Picnic at Hanging Rock (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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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
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 Mlle. 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 must be 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, Miranda points out a group of towering monoliths, at the base of which all four lie down and fall asleep. At the picnic spot, everyone except Miss McCraw has fallen asleep as well. Miss McCraw looks up at the rock, then to her geometry book. Miranda, Marion, and Irma awaken and, as if in a trance, move towards the monoliths, ignoring the pleas of Edith. 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. A search party, led by Sgt. Bumpher and Constable Jones of the local police, finds nothing, although Edith reveals 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 finding Miranda, and with Albert, he conducts another search of Hanging Rock. Despite Albert's protests, Michael decides to remain overnight and begins climbing again the next day, leaving a trail of paper. When Albert follows the markers, he finds a nearly catatonic Michael. Michael passes Albert a fragment of lace from a dress, before departing to town. Albert returns to Hanging Rock and discovers an unconscious Irma. The residents of Woodend become restless as news of the discovery spreads. Mrs Appleyard advises Miss Lumley 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. When she awakens, Irma tells the police and Mlle. de Poitiers she has no memory of what happened. A servant girl notes that Irma's corset is missing. Michael befriends the recovered Irma but alienates her when he demands to know what happened on the Rock. Before leaving for Europe, Irma visits her classmates a final time; they become hysterical and demand to know what happened to Miranda and Marion. Irma flees, briefly noticing Sara strapped to a wall, meant by Miss Lumley to correct Sara's posture. That night, Miss Lumley gives notice to a drunken Mrs Appleyard that she is resigning.
Mrs Appleyard tells Sara that, as her guardian has not paid her tuition, Sara must return to the orphanage. The next day, Michael tells Albert he has decided to travel north, with Albert revealing he had a dream in which his lost sister Sara visited him. Meanwhile, Mrs Appleyard lies to Mlle. de Poitiers and claims that Sara's guardian picked her up, as all the students depart for their holiday. The next morning, Sara's body is found in the greenhouse by Mr. Whitehead, the school gardener. Believing Sara committed suicide by leaping from the school rooftop, Whitehead informs Mrs. Appleyard, who is disturbingly calm in full mourning dress with her possessions packed.
During a flashback to the picnic scene, 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 sporadically for several years without success, remaining an unsolved mystery.
Cast
- Anne-Louise Lambert as Miranda St. Clare
- Rachel Roberts as Mrs. Appleyard
- Dominic Guard as Michael Fitzhubert
- Helen Morse as Mlle. de Poitiers
- Margaret Nelson as Sara Waybourne
- John Jarratt as Albert Crundall
- Wyn Roberts as Sgt. Bumpher
- Karen Robson as Irma Leopold
- Christine Schuler as Edith Horton
- Jane Vallis as Marion Quade
- Vivean Gray as Miss McCraw
- Martin Vaughan as Ben Hussey
- Kirsty Child as Miss Lumley
- Jacki Weaver as Minnie
- Frank Gunnell as Mr. Whitehead
- Tony Llewellyn-Jones as Tom
- John Fegan as Doc. McKenzie
- Kay Taylor as Mrs Bumpher
- Peter Collingwood as Col. Fitzhubert
- Garry McDonald as Const. Jones
- Olga Dickie as Mrs. Fitzhubert
- Jenny Lovell as Blanche
