Let's talk about Picnic at Hanging Rock...

I feel like I need to see it in a theater. Watching in at home I feel like I'm missing something...

It received a 'remaster' some time ago but only for DVD, don't think the film made its way back into cinemas as a result. Definitely worthy of the big screen experience.

The scenes of the picnic at the foot of the rock, before the girls go missing, shows the most spectacular setting. The Valentine's Day cake crawling with ants is so Freudian.

Peter Weir released a Director's Cut on DVD that cut scenes rather than added as most directors do.

Rachel Roberts was her usual fabulous self.

I met Anne Lambert once and we talked for 3 hours about the film. Mostly her answering my questions.

Love the haunting sound of the pan flute.

The sound of this film (not the sound track but the sounds of insects in the background) along with the vision of the dried yellow grasses and the harsh Australian light perfectly evoke for me the Australian summer.

I .love Bruce Smeaton's music too.

The ghostly choir which takes over ‘The Ascent Music’ was provided by a Mellotron looping device, while a bass guitar, harpsichord and flute also join in.

it amazes me how many people still think the film and novel are based on a true story. They're not. The story was inspired by a dream the novelist, Joan Lindsay, had.

The novel had a final chapter that solved the mystery but Lindsay's editor convinced her a more ambiguous ending would work better for the book. Lindsay finally agreed and it was published without the last chapter. The chapter was published years later, after Lindsay's death.

Lindsay's original ending? The girls and their teacher are all sexually repressed, it's a hot summer day, their corsets are too tight and they encounter a time warp. The teacher turns into a crab and crawls into a crevice in the rock. Two of the girls follow her. The end.

I'm not making this up.

Yvonne Rousseau published The Murders at Hanging Rock in 1980 which presents four different explanations for Lindsay's mystery. Three are metaphysical and the last is more true crime with the idea that Michael and Albert did it. +

The ending should involve a serial killer in the outback.

It's one of my favorite movies, atmospheric, eerie, and understated. OP, if you like that, you may also be interested in another movie by Weir, "The Last Wave" from 1977 with Richard Chamberlain.

[quote]The ghostly choir which takes over ‘The Ascent Music’ was provided by a Mellotron looping device, while a bass guitar, harpsichord and flute also join in.

What’re ya, runnin’ for maestro?

[quote] The teacher turns into a crab and crawls into a crevice in the rock.

Is that some sort of metaphor for intercourse?

Some people have metaphors, my pussy cat has crabs.

I know what a metaphor is, I’m not a dummy.

[quote]It amazes me how many people still think the film and novel are based on a true story. They're not.

R10 - There was a similar public reaction when Shirley Jackson’s short story The Lottery appeared in The New Yorker magazine. Jackson herself wrote:

“In the years since (the story was first published), the tenor of letters I receive has changed. I am addressed more politely, as a rule, and the letters largely confine themselves to questions like what does this story mean? The general tone of the early letters, however, was a kind of wide-eyed, shocked innocence. People at first were not so much concerned with what the story meant; what they wanted to know was where these lotteries were held, and whether they could go there and watch.

Our school in Australia had us go to the cinema to see the film as we were also reading the book. My biggest memory is when Garry McDonald appears as a police officer and people shouted "There's Norman Gunston!" It's similar to the idea that people yelled in From Here to Eternity when George Reeves appears and he was known to the public at Superman.

as Superman. 5

Excellent R5! What questions did you have for her? Was she positive about the film etc?

Lord Leighton's Flaming June appears in engraved form on the school's staircase in one scene. The image and title lend a lot to the theme of the film.

R21 - at the time she felt the film was a curse as it had typecast her and also given her stalkers. Later she learned to appreciate it more. .

Deleted scenes here, they lend nothing to the story, although the final scene is interesting.

Some homoerotic undertones at 4.12!

Fast Forward parody. Love Gina Riley's French accent.

Everything about this is perfect! ^^^ The fake slo mo' walk, the French teacher's accent. The fatty looks just like the actress in the original film.

One of my favourite films. Speaking of the director's cut, it's interesting, but it wasn't until I was living in London and they played it on TV that I realised there was originally a number of scenes in it that were cut. I actually think those cuts were a good decision, though I do wish my DVD had the option of both versions.

Of the many things this film does well, I think it's one of the few Australian films that really portrays well how little modern Australians understand our ancient land. All those shots of the British trying to impose British life onto the Australian landscape are so well done.

Agreed R27. British colonialism in a region totally hostile to interference or outsiders.

The whole thing rattles with customs and themes totally out of place; Valentine's Day in baking heat, the girls and teachers in entirely unsuitable attire for the location, the glass house full of European plants that would fail to grow in Australian soil- just like the school and its students.

References to Renaissance artists such as Botticelli, a picture of Lord Byron, all landmarks in Western culture, all brought down by a big old rock millions of years old.

^^Billions, maybe.

I remember reading a theory that the girls were killed by a rare emission of geological gas that also caused disorientation.

They were killed by a huge earth fart?

That would leave bodies, R30.

Wasn't the ending a very Dr Who time/space continuum thing?

While I agree that the film was too long I don't agree with Weir's cuts. Seems to me he needed the romance between Michael and Irma to show her recovery and how Michael ultimately rejected her for not being Miranda, even if Karen Robson's performance is stilted by post-dubbing. He could have cut the bed scene between Minnie and Tom instead. He also needed the scene of Mrs. Appleyard collecting Sara's things to add to the mystery of whether she committed suicide or she was pushed by Mrs. Appleyard.

Anne Lambert made the point that Weir had no right to make the cuts after the film was released because the film no longer belonged to him.

The Last Wave had too little David Gulpilil in it. What an amazing screen presence he had! Great acting talent and a true Aboriginal icon!

^^^^ He appeared in some truly iconic Aussie films.

Such a boring film

That's ok R37, why not start a thread on your favourite film.

There is going to be a release soon of the film on Blu Ray in the UK which includes a restored edition of the original cut.

Went to hanging rock about 10 years ago but it is just a dreary bunch of rocks. The atmosphere that Weir (and John Seale the cinematographer) created was amazing. Menace though sunlight.

The Last Wave which R13 mentions is also brilliant. Never has water and rainfall been to menacing in a film.

The biggest mystery of the film is 'what has happened' to Margaret Nelson who played the orphans Sara. She appeared in lots of Australian TV shows in the 1970s and then just disappeared. Nobody has been able to track her down.

A lesbian classic.

Definitely ranks on my "favorite movies" list, though I admittedly do not like the panpipe musical score—it's maybe the one thing I don't care for in the entire film. Peter Weir is a great director. I will say that I think the novel is superior to the film. Joan Lindsay's turns of phrase in it are outstanding. If you think the movie is haunting, give the novel a read—it's spellbinding.

He did R36 and he was a total scene stealer in all of them. Absolutey loved him in Storm Boy, great movie too!

John Jarrott killed them.

Proof: Watch Wolf Creek!

R43 I've always thought Jarratt was hot in his youth, but I'll never be able to look at him the same after seeing "Wolf Creek". Great actor.

Wolf Creek is hands down, the most hardcore horror I've watched. There's something very raw about Australian film in general.

I once filled my tank at the adjoining bowser to John Jarrett, not sure what happened first - me realising that I was gawking or the bowser cut-off at full. It was a hot day and he was sweaty in a white singlet and tight 501s. 30 years ago but it is still burned into my memory.

R46 I presume his chest hair was a sight to behold

I'm pretty sure John Jarrott along with Bryan Brown & John Hargraves show their cocks in The Odd Angry Shot. Extended shower scene.

R48 you are correct. Very hot.

Gott in Himmel! ^^^^

Obviously you cannot discern the full length since he's flaccid, but John appears to have quite a thick cock (showing peen on the left)

R51 And that is John Hargraves in the centre of the picture. He appeared nude in a number of films - gorgeous and very talented guy sadly taken from us in January 1996.

Only on DL would a thread on this film veer into discussion of John Jarratt's cock (and no, I am not complaining)

Can't it be both?!

Picnic at Hanging Cock R53?

R54 indeed, there is always room for cock admiration

Ooops!

I enjoyed the 2018 miniseries with Natalie Dormer, it was exceptionally well shot despite being kinda messy narratively. I wish they pushed the male homo arc even further. I know, I know, this is about the lesbians...

I think I'll check out the movie one of these days.

The pics above remind me of how us Aussies have always had a really laid back attitude to nudity as part of our culture, until very recently, which I guess can be put down to globalisation through social media... suddenly newer generations are growing up feeling there is something wrong about nudity thanks to being exposed so thoroughly to Yankee culture and their puritan attitudes towards it. It's a shame, there was something very freeing and fraternal and equalising about it when I was growing up in the 90s.

Aussies are just less 'uptight'.

R56 I don’t know about you, but it would make my day if I woke up to a young John Jarratt ripping my clothes off

R56 That case either got rightfully thrown out of court or Jarrott was found rightfully innocent.

Aside from there being no evidence the woman was somewhat unhinged.

I stumbled upon the film on cable as an adolescent and was mesmerized.

As I recall, it was implied that Sara was the long lost sister of Jarrett's character. I found that particularly tragic.

On my list of favorite movies.

Original ending

First movie I ever slept through. 1979?

1975

R62, yes, in the novel anyway, Sara was his long lost sister. He heads off elsewhere in search of her, not realising she's dead.

Black horse, brown horse, white horse, grey, trotting down the paddock on a bright and sunny day.

R63, some interesting comments at that YouTube endling clip.

The Last Wave freaked me out when I saw it and now it will freak me out again.

You must learn to love ...someone else...apart from me...I won't be here much longer. .

It was a tragic selfie accident.

The scene where a week after the girls disappearance Alan goes back to Hanging Rock and finds against all plausibility Irma there and alive is one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen in my entire film-going experience. He falls to his knees and shouts out "HELP ME!" because there's no possible reason she could have ever survived a week in the wild by herself, and yet there she is, and we never find out why or how she survived when Miranda and Marion and Miss McCraw disappeared forever.

The film is a lesbian fever dream. It's as erotic as it is unsettling.

R71 - It's Michael not Alan.

Michael finds her and Albert rescues her.

I found the movie Wake in Fright the most unsettling of this 1970s Australian wave of cinema. It's also quite homoerotic (and had an even more homoerotic miniseries recently with Alex Dimitriades).

Picnic is a perfect movie to me. The way it was almost shot through gauze, the delicate framing, the scorching sun. I find the scene at the end where Rachel Roberts slowly raises her head to be completely chilling. Anne-Louise Lambert came to my school in Australia in the 1970s, some sort of play or performance followed by a Q&A. I remember everyone was quite infatuated with her and kept calling her 'Miranda'. This film really paved the way for other great understated mysteries like Lantana and Jindabyne.

I saw The Last Wave last month, for the first time since its initial cinema release. We are having our third consecutive La Nina event in Sydney, so this year it has rained more days than it hasn't, and it's still going. Freak me out.

R75, isn't the "Fright" in Wake in Fright essentially played by homoeroticism? Broken Hill is scary and all, but my feeling was that the real fear at the heart of the thing was the Gary Bond character's fear of what was within himself.

Rachel Roberts as Mrs. Appleyard to me is one of the great Nurse Ratched-type female villains on screen. Her deterioration into madness and alcohol in the last part of the movie really unsettled me when I saw the film for a second time. The implication that she was the one who killed Sara didn’t really hit me the first time, but it really chilled me upon viewing it again. And yes as r75 said, the final shot of her sitting in her classroom staring into space is very unsettling.

I love the look of this film. I read the book in about 1978, but had not saw the movie. Thank you OP, for starting this thread. The movie is like the book, in that nothing makes sense, its up to your own interpretation. Its a look back to that time and that's what makes it so interesting. It seems like a character study ( sort of). I'm going to order the book now.

I always hated the ending with Mrs A at her desk. I prefer the unused one where she attempts to climb the rock.

I prefer the one where Mrs. Appleyard shoots Alex Forrest in the bathtub.

Or the alternate alternate ending where Mrs. Appleyard slits her own throat while listening to Madame Butterfly.

Miranda is a Botticelli angel!

Mrs. Appleyard always looked to me like Eddie Izzard dressed up like his grandma

I seem to recall Ann Lambert talking about a shot where she posed nude in a clamshell as the Botticelli Venus but the shot was not used.

Is this the shot you mean R84? I initially thought it was fan made, but it partly fits your description. Definitely didn't see this in the final edit.

Yep. i think its shown in the making of documentary on the dvd.

The soundtrack never got a proper release, some individual tracks but not the whole score.

I used to love this take on Picnic at Hanging Rock back in the 90s, haha. Seriously, used to love this song.

so great!

r75 walkabout and the last wave are great too

The soundtrack never got a proper release, some individual tracks but not the whole score.

I remember Gheorge Zamfir had a pan pipe album out with the theme on it. and there was an album of Bruce Smeaton music from different movies.

Here's Bruce Smeaton's Ascent.

Here's the music in the film.

Peter Weir seemed like an odd choice for director given how lowbrow his earlier films were. Homesdale and The Cars That Ate Paris. Picnic has some lowbrow touches but it also shows his delicate touch.

It is a strangely beautiful film that’s unlike any other.

Though I must say Rachel Roberts’ wig is scary. She brought it with her from a previous film and insisted on using it.

OP "PAHR"

An acronym already? It's not Dancing with The Stars...

R23 Jesus, she sounds like a real idiot. Why would she be interviewed at that length with nothing to contribute? Also fat in those boots.

I've always felt that the 1971 Aussie film 'Walkabout' makes an excellent companion piece to Picnic at Hanging Rock. Just, sublimely moody visual poetry with the same kind of gorgeous anxiety as 'Picnic'.

"Walkabout, the extraordinary mood piece by English provocateur, Nic Roeg, is an astonishing meditation on colonial violence, rejection of modernity, and sexual awakening.

The film opens with a well-to-do white man driving himself and his two children to the Australian outback. There he attempts to kill them before ending his own life, leaving the children stranded. They embark into the outback in desperate search for rescue and along the way meet a young Aboriginal boy, he himself on a Walkabout, a tribal tradition that will see him transition into manhood.

This transitioning into adulthood and burgeoning sexual identity is a major theme throughout this film. The Aborigine and the white girl (none of the characters have names, perhaps a tool to allow the audience to see themselves better in these characters), develop a primal lust for one another as the film develops, with his cycle ending with him performing a mating dance to her (from which she hides), and hers taking shape when she bathes naked in an oasis. Their innocence is now forever lost. As the film closes she girl is now grown up, living the life of a housewife, she hugs her husband and listens to his banal story of office mundanity, and she remembers her, her brother and the Aboriginal boy skinny dipping in a creek, wanting to shed the weight of the modern world and capture that moment of true freedom, but it’s something that can never be revisited."

[Quote] as Superman. 5

Incorrect!!!!! Superman five was never made!!!

One of the best movies I've ever seen, Must have watched it several times when it came out, but haven't thought about it in years. Thanks for the post, OP

Also fat in those boots.

I was glad when she crossed her legs. Ladies wearing short skirts in front of an audience can be too Basic Instinct.

Trailer for the new 50th anniversary 4K restoration.