Picnic at Hanging Rock - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful piece of art - lastingly mind-occupying.
Review: Picnic at Hanging Rock is a wonderful piece of art. I first saw the film at midnight sometime around 1982 on german TV. I almost felt spell-bound afterwards. Something about this film (or its entirety - I cannot say) has stirred my soul that night. I would like to add how I feel that a good deal of a movie lives off its soundtrack. Sometimes it's the movie's better part - not with "picnic", though. Here, Peter Weir's masterpiece was perfectly complemented with the second movement of Beethoven's eternal 5th piano concerto which makes the film all the more special. I would like to make a comparison with a few examples of other "perfect fits" of soundtracks: Mahler's slow movement of his 5th symphony in "Death in Venice" after a short story by Thomas Mann; Vangelis '2nd academy-award-deserving' soundtrack to "1492-Conquest of Paradise" with Gerard Depardieu; Wagner's 'Funeral March' of Siegfried in "Excalibur" (here, the music pulls the movie out of the mud of mediocrity). As long as music prevails as an essential player in movie-making, wonderful symbioses like in "Titanic" or "Picnic at Hanging Rock" will keep enchanting us.

Rating:
Summary: one of the most haunting films ever made
Review: When this film was made my Australian mother was lucky enough to be a good friend of Peter Weir and I can still remember him - even though I was very young at the time! I have always been a huge fan of his work, and still maintain that this is one of his best. For anyone thinking of trying this after seeing "The Truman Show" - you're in for a treat!

Rating:
Summary: Peter Weir is GREAT!!!
Review: Peter Weir is a genius. I don't know how he does it but he comes out with some of the best movies ever. example: Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show, Gallipoli, and of course, Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best!
Review: I saw this movie for the first time last year at one of the best movie theatres in the country...the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. It instantly became a favorite. Picnic at Hanging Rock is one of the BEST films I've ever seen. The "lack of resolution" at the end is exactly what (I feel) makes the movie so great; I can't tell you how refreshing it is to view such a fascinating movie without it ending on some tired, dopey moral that attempts to clumsily tie it all together. However, i'm not completely convinced that the answers are not hidden craftily within the character's dialogue. For instance, consider the gardener's belief that the girls' disappearance MUST have a reasonable explanation, and that someday it WOULD be known. Was it an accident that he died shortly after? Mmm. The repressed sexual component is mesmerizing. This is a must see.

Rating:
Summary: Entrancing beauty and unsolved mystery. However...
Review: The beauty is compelling, but there are no answers. Sometimes not explaining can be better. Many people are disturbed that this movie does not provide viewers with a solution to the eerie disappearance of the teenage girls. Ah, then you have to look closely and really think! Many clues are provided to the keen observer, and don't be surprised if you find yourself watching this movie more than once. Each time you see more. It can lead to endless speculation with your friends. The movie is based on the novel, by Joan Lindsay, and is quite faithful to it. Director Peter Weir's screen portrayal of the book is first-rate. HOWEVER, not well know is the fact that there exists a chapter from the original book that was deleted. Subsequently, after the death of the author, this chapter has come to light and has been published. I found it by accident in the local library! It explains the strange events that occurred on the rock. You can email me if you have seen the movie, and I will give you (free, of course!) the title name. Then you can know the secret...

Rating:
Summary: 3 girls and Teacher lost on volcanic rock on St. Valentines
Review: We watched the movie in school. I'm in a grade 8 class. I thought the movie was very puzzling. I just couldn't understand some parts somtimes. It's just not the kind of movie you rent on Saturday night to watch for some action show. You really have to think alot nd watch for connections. I think Peter Weir should have told us what ever happend to the girls. It sure would be much easier for me in English Class!

Rating:
Summary: Hanging rock IS eery - I've been there.
Review: For the record, Hanging Rock is NOT Ayer's Rock. Hanging Rock is in the state of Victoria, and is comprised of large lumps atop one another. I nearly got lost climbing down it near sunset - it was scarey. I was bothered by the lack of resolution at the end, but that in itself made it stick in my memory for over 20 years. The movie says it was based on a true story, but I never had a chance to look it up in newspaper archives.

Rating:
Summary: sucky
Review: this movie sucked rin

Rating:
Summary: Haunting
Review: I saw this film for the first time over 20 years ago and still remember it for the atmosphere, the mystery, the possibility that the girls simply vanished into Ayres Rock. It is a wonderful film - not perfect, certainly (there is no discernable plot), but wonderful, nevertheless.

Rating:
Summary: stylish study of Victorian Era repression...
Review: ...but too atmospheric. A very slow film strong on mood and image, but thin on character and plot. From a fiction standpoint, I would have liked to have learned more about the characters. From a non-fiction standpoint, I would have liked to have learned more about the prevailing theories of the girls' (and tutor's) disappearance.