Film Review - Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)

Fig 1 - Picnic at Hanging Rock - Lacing Corsets in dreamscape 

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) by Peter Weir is categorized as a Drama/Mystery, and takes place in two environments which reflect themselves, this has an impact on the characters which inhabit it making the setting essential to the plot much like the characters of Black Narcissus (1947). 'Picnic' is set between the Landscape of Australia, the harsh crag of Hanging Rock, a peculiar geological formation, and a square cut, Victorian school carved into the earth as if a section of England has been picked and placed there where the lush green turf is cleanly cut creating a divide between Australia and the school, eventually the landscape effects the inhabitants of the school in profound ways.

Peter Weir creates an environment which could arguably be a dreamscape, the very first scene is of a student names Miranda (Anne-Louise Lambert) waking up, signifying it is possible she is waking in a dream, this is accentuated by the rose-tinted camera and slow-motion up until the incident on the rock where arguably the dream is over and reality sets in I will refer to the events up until the girls go missing as the dreamscape. It is suggested "Our unconscious wishes are dramatized, investing us in the story and allowing us an ecstatic release." (Abbott, 2018) which could aid towards the very obvious sexual repression prominent with the female characters throughout and to the exaggeration of human interaction.    

Fig 2 - Picnic at Hanging Rock - Irma entering in red dress

We are shown early on that the students aren't of the world by their "Victorian clothing that emphasizes modesty and inconvenience" (Ebert, 1998) through its use of white, and the restricting corsets which emphasis repression of their femininity. White is also in the case symbolizing innocents and naivety of knowledge, as events unfurl the colour of clothing transitions slowly to being black in the very last scenes, the main change occurs for clothing colour when Irma (Helen Robson) appears in the ballet class wearing a red dress when everyone else is in white, it signifies a transition into womanhood, or a journey of knowledge undertaken, as in traversing the mountain and making it back. Miss McCraw (Vivean Gray) can be seen wearing a red dress before the dreamscape ascent up the mountain, which we later learn which removes before ascending herself, possibly a symbol of a return to naivety before the natural environment of the mountain. It is important because it creates mystery, information withheld from the audience. 

Fig 3 - Picnic at Hanging Rock - Ritualistic ascent of Hanging Rock

Early in the dreamscape we can obviously see something significant about the character of Miranda, she appears to be the benevolent leader of the girls and the favourite of the teachers, it is made apparent "there is something otherworldly about Miranda herself. It's as if she, too, is the incarnation of some sort of elemental force." (Cavagna, 1999) this could be referring to a modern version of paganism, which was criticized by Christianity as devil worship and witchcraft, is it possible that these superstitions which have carried over through genre film and society directly impact the way we see this film and the theme of paganism, it is depicted in modern paganism of "individuals pursuing a personal spiritual path alone or in a small group" (Pagan Federation International, 2018) which is exactly what we see in the girls in their ritualistic and trance-like journey up the mountain and gradually strip themselves until they are scantily clad, if we are to assume it is a ritual of paganism and with a societal view of this practice being of an evil nature we could assume Peter Weir is playing on this to add a sinister turn on the mystery of what Edith (Christine Schuler) cant recall seeing and flees terrified from the 'ritual' at the summit. 

Bibliography:

Abbott, M. (2018). Picnic at Hanging Rock: What We See and What We Seem. [online] The Criterion Collection. Available at: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3202-picnic-at-hanging-rock-what-we-see-and-what-we-seem [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].

Cavagna, C. (1999). AboutFilm.Com - Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). [online] Aboutfilm.com. Available at: http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/p/picnichanging.htm [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Ebert, R. (1998). Picnic at Hanging Rock Movie Review (1975) | Roger Ebert. [online] Rogerebert.com. Available at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-picnic-at-hanging-rock-1975 [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Pagan Federation International. (2018). What is Paganism? - Pagan Federation International. [online] Available at: http://www.paganfederation.org/what-is-paganism/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Illustrations:

Figure 1 - Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Film] - Peter Weir: McElroy & Mcelroy: Australian Film Commission

Figure 2 - Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Film] - Peter Weir: McElroy & Mcelroy: Australian Film Commission

Figure 3 - Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Film] - Peter Weir: McElroy & Mcelroy: Australian Film Commission