Picnic at Hanging Rock (film)
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| Picnic at Hanging Rock | |
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 Original Movie Poster |
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| Directed by | Peter Weir |
| Produced by | Executive Producer: A. John Graves Patricia Lovell Producer: Hal McElroy Jim McElroy |
| Written by | Novel: Joan Lindsay Screenplay: Cliff Green |
| Starring | Rachel Roberts Vivean Gray Helen Morse Kirsty Child Tony Llewellyn-Jones |
| Music by | Non Original Music: Johann Sebastian Bach Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ludwig van Beethoven |
| Cinematography | Russell Boyd |
| Editing by | Max Lemon |
| Distributed by | Atlantic Releasing Corp. |
| Release date(s) |  8 August 1975(Adelaide, Sth. Australia)  31 October 1976 2 February 1979 |
| Running time | 115 mins |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $440,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian film adaptation of the novel of the same name. It premiered at the Hindley Cinema Complex in Adelaide on 8 August 1975. It became one of the first Australian films to reach an international audience, and thus has an important place in film history. It is famed for its mysterious, unresolved story; for the debate over its meaning, see the article on the original novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock.
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[edit] Synopsis
The screenplay, adapted by Green from Lindsay's novel, tells the story of the mysterious disappearance of three schoolgirls and their teacher during a picnic at a geological formation known as Hanging Rock on Valentine's Day in 1900. The reason for their disappearance, whether by human, natural or supernatural agency, is never discovered, but their disappearance has a profound effect upon everybody in their community.
The film begins in an English girls' school in the Australian bush. The school is headed by the stentorian Mrs. Appleyard (Rachel Roberts), an indomitable and unbending figurehead of authority. Her staff include the remote mathematics mistress Miss McCraw (Vivean Gray), who vanishes on the Rock with three pupils, the young and beautiful Mademoiselle de Portiers (Helen Morse) who teaches French and deportment, and the jittery Miss Lumley (Kirsty Child), who is anxious to please Mrs. Appleyard.
Although she commands only a little more than a half-hour of screen time, the film's central character is Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert), a young student whose beauty is compared by Mademoiselle de Portiers to one of Botticelli's angels. Her circle of friends includes Irma (Karen Robson), Marion (Jane Vallis), Rosamund (Ingrid Mason) and the waifish Sara (Margaret Nelson) whose affection for Miranda stems from a deep crush. Another pupil, Edith (Christine Schuler) hovers on the edge of Miranda's circle, desperate for acceptance.
During the picnic, a handful of the girls - Miranda, Irma, Marion and Edith - decide to explore the rock in direct defiance of Mrs Appleyard's specific instruction. One of the teachers, Miss McCraw, follows them. By sunset, only Edith has returned, hysterical and unable to explain what has transpired. The police investigation led by Sgt. Bumpher (Wyn Roberts) and Constable Jones (Garry McDonald) leads them to a young Englishman, Michael Fitzhubert (Dominic Guard) who was lunching at the rock with his family, Colonel Fitzhubert (Peter Collingwood) and Mrs. Fitzhubert (Olga Dickie). Michael, with Albert (John Jarratt), the Fitzhubert party's young local Australian valet, spent part of the lunch watching the picnic, but offer no clues in the investigation.
The town of Woodend quickly becomes restless as news of the disappearance spreads. The townsfolk are angry, demanding answers, while Michael, and later Albert, search the rock - discovering Irma, though she has no memory of what happened on the rock, or of the fate of her companions.
[edit] Production
The film was produced by Patricia Lovell, Hal McElroy and Jim McElroy. Peter Weir directed the film. Screenwriter David Williamson was originally chosen to adapt the film, but was unavailable and recommended noted TV writer Cliff Green for the job. The film had a budget of A$440,000.
Weir originally cast Ingrid Mason as Miranda, overlooking Anne-Louise Lambert who had a remoteness that set her apart from the other girls at the audition. Later, realising that such remoteness was precisely what the character needed, he re-cast Lambert as Miranda. Mason was persuaded to stay on, in the role of Rosamund.
Filming commenced at Hanging Rock, Victoria on 2 February 1975. Martindale Hall, in South Australia was used to stand for Appleyard Hall.
[edit] Analysis
[edit] Themes
At the beginning of the film we are introduced to a microcosm of English propriety - a traditional English college for young ladies, set in the wild, chaotic landscape of the Australian bush. The contrast between transplanted English tradition with the ancient, spiritual wilderness of Australia permeates the film. The veneer of order which comes with the transplanted English tradition masks a community simmering with emotion: young Sara's (Margaret Nelson) crush on Miranda (Anne Louise Lambert), gardener Tom's (Tony Llewellyn-Jones) affair with Minnie (Jackie Weaver) and more.
[edit] Style
The film's rhythm is marked by a recurring sense of unease created by lingering images of the Rock and of the Australian outback. Director of photography Russell Boyd reportedly enhanced the film's diffuse and ethereal look with the simple technique of placing a piece of bridal veil over the camera lens.[citation needed]
Compounding the film's dreamlike quality is the sometimes disjointed but intriguing dialogue - in the opening sequence, Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert) paraphrases Edgar Allan Poe, whispering "What we see and what we seem are but a dream; a dream within a dream". (Poe's quote is "All that we see or seem | Is but a dream within a dream"[citation needed])
The narrative structure of the film is dominated by irresolution; most noticeably, the mystery of where the girls vanished to is not explained, but also the fact that the orphaned Sara and the valet Albert are clearly brother and sister remains unresolved within the frame of the story, and while each character relates an anecdote which confirms the relationship, they never meet.
[edit] Responses
Weir recounts that when the film was first screened in the United States, American audiences were greatly disturbed by the lack of any clear resolution to the plot.[citation needed]
In honor of the film's success, and its enduring popularity, Picnic at Hanging Rock is still screened annually in the picnic grounds at Hanging Rock, Victoria, on St. Valentine's Day.
The film was a major critical success, in Australia, the U.S. as well as the UK and a large amount of other countries. The film has a rating of 94/100 fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]
[edit] Music
The main title music, which plays a major role in creating the haunting atmosphere for which the film is remembered, comes from two traditional Romanian panpipe pieces, "Doina: Sus Pe Culmea Dealului" and "Doina Lui Petru Unc" with Romanian Gheorghe Zamfir on panpipe (or panflute) and Swiss born Marcel Cellier playing organ.
Weir first heard Zamfir's music on the album Flutes de Pan et Orgue, originally released on the French Cellier label. Although the film was instrumental in popularising Zamfir's distinctive music, Weir later revealed that Zamfir refused to contribute original music for the film, forcing Weir to obtain the licencing rights for the tracks he had originally heard on the Cellier disc.[citation needed]
The "ascent" theme, which plays first during the girls' climb, then during Michael's ascent of the Rock in pursuit of the missing girls, and later when Albert makes a similar climb, was one of several original compositions written for the film by Australian composer Bruce Smeaton.[citation needed]
Other music in the film is classical, including: Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C, a piano piece used near the beginning of the film; the Romance piece 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, also known as the Emperor Concerto, a dreamlike piano piece used later in the film when Michael is haunted by his memories of Miranda.
The last of these, the Adagio from Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, is a favourite of producer Hal McElroy; it has been used in several of his films, including the television mini-series Return to Eden.
There is currently no official soundtrack commercially available. In 1976, CBS released a vinyl LP titled "A Theme from Picnic at Hanging Rock" through their Epic label in the UK. This album included the two Doinas listed above, subtitled "Miranda's Theme" and "A Theme from Picnic at Hanging Rock" respectively; the remaining tracks were more Romanian folk tunes, and the artwork was unrelated to the film, or to Hanging Rock. The Doinas concerned are available on CD on the relatively obscure Disques Cellier label, and are also available as recorded live versions.
[edit] Awards
- In 1976, the film was nominated for one award - Best Cinematography - by the British Society of Cinematographers.
- In 1977, it was nominated for three BAFTA Awards by the British Academy of Film and Television: Best Cinematography for Russell Boyd, Best Costume Design for Judith Dorsman and Best Soundtrack for Greg Bell and Don Donnelly. Boyd won.
- In 1979, the film was nominated for two Saturn Awards by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in the United States: Best Cinematography for Russell Boyd and Best Writing for Cliff Green. Boyd won.
[edit] Director's cut
In 1998, the film was re-released theatrically as a director's cut. Unlike many directors who use the opportunity to restore material to a film, Peter Weir chose to cut seven minutes from the film in parts he felt were either too long, or distracted from the film's narrative.
The director's cut is currently the only version available on DVD, although the German release does feature the removed scenes as "Bonus Material".
[edit] External links
- Official website of Hanging Rock (Mt Diogenes) in Australia.
- Official website of Martindale Hall, the location used as Appleyard College.
- Picnic at Hanging Rock at the Internet Movie Database
- Review by film critic Roger Ebert
- Film page at the Hanging Rock website
- Fan summary of The Murders at Hanging Rock
| Films Directed by Peter Weir |
| Homesdale | The Cars That Ate Paris | Picnic at Hanging Rock | The Last Wave | Gallipoli | The Year of Living Dangerously | Witness | The Mosquito Coast | Dead Poets Society | Green Card | Fearless | The Truman Show | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | War Magician | Pattern Recognition |
| Preceded by: Blood for Dracula |
The Criterion Collection 29 |
Succeeded by: M |
