Picnic

At Hanging Rock (1975) Figure 01: Poster HORROR need not always be a long-fanged gentleman in evening clothes or a dismembered corpse or a doctor who keeps a brain in his gold fish bowl. (Canby: 1979) Released in 1975 Picnic at hanging rock is an Australian feature film directed by Peter Weir. Its based on a private girls school, where on St. Valentines Day in 1900 a group of girls are taken on a day trip, picnic to hanging rock. Shortly after arriving a few of the girls along with Miss McGraw (Vivean Gray) go off to explore. On their exploration we meet Michael Fitzhubert (Dominic Guard) and his valet Albert (John Jaratt) who are resting on the other side of the forest, they notice the girls as they walk past. At the top of the rock the girls lie on the ground as the sun hits down. At this point you wonder why the girls are in a high neck dresses with gloves when the sun is roasting. This is a clash between nature and civilisation one of the many threaded conspiracies. After reciting their poetry 3 of the girls decide to climb a rock along with their teacher. From this point on the audience is blind, after a while one of the girls who decided not to go with the rest runs back to inform the rest of the group that shes not able to find the others. Their disappearances are never explained and there are never seen again. This causes a stir in and has a destructive effect on there school. Michael Fitzhubert comes to the rescue of Irma (Karen Robson) after a long search on the rocks. Figure 02: The Girls

 A movie that creates a specific place in your mind; free of plot, lacking any final explanation, it exists as an experience (Ebert: 1998) this film lets your mind explore the possibilities in what it could be. It some how makes you look but does not tell you what to look at. The illusion of reality is some how produced by the lack of any solution to the mystery the film presents: What happened to the to the missing girls? The audience some how feel cheated by the end of the film because they have as much knowledge as the rest of the girls who go back to school to reflect on what happened. We are forced to think rather then know.

Figure 03: Approaching The Rocks Figure 04: The Girls Laying down A haunting and compelling oddity from Australian master Peter Weir, that doesnt fit easy categorisation; (Nathan: 2010) Peter Weirs Picnic at Hanging rock is beautifully constructed but it is difficult to categorise into a genre. From the opening scene of the forest Weirs creates a mellow atmosphere that sets the tone of the film. It never provides answers but suggestion to what it could be to what it is.

 Illustration Figure 01: Poster http://www.jbhifionline.com.au/dvd/dvd-genres/australian-cinema/picnic-at- hanging-rock-blu-ray/483890 Figure 02: The girls http://www.listal.com/viewimage/1678183 Figure 03: Approaching The Rocks http://karabanana.blogspot.com/2009/12/picnic-at-hanging-rock.html Figure 04: The Girls Laying down http://www.flickr.com/photos/theskyeisfalling/3506072561/ Bibliography Vincent Canby http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F03E0D71639E732A25750C2 A9649C946890D6CF&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes Published February 23, 1979 Roger Ebert http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980802/REVIE WS08/401010325/1023 Published August 2, 1998 Ian Nathan http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=118434 Published August 30, 2010