Figure 1: Film Poster
Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) is an Australian film directed by Peter Weir. The film depicts the disappearance of some schoolgirls during a picnic in the Hanging Rock. This incidence shocks the society and effects the local community. The movie produces to the viewer horror and mystery. The incidence takes place in Valentine’s Day in 1900. The group of the schoolgirls arrives at the Hanging Rock in the mid afternoon.
Figure 2: The group of the girls who explored the Rock
A small group of girls begin exploring the Rock. The group has been followed by a young men called Michael Fitzhubert. The girls during their exploration are lying exhausted by the heat in the top of the rock. In this point they disappear.
Figure 3: Exhausted girls.
The rest of the group returns to the college where is announced that there are some girls that has been missing and also a teacher who has been missing.
Figure 4: Miranda exploring the Rock
A search party then goes to the Rocks in order to find the missing girls. The boy Michael who has been following the girls admits that he saw them exploring the Rock and also tells them that he saw the teacher exploring the rock without her skirt. The whole incident of the girls being lost in the Hanging Rocks leaves you undecided of what has happened although the movie is full of clues. Michael is obsessed with Miranda, one missing girl and he tries to go and find her. He stays overnight in the Rock and he has left papers in order to trace his way. His friend Albert finds him unconscious with a piece of a skirt in his hand.
Figure 5: The trace of the skirt in the boys hand
He calls for help and they take him back and treat him. The search party finds alive one of the girls. They treat her but she cannot provide any useful information of what have happened. During the investigation in the school there is a lot of tension and things are going bad. The girls are asking about what happened to their friends that has been missing. One girl Sara commits suicide because she would be taken to the orphanage. Miss Lumley resigns from the school. The movie ends with the mystery unsolved leaving you undecided and with pointing in the end of the movie that the mystery has not been solved yet. The film cannot be categorized and it hasn't have a particular genre. Some parts of the film and in general the film leaves you undecided and are unexplainable. There is also some symbolism in the film and many sex references. The girls in the film are in a stage that are becoming from girls to women. It seems that they choose their own path by disappearing and the Hanging Rock have seduced them and taken them. The fact that the rock which obviously symbolizes the man’s genitalia and also the rock that seems to has a face on it makes you go deeply in the mystery of the film. “As Russell Boyd's camera examines the rock in lush and intimate detail -- its snakes and lizards, its birds and flowers -- certain shots seem to suggest faces in the rock, as if the visitors are being watched.” (Ebert, 1998). The film gives you a particular experience and it differs a lot from other mystery films.
Figure 6: The rock resembling a face
The technique of filming the nature leaves you undecided if there is something connected with the land and the environment with the disappearance of the girls. “With dreamy cinematography and portentous music, Peter Weir gently evokes the presence of something supernatural without being obvious about it.” (Cavanga, 1999). Everything in the film is a clue which lets you find it yourself. "Picnic at Hanging Rock" is different. It's a movie composed almost entirely of clues. Its methods are illusory, not necessarily to trick us but to force us to stretch our imaginations.” (Canby, 1979).
I can say that I enjoyed the movie and during the movie I was put in an experience of being in a mystery. I wouldn't see it again but I would suggest it seeing it. It really achieves the best as a film in the context of mystery.
Illustration List:
Figure 1: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Film Poster.
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Figure 2: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) The group of the girls who explored the Rock.
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Figure 3: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Exhausted girls.
http://s3prod.weheartit.netdna-cdn.com/images/1305611/tumblr_kw1p6aaYXG1qzz1ljo1_500_large.png?1263246186 (Accessed:11/1/2012)
Figure 4: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Miranda one of the girls exploring the Rock.
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Figure 5: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) The trace of the skirt in the boys hand.
(Accessed:11/1/2012)
Figure 6: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) The rock resembling a face.
(Accessed:11/1/2012)
Bibliography:
Ebert. Roger (1998). Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Film Review.
(Accessed: 11/1/2012)
Cavanga, Carlo (1999). Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Film Review.
(Accessed: 11/1/2012)
Canby, Vincent (1979). Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Film Review.
(Accessed: 11/1/2012)
Just a stylistic point - you need to watch your ratio between plot synopsis and critique; you don't want to spend your time and energy re-describing the events of the film; you should offer a succinct summary and then get on with the analytical stuff.
ReplyDeleteThis is a big mistake i did and i realized it in the end when i was seeing how many words the critique was. In my next critiques i will avoid this mistake. I suspect that because i hadn't written any critiques during the holidays and some time passed i forgot some fundamentals things about writing the critiques and i stressed my self with too much information about the plot. Thanks for pointing out Phil!
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