lovell. The role of Mrs. Appleyard was originally to have been taken by Vivien Merchant; Merchant fell ill and Rachel Roberts was cast at short notice. Several of the schoolgirls' voices were dubbed in secret by professional voice actors, as Weir had cast the young actresses for their innocent appearance rather than their acting ability. The voice actors were not credited, although more than three decades later, actress Barbara Llewellyn revealed that she had provided the voice for all the dialogue of Edith (Christine Schuler, now Christine Lawrance).
Music.
The main title music was derived from two traditional Romanian panpipe pieces: "Doina: Sus Pe Culmea Dealului" and "Doina Lui Petru Unc" with Romanian Gheorghe Zamfir playing the panpipe (or panflute) and Swiss born Marcel Cellier the organ. Australian composer Bruce Smeaton also provided several original compositions (The Ascent Music and The Rock) written for the film.
Other classical additions included Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C from "The Well-Tempered Clavier" performed by Jenő Jandó; the Romance movement from Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik"; the Andante Cantabile movement from Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1, Op. 11, and the "Adagio un poco mosso" from Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" performed by István Antal with the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra. Traditional British songs "God Save the Queen" and "Men of Harlech" also appear.
There is currently no official soundtrack commercially available. In 1976, CBS released a vinyl LP titled "A Theme from Picnic at Hanging Rock", a track of the same name and "Miranda's Theme". A 7" single was released in 1976 of the Picnic at Hanging Rock theme by the Nolan-Buddle Quartet. The song peaked at umber 15 on the Australian singles chart.
An album "Flute de Pan et Orgue (Music from Picnic at Hanging Rock)" was released by Festival Records France.
Release.
The film premiered on 8 August 1975, at the Hindley Cinema Complex in Adelaide. It was well received by audiences and critics alike.
Reception.
Weir recalled that when the film was first screened in the United States, American audiences were disturbed by the fact that the mystery remained unsolved. According to Weir, "One distributor threw his coffee cup at the screen at the end of it, because he'd wasted two hours of his life—a mystery without a goddamn solution!" Critic Vincent Canby noted this reaction among audiences in a 1979 review of the film, in which he discussed the film's elements of artistic "Australian horror romance", albeit one without the cliches of a conventional horror film.
Despite this, the film was a critical success, with American film critic Roger Ebert calling it "a film of haunting mystery and buried sexual hysteria" and remarked that it "employs two of the hallmarks of modern Australian films: beautiful cinematography and stories about the chasm between settlers from Europe and the mysteries of their ancient new home."
Cliff Green stated in interview that "Writing the film and later through its production, did I—or anyone else—predict that it would become Australia's most loved movie? We always knew it was going to be good—but that good? How could we?"
"Picnic at Hanging Rock" currently has an approval rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 8.42/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Visually mesmerizing, "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is moody, unsettling, and enigmatic -- a masterpiece of Australian cinema and a major early triumph for director Peter Weir". Metacritic, another review aggregator, gives the film a score of 81/100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Box office.
"Picnic at Hanging Rock" grossed $5,120,000 in box office sales in Australia. This is equivalent to approximately $23,269,160 in 2016 Australian dollars.
Versions.
"Picnic at Hanging Rock" was first released on DVD in the Criterion Collection on 3 November 1998. This release featured a director's cut of the film with an entirely new transfer, a theatrical trailer and liner notes about the film. The same year, the film was also re-released theatrically, with Weir removing seven minutes from the film that apparently detracted from the narrative. The Criterion Collection re-released the director's cut on Blu-ray on 17 June 2014. It includes a paperback copy of the novel and many supplemental features, most of which are not available on international releases.
The film was later released in a special 3-disc set on 30 June 2008 in the United Kingdom. This set included the director's cut and a longer original version, interviews with filmmakers and the book's author Joan Lindsay, poster and still galleries, a 120-minute documentary and deleted scenes. UK distributor Second Sights Films also released the film on Blu-ray on 26 July 2010.
In Australia it was released on DVD by Umbrella Entertainment in August 2007, and re-released in a 2-disc Collector's Edition in May 2011. This edition includes special features such as the various theatrical trailers, poster and still galleries, documentaries and interviews with cast, crew and Joan Lindsay. It was released on Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment with a newly restored print, the feature-length documentary "A Dream Within a Dream", a 25-minute on-set documentary titled "A Recollection: Hanging Rock 1900" and the theatrical trailer on 12 May 2010.
Legacy and influence.
The film has gone on to inspire other more recent artists, who have come to regard the film for its themes as well as its unique visuals.
Director Sofia Coppola has borrowed heavily from "Picnic at Hanging Rock" for her productions of "The Virgin Suicides" and "Marie Antoinette". Both films, like "Picnic at Hanging Rock", deal extensively with themes of death and femininity as well as adolescent perceptions of love and sexuality.
American television writer Damon Lindelof said that the film was an influence on the second season of the television show "The Leftovers".