Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
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A group of schoolgirls and their teacher vanish during a picnic at a mysterious rock in 1900 Victoria.
The story
On Valentine's Day 1900, students from Appleyard College, a girls' private school in Victoria, Australia, embark on a picnic to Hanging Rock led by teachers Miss Greta McCraw and Mlle de Poitiers. While the girls explore the area, they are observed by a young Englishman and his Australian friend. The girls begin climbing and fall asleep under a strange influence. When they awaken, several girls and their teacher are missing. The subsequent search and the impact of these disappearances on the local community and the school's reputation create a growing sense of unease and mystery.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
On Valentine's Day 1900, students from Appleyard College embark on a picnic to Hanging Rock. While the girls explore, they are observed by Michael Fitzhubert and Albert Crundall. The girls fall asleep under a strange influence; when they wake, Miranda, Marion, and Irma are in a trance, and Miss McCraw is missing. Only Edith remains, providing a disjointed account of the events. Michael later finds Irma unconscious in a crevice, but she has no memory of the day. The disappearances cause a scandal, and the school's reputation suffers. Meanwhile, a student named Sara is marginalized due to unpaid fees. The mystery of the missing women leads to local rumors of violence. The film concludes with the discovery of Sara's body in a greenhouse and the revelation that the headmistress, Mrs. Appleyard, was later found dead at the base of Hanging Rock. The disappearance of the others remains an unsolved mystery.
- First release year
- 1975
- Runtime (minutes)
- 115
- Production countries
- Australia
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Peter Weir
- Writers
- Cliff Green · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Rachel Roberts · Mrs Appleyard; Dominic Guard · Michael Fitzhubert; Helen Morse · Mlle. de Poitiers; Jacki Weaver · Minnie; Anne-Louise Lambert · Miranda St. Clare; Margaret Nelson · Sara Waybourne; John Jarratt · Albert Crundall; Karen Robson · Irma Leopold
- Genres
- mystery; drama
- Themes
- mystery; death; femininity; adolescent perceptions of love and sexuality
- Tone and mood
- oppressive; depressing; ethereal; dreamy; haunting
- Premise and plot tags
- missing people; picnics; sexual repression; boarding schools
- Source material / true-story basis
- novel by Joan Lindsay
- Reception
- Picnic at Hanging Rock was a commercial and critical success, and helped draw international attention to the then-emerging Australian New Wave of cinema. It was described as a 'masterpiece of Australian cinema' and 'a film of haunting mystery'.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 92% · scale: percentage · review count: 48
- Production trivia
- The film was voted the best Australian movie of all time in a 1996 poll.; The main title music was derived from traditional Romanian pan flute pieces.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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