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Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Review

A tale of a treat to hanging rock, a daytrip gone wrong when a class of Girlsfrom Apple yard College visit the woodland of this huge, what seems to be a

locally famous rock but when something terrible happens, and some girls gomissing, a search and rescue begins with secondary storylines and tale tellingvisuals the story reaches new levels of cinema.

Fig.1 Poster Art

Within the poster art for this film the multi-tasking emptiness of it is confusing,showing no real motive, or any sort of mystery besides its color palette of oldVictorian images, and the young lady amongst the front as a what seems likepossible protagonist, the rock is only shown as minimal and small, and thebuilding of great interest in the top left corner shows mystery and darkness.The poster in a sense sums up this film, as the eye reads left to right youfollow the journey of the college girls traveling from the building to the rock,and then once there the two girls in the background having there backs facedtowards the audience shows that something is happening in the distance or something of great interest which would be the rock and something within itwhether mystical or magical.

‘A movie that creates a specific place in your mind; free of plot, lacking any final explanation, it exists as an experience’ (Ebert, 1998 ) this film isspellbinding the ways in which it lets your mind explore the possibilities andlets you rely on your own imagination to create a story out of a story much likethe initial opening speech being “ What we see and what we seem are buta dream, a dream within a dream.” This automatically told me that what we

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will be seeing will be the dream within a dream of with everybody relevantbeing a subconscious image projected through one persons interpretation,however working out who the person who is telling this odd dream like story isvery difficult to figure out and plays with your mind. ‘ 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 )The experience Really is the key, as your mind is constantly active in trying towork out the meanings of the scenes to unlock the storyline and to satisfyyour hunger for knowledge, however by the end, you only realize that thespecific editing sequence is an illusion which has left your imagination tocreate a story of its own.

Fig.2 Establishing shot on location

Within Fig.2 the establishing shot of this exotic Australian outback, is trulyrevealed with an almost Oil painting feel to it, showing the group as a whole,and the surroundings of the infamous Hanging rock to which seems to have

powers beyond recognition and unknown happenings around it with oddscenes such as a family drinking tea as a stereotypical Englishman almostfeels surreal however it fits as towards an English break in the countryside.

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Fig.3 Opening Scene

Going back to the opening scene the abnormality and atmosphere the filmcreates initially is inspiring but confusing, the images clearly explain what thefilm is going to be like. ‘ Weir holds out the hope or the threat that there's arealm of existence we can't just invade; that tantalizing possibility gives Picnic at Hanging Rock its mystical, hypnotic otherworldliness ‘ (Ridley, 1998) TheSmall series of images don’t fail to be outstandingly beautiful as well as dull,with this contradiction taking place, makes your mind want to decipher it, andwant to understand straight away what’s going to take place, however asRidley states there’s a realm of existence we cant just invade, it takesimagination and determination to conjure up the story of your own with theseimages and the what seems to be “otherworldliness” sequences as guidance.

Bibliography

Ebert,R.(1998) Film Review : Picnic at Hanging Rockhttp://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19980802/REVIEWS08/401010325/1023 Accessed on 6/12/2011

Canby,V.(1979) Film Review : Picnic at Hanging Rock http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F03E0D71639E732A25750C2A9649C946890D6CF&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes Accessed on 6/12/2011

Ridley,J.(1998) Film Review : Picnic at Hanging Rock http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/nash/p/picnicathangingro1.html Accessedon 6/12/2011

Illustration list

Fig.1 Poster ArtPoster (1975) From: Picnic at Hanging Rock. On listalhttp://www.listal.com/movie/picnihttp://www.listal.com/movie/picnic-hanging-rock/picturesc-hanging-rock/pictures accessed 6/12/2011

Fig.2 Establishing shot on locationEstablishing shots in woods (1975) From: Picnic at Hanging Rock. On listalhttp://www.listal.com/movie/picnihttp://www.listal.com/movie/picnic-hanging-rock/picturesc-hanging-rock/pictures accessed 6/12/2011

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Fig.3 Opening SceneEstablishing shots. (1975) From: Picnic at Hanging Rock. On Suntimeshttp://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2006/08/opening_shots_picnic_at_hangin.html accessed 6/12/2011