Time: 115 Minutes
Age Rating: PG
Cast:
Rachel Roberts as Mrs Appleyard
Dominic Guard as Michael Fitzhubert
Helen Morse as Mlle. de Poitiers
Jacki Weaver as Minnie
Vivean Gray as Miss Greta McCraw
Director: Peter Weir

I had heard of the title Picnic at Hanging Rock before, but I wasn’t exactly familiar with its movie. It was only when it was shown at my local film society that I learned what it was, which turned out to be a film directed by Peter Weir. Having watched it, I can now understand why it’s considered a classic.

The movie is about students and teachers going to a picnic and some of them vanishing. The disappearance is certainly a mystery, but it isn’t a film where the clear answer unravels and it isn’t established as a whodunnit or anything similar. It leaves very little for clear answers, and instead, much is left up to you to make your own interpretation of what happened and what it all means. From beginning to end, there is this existential dread and chilling and unsettling feeling, and the lack of answers given to the questions surrounding the central mystery and the ambiguity adds to it.

Peter Weir’s direction is stellar, it’s shot incredibly well with stunning imagery. He creates both a dreamlike feel and an unnerving atmosphere, helped by the hypnotic music.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is a visually beautiful, dreamlike, eerie and haunting mystery.