Picnic at Hanging Rock

I just watched Picnic at Hanging Rock, and found it to be completely captivating.  The premise is simple enough:  A group of Victorian boarding school girls go on a class trip to visit the strange Hanging Rock land form, and 3 of them (plus one of their teachers) mysteriously vanish.  That is pretty much the plot in its entirety, yet the mood and texture of the film just cling to the psyche.  I don't know if it's the quasi-supernatural vibe, the breathtaking costumes, the solarized hazy light, or the underlying cautionary moral about sexual repression that made the biggest impression on me.  But, like Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, this is a film that is opiate in its energy yet still packs a powerful emotional punch.

Comments

[bioephemera]

Thanks for the recommendation! I just added it to my netflix queue.

[Carl V.]

I just watched this for the first time a few weeks ago. It was a bizarre, beautiful, eerie film...and I mean all those in the best of ways. I am so glad I read about it on another person's site as I had not heard of it previously and it was a strange delight!