Picnic at Hanging Rock

Synopsis: Three students and a school teacher disappear on an excursion to Hanging Rock, in Victoria, on Valentine's Day, 1900. Widely (and incorrectly) regarded as being based on a true story, the movie follows those that disappeared, and those that stayed behind, but it delights in the asking of questions, not the answering of them.
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Director(s): Peter Weir
Production: South Australian Film
  Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.6
Metacritic:
81
Rotten Tomatoes:
95%
PG
Year:
1975
115 min
1,712 Views


What we see...

...and what we seem...

...are but a dream.

A dream within a dream.

'Meet me, love, when day is ending. '

'I love thee for thy highborn grace,

'Thy deep and lustrous eye,

'For the sweet meaning of thy brow,

'and for thy bearing so high. '

Six

and seven

and eight

and nine

and ten

and eleven.

'I love thee

'Not because thou art fair,

'Softer than down, smoother than air,

'Nor for the cupids that do lie

'In either corner of thine eye.

'Wouldst thou then know

what it might be?

'Tis I love thee 'cause thou lov'st me. '

See the little horse,

My little horse,

Trotting down the paddock

On his fine white feet

Black horse, white horse,

Brown horse, grey

Trotting down the paddock

On a bright, sunny day.

Someday, Sara, you shall have to

come home with me to the station.

To Queensland.

And meet my sweet, funny family

for yourself.

Would you like that?

You must learn to love...

...someone else apart from me, Sara.

I won't be here much longer.

What do you think?

Miranda, somebody had the nerve to send

Miss McCraw a card on squared paper

covered with tiny sums.

Girls! Girls!

Unless you all deport yourselves

with rather more grace

and considerably less noise,

Mrs Appleyard will see to it that

none of you go to Hanging Rock today.

Bonjour, Miss Lumley.

Good morning, Mademoiselle de Poitiers.

I believe Mrs Appleyard has decided

you're not to go on the picnic, Sara.

That makes two of us.

Off you go!

To St Valentine!

Frre Jacques, Frre Jacques,

Dormez vous...

Tais-toi, Irma.

Miss McCraw vient d'arriver.

- She wants algebra today.

- Today?

- Good morning, girls.

- Good morning, Mrs Appleyard.

Well, young ladies,

we are indeed fortunate in the weather

for our picnic to Hanging Rock.

I have instructed Mademoiselle

that as the day is likely to be warm,

you may remove your gloves

once the drag has passed through Woodend.

You will partake of luncheon

at the picnic grounds near the rock.

Once again let me remind you that

the rock itself is extremely dangerous

and you are therefore forbidden any tomboy

foolishness in the matter of exploration,

even on the lower slopes.

I also wish to remind you the vicinity

is renowned for its venomous snakes

and poisonous ants of various species.

It is, however, a geological marvel,

on which you will be required to write

a brief essay on Monday morning.

That is all.

Have a pleasant day,

and try to behave yourselves

in a manner to bring credit

to the college.

Mr Hussey!

I shall expect you back, Miss McCraw

and Mademoiselle, at about eight

for a light supper.

Come, girls.

This we do for pleasure

so that we may shortly be at the mercy of

venomous snakes and poisonous ants.

How foolish can human creatures be?

There she is, ladies. Hangin' Rock.

The mountain comes to Mohammed.

A hanging rock comes to Mr Hussey.

More than 500 feet high she is. Volcanic,

of course. Thousands of years old.

A million years old, Mr Hussey,

or thereabouts.

Yes, well, of course that'd be right.

Thousands, millions.

Devil of a long time, anyway,

in a manner of speakin'.

Only a million years ago.

Quite a recent eruption, really.

The rocks all around

Mount Macedon itself

must be all of 350 million years old.

Siliceous lava...

...forced up from deep down below.

Soda trachytes extruded in

a highly viscous state,

building the steep-sided mametons

we see in Hanging Rock.

And quite young, geologically speaking.

Barely a million years.

Waiting a million years... just for us.

More cake, Michael?

No, thank you, Aunt. lm...

I think I'll just, um,

stretch my legs a bit.

Oh, don't go too far... and be careful.

There could be snakes.

- How's it goin'?

- All right.

They finished eating, have they?

Pardon?

The colonel and the missus.

- They finished eating, have they?

- Oh, yes, they have.

Expect me up there in a minute, I suppose.

Clear away.

- Can't be more'n midday.

- No.

I thought it was a little early

for lunch myself.

Yeah.

Drink?

Thank you.

You know, they always allow an hour

longer than it takes to get 'ere,

and then they got 'ere straight away.

Thanks.

Ta!

Not that they got anything else to do.

I mean, they never go for

a walk or nothin'.

Get on! Come on!

To St Valentine!

To St Valentine!

I hope you have learned

your poetry, Sara.

Sit up straight, child.

Hold your shoulders back.

You're getting a dreadful stoop.

Well, have you got your lines by heart?

Well, have you?

I can't. It doesn't make sense.

Sense? You little ignoramus!

Evidently you don't know

that Mrs Felicia Heymans is considered

one of the finest of our English poets.

I know another piece of poetry by heart.

It has ever so many verses, much more

than 'The Wreck of the Hesperus'.

Would that do?

What is the name of this poem?

'An Ode to St Valentine'.

lm not acquainted with it.

Where did you find it?

I didn't find it. I wrote it.

You wrote it?

'Love abounds, love surrounds'

Oh, no thank you, Sara. Strange as it

may seem, I still prefer Mrs Heymans.

Give me your book and proceed to

recite to me as far as you have gone.

Your book, please, Sara.

Thank you.

Go on.

I can't.

Not one line?

I shall leave you now, Sara.

I expect you to be word perfect when

I send Miss Lumley in in half an hour.

Otherwise, lm afraid I shall have to

send you to bed

instead of letting you stay up until

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Cliff Green

Cliff Green (born 6 Dec 1934, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian screen writer, whose best known work is Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). He was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2009. This award was for services to the Australian film and television industry as a screenwriter and educator.His TV writing is used as an example of economy, wit and minimal formal camera directions in at least one screenwriting textbook. He also served on the board of the Victorian Film Corporation from 1977 to 1984. His screenplay 'Boy Soldiers' was the first Australian drama to receive an Emmy nomination. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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