Picnic at Hanging Rock review from IGUIDE.

Rating 3 out of a possible 5.

The critical recognition of Australia's film industry in the late 1970's can, to a large degree be credited to the works of Peter Weir. After his first feature, THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS, films such as PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK and THE LAST WAVE exhibited a peculiar and fascinating mystical quality that revealed a distinctive sensibility. Unfortunately Weir's decidely personal vision is often rather merky.

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK recounts the strange story of four girls and their teacher from a boarding school in Victoria who go for a picnic at nearby Hanging Rock on a beautiful St. Valentine's Day in 1900. One of the girls, Edith (Christine Schuler), takes a nap and wakes to find that the other three have removed their shoes and stockings to climb higher. They vanish. The police are called in but they are unsuccessful in their search. A young Englishman conducts a search of his own with odd and inconclusive results.

An exceedingly beautiful film, PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK seems to aspire to be an existential thriller of some sort. At times the film seems to thread in BLACK NARCISSUS territory with its depiction of barely controlled sexual hysteria and its eccentric lyrical quality. It's all pretty overheated and underexplained but this arty vague and possibly supernatural movie lingers on in the memory.


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