Picnic at Hanging Rock: Let's Talk About The Rock
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Picnic at hanging rock occupies an interesting place in popular culture. It's a film and book that sparked an urban legend. But, the story of the rock behind hanging rock and the book's author, Joan Lindsay, and her relationship to the rock is also a very interesting story.
In an alternate ending for the film she returns alone to the rock and climbs to its summit. This was the ending of the film when it was initially released. 20 years later director Peter Weir changed it, felling the abrupt and ambiguous end worked better with maintaining the mystery. You can view it here: • Picnic At Hanging Rock...
(let me know what you think)
What may not be known is that Lindsay did tell readers what happened to the missing girls which really made the mystery moot. Her publisher thought the book would read better if the readers were left with a mystery. If you're curious to know the answer you can read the last chapter, Chapter 18, here: carusopascoski...
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If you're interested in the films and books mentioned in this video I've listed where you can find them in the links below.
If you buy something through my links I may get a small share of the sale. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Picnic at Hanging Rock DVD: amzn.to/3krNp8r
Blu-Ray: amzn.to/3s5jBCH
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (paperback): amzn.to/3KrZeWQ
In 2017 a stage version of the novel was produced and it's interesting to see the way story was adjusted for a theatrical play adaptation. The play's script is available here: amzn.to/3vxeJsl
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It’s easy to make the bizarre or disgusting scary but it takes real talent to make beauty scary and I think that’s the real strength of Hanging Rock
I 100% agree with this.
Ahhh BEAUTY???? IT'S THE UGLIEST ROCK IV HAD THE PLEASURE OF NOT VISITING!!!-ON PURPOSE! Not far from Melbourne where I live
That's so well put!
cant agree with you more
Another way of putting it, it takes real talent to make the natural, "supernatural" and that's the real strength of the movie hanging rock@@PassionJo777
It’s one of those movies whose atmosphere seeps into you and stays forever. A masterpiece
Great video. I saw this film as a young teenager and it never really left me. Stunningly beautiful, and never once tries to be actually "frightening" yet the landscape, the setting and the white-dressed girls holds this ethereal, esoteric power. A fictional story, a fictional film, yet...
I also remember seeing Hanging Rock for the first time as a teen and it really haunted me. At the time it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The music also left a deep impression.
I've been there and it certainly has an odd feeling to it as i climbed. Was that just in my head from seeing this film as a kid. I felt I was being watched. There's lots of caves. An older friend of mine was an actor on the film and she told me that when the crew were filming up on the rock, THEIR watches also stopped. It's a sacred place. The school they filmed at, Martindale Hall, is actually in South Australia.
Several people have left comments about having their watches stop after a visit to Hanging Rock. I would love to visit even though I'm both intrigued and scared by the place.
@Cinema Cities i think there's a strong magnetic field in the rock but i don't remember where i heard that.
Apart from Hanging Rock itself, all of Picnic at Hanging Rock was filmed in South Australia. This was a stipulation as the majority of funding for the film was granted by the South Australian Film Corporation. Albyn Terrace in Strathalbyn is the town you see as the horse and carriage pass through “Woodend”. The home of Colonel and Mrs Fitzhubert is “Wairoa” (also known as the Marbury School) in Aldgate in the Adelaide Hills.
I first saw this movie when I was in film school in the 1980s. Our professor showed it to us to demonstrate how a place or setting can take on the life of a character, even when that place doesn’t actually do anything. We talked a lot about atmosphere and use of sound for creating tension.
It’s a remarkable film in that reading a description of the plot makes it seem like it’d be very boring, but it grabs your attention and never lets go throughout the entire film.
Zeffirelli is an amazing director !! 🙏🌺🌠🙏
I didn't get it. I tried watching it and it was boring. Just reminded me of where I grew up and places just like that everywhere I go. Nothing scary, strange, or weird about it.
This was the first movie I ever saw in a cinema. I still remember that day.
Peter Weir made a brilliant film.Everyone forgets to acknowledge the Music score which to me, absolutely makes the film. Makes it mysterious. The Last Wave is good but nowhere as good as Hanging Rock.
I love the score! The first time I ever saw Hanging Rock I remember the music unsettled me. It was so haunting and then moody. It was unlike anything I’d ever heard before. It’s still one of my favorites.
@@CinemaCities1978 I've looked. Cant seem to buy it anywhere. If you know, please let me know.
@@tryarea51 check the video description I posted some links where to find the DVD/Blu-ray.
The Australian bush is so spooky. You can't see a living creature but all the time you think you are being watched. And then you start seeing things as your mind plays tricks on you. Though it is nonetheless spectacularly beautiful.
One of these days, I hope to visit Australia.
@@CinemaCities1978a must visit!
This is another one that I'm being introduced to for the first time, but I have to say that something about the story reminds of the film and novel, "The Virgin S__cides."
I know that sounds odd. But I see similarities with the young girls, their lives being controlled/oppressed, and experiencing temporary freedom and liberation.
Then, that being derailed by tragedy and the haunting mystery of said tragedy. I really appreciate your depth and exploration of this one! 👏👏👏
It’s not odd. You’re totally on point! Sophia Coppola borrowed heavily from the aesthetics of this film for The Virgin Suicides. I think you would l really enjoy this film it’s one of those that lingers with you.
@@CinemaCities1978 Wow! Had no idea honestly. Oh, I can definitely appreciate a "lingering film." Another for the list!
I’d never noticed that before but you’re bang on.
"Everything begins, and ends, at exactly the right time, and place." 🕛
Gives me goosebumps every time.
it's truly amazing how mr Weir could hold strong historic content like The year of living dangerously or the splendid Master and commander but also to the inner dreamlike mood like Hanging rock,The last wave or even Witness which directed by an american would have been way more classic thriller/romance stuff, he has the cool and the fire.
I love that description, "he has the cool and the fire" ⭐️
"And Miranda has the face of a Botticelli angel"
Great film which I need to rewatch. One the ones that burst onto the screen from Oz in the 1970's: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, The Cars that ate Paris, Sunday too far away & Summerfield. Then Gallipoli in '81.
I watched The Last Wave for the first time this year and I loved the mood it established, but still don't know what to think about it.
@@CinemaCities1978 I missed that one. Just watched the trailer & the film is here on YT to watch so I will give it a watch after Lifeboat. Maybe it is one of those films that need a 2nd viewing to get what you missed 1st time around.
I think it definitely needs a second viewing.
Nobody will believe this story, but I'll tell it anyway.
Last year on the 19th of November my brother and I flew down to Melbourne to see the performance of Phantom of the Opera on that night. The following day we decided to faff around Victoria, and I was eager to see Hanging Rock and Mount Macedon, and the still charming village of Woodend, where I had a croque monsieur. My brother, who has never seen the movie, was kind enough to go out of his way to drive back towards the Rock from Woodend, as was done in the movie. As the weird rock appeared again, we joked that we would probably see it again and again no matter which way we drove.
The conditions at the Rock, given the inordinate amount of rain Australia had experienced lately, were very very different from the movie. The arid looking landscape was now so sodden with rain that my feet went into the ground as I walked across the grass to the toilet block. My shoes were spattered with mud. Also, far from being a roasting summer day, the temperature dipped below ten celsius, in spite of the late spring date.
We were not permitted to walk up the Rock, as the recent rains had closed the track, so we walked around the base of the rock and I was able to look up it towards the peak. I semi-jokingly checked my watch several times during this walk to see if it would stop. It did not stop.
The following day we flew back home to Sydney; and my watch stopped.
By that time I had health issues on my mind and I did not even remember the Rock. I had the battery in the watch replaced at a shop. One month later I suddenly realised that the watch had stopped one day after going to the Rock. Seriously.
That is my story. Sorry it's not more interesting. But weird, huh?
I believe you. I think very strange and inexplicable things happen all the time. While there may be a very reasonable rational explanation for your watch stopping. . . you never know. . .there may not be.
LOVE this movie and it's so great to see SOMEONE actually write about it. Seems like this is one of those forgotten classics. Thanks for showcasing it 🙂
Picnic is such a great film and it's a beautiful film. I don't know why it's so underrated. Oh....and that soundtrack, it's AMAZING.
I love this movie too ☺️
The same director's THE LAST WAVE is also terrific.
I didn't know all the background, terrific stuff.
Hanging Rock's place in Australian popular culture really fascinating and the deeper I dug the more interesting the story got.
Also, I love Peter Weir so I will definitely have to check out THE LAST WAVE.
Curiously, I did have a couple of odd dreams about Hanging Rock while I was making this video. Be sure to check out the links in the video description for the film’s alternate ending and the book’s “lost” chapter that tells what exactly happened to the missing girls.
I saw the video which is too bad they didnt leave it in. plus the lost chapter explains it. Miranda and the girl with glasses went thru a portal and it closed before Irma could go thru. Peter Weir should have created that scene of the 2 girls disappearing and because Irma was a little slow getting up there, missed her oppertunity. The teacher also found it and disappeared. But Mrs. Appleyard saw it but fell to her death waiting too long to enter it.
@@tryarea51 I think the explanation is actually very cool. It's a combination of the supernatural and folkloric. But, I have to admit I love an ambiguous ending. I love when we're left with an unsettled open mystery.
@@CinemaCities1978 I know its fiction but the music score, scenery, the whole cast really make this a watch again and again movie especially now knowing the author and the missing pages from the book and the ending that wasn't used makes it all more interesting enough to want to go to Hanging Rock some day.
@@CinemaCities1978 Do either of them explain why it seems like Sara is somewhat in control or has knowledge of what's going on?
@@CinemaCities1978 Indeed. Another example of this is _Waking the Dead._ The novel by Scott Spencer clearly answers the question of whether or not Sarah is alive, but the movie is shot in a way that you never know for sure what happened to her, and the movie is far better for it. (The one thing that I think that the book does do better is the overall timeline, making his relationship last longer and his grief a little more raw in current day.)
I once met John Jarratt as he was promoting the Wolf Creek TV series at a con and I desperately wanted to hear him talk about this movie (he was the dark haired guy at 2:31). I was about 19 and he was amazed I had even heard of the movie (I'm 27 now). He talked about what it was like to film there - I believe the expression was "very beautiful" - and how the film industry in Australia at the time was - guerilla style, again that's only a half remembrance. What I remember is he was SO enthusiastic to talk to me about it because I think "I know you in this movie" took him by surprise and I think he was a little refreshed to talk about a non-Mick-Taylor part of his acting career.
I've also seen this movie as metaphorical. The movie takes place in 1900, the girls school is strictly Victorian, the girls shed themselves of at least a few articles of clothing that are impractical for the Australian heat and are literally absorbed into the landscape, and...what makes this interesting is the year 1900 being the year of when it was set. Australia became a Federation and no longer a Brittish colony in 1901. I feel this movie is about the transitional period of Australia going from a Brittish colony to our own country and shedding itself of the UK rule and impracticalities (I can only imagine the way in which early Australians tried not to die of heatstroke while wearing Victorian era clothing in the Summer), all through the lens of a story about missing girls.
This was a great video. I like seeing Australian cinema getting the spotlight for once. This is also what I consider our best film so thats nice
Thank you so much for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed the video and yes, I very much can see an see that connection aas well, the shedding of the restrictions, manners, and systems of British rule and adopting a unique Australian identity.
Yes, there are so many layers of meaning in this film. Nature vs. "Civilization" is a big one. I loved John Jarratt in this and will always remember him though I haven't seen the film since 1986.
Great video. It is certainly an intriguing story. Joan Lindsay was definitely an odd character, but a very appealing one as a result. Weir did well to make a good impression on her in order to be able to make the film. The cinematography is stunning and really captures the essence of the time period. Enjoyed this one, thanks CC!
I would’ve loved to speak with Joan Lindsay. She’s that old fashioned type of eccentric that they don’t seem to make anymore.
Live less than an hour from Hanging Rock, seen it from a distance, but not been to it. Haven't watched the film for decades. The visuals and the score, beautiful and haunting.
There are so many overlapping metaphors and subtexts to this, all of which make sense and don't make sense at the same time. That's what I consider good art.
Ch 18 makes explicit what happens to the missing girls. Published separately after the author’s passing it narrates the true ending to the story. Miranda, Marion and Ms McCraw disappear at the balancing boulders into another time and place. Perhaps on the astral plane, or into another reality anyway. The exact events of the story may be fictitious but they are based on truthful realities experienced by many . Missing time, alien abductions etc are genuine phenomena according to human experience.
This film is amazing !! I love the whole mystery and ethereal quality of the film. Zefferelli the director does have this qualities in his films , he's one of my favourite directors . The music is so other worldly and beautiful also . 🙏🌌🙏
I love the music. It's the perfect combination of haunting and beautiful.
Lovely video and I really enjoyed your analytical review. Thank you for the upload. I think it is fitting that the fate of the missing girls remains a mystery. The rigid society is out of touch with nature and spirit. The school and the Rock are contrasting pillars. Metaphorically, those who went missing simply went beyond the confines of rigid society, and therefore the world they encountered was beyond the comprehension of those left behind. For me, it's the metaphors within this movie that tell the real story.
I really enjoyed watching this, thank you. When I first saw Picnic at Hanging Rock it reminded me a little of A Passage to India. There's a mystery here, something happened, no one knows what for sure. But Hanging Rock seemed so tinged with the supernatural, it really captivated me. I felt like one of the girls, drawn deeper into those rocks, only I couldn't go with them any further. A maddening, compelling mystery, not overdone or over explained as films tend to be these days.
……friends’ in Melbourne took my family there for a picnic. It was fantastic to see in real life, & much time was spent walking around the various passages’ in it……unforgettable!
Thanks for talking about this topic! :)
'Picnic' was one of the first Australian films I ever saw, in an evening adult education class, but it is the only one that stuck with me of the 10 films on offer. I never thought it was other than fiction, and that is my excuse for never tracking down and climbing Hanging Rock although I spent three years hiking around Victoria in my spare time. The film was so ethereal that the Rock itself was dissolved in my mind. Thanks again for a wonderful delve into film history. OT, but Australian - have you ever seen 'Jedda' (1955) (aka "Jedda, the Uncivilised")? There is not single noir film from Australia that I can find from the classical period. Lots of neo-noir, but nothing in the 1940-1958 period. I've convinced myself that "Jedda" may be one though, in the broad sense as per Imogen Sara Smith's "In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the Cities". If you've seen it (it is considered a significant Australian film and made it to Cannes), then I'd be interested in your opinion.
I’ve never heard of it but I’m intrigued. I will have to add it to my watch list. Thank you for the suggestion!
I've always wondered if the character Sara is slightly based on Joan Lindsay's youth and her unhappy real life experience at her Boarding school in Stkida. I believe Joan probably was an oddball, a dreamer and a poet/writer in school just like Sara in the book is and that may of lead to a tempestuous relationship with her schools real life Head Governess (the character of Mrs Appleyard in the book). I'm not sure how much more of Sara is based on Joan Lindsays lived experience (clearly the tragic end isn't). The undertones of Sara's infatuation/Deep love for Miranda could have been a true relationship Joan had at the boarding school? That story told by Anne-Louise Lambert (Actress who played Miranda) at the end of this video, how Joan walks up to Anne, hugs her longingly and says "Oh Miranda its been so long" this is a huge clue to me that Sara is based on Joan.
I think Joan was definitely an eccentric and a dreamer. But, also someone attuned to/interested in the idea that there may be an unexplained world beyond our own. I find that story Anne Louise Lambert tells to be very haunting. I agree, it hints at untold stories and secrets Joan may have had.
@@CinemaCities1978 Even if its true or not I just love the idea of in that moment Joan got to hug an image thats haunted her memory since she was a young girl.
I went to a Bruce Springsteen concert at The Rock a few years ago. It was an incredible night.
I love this movie! I saw it for the first time when i was a teen and i got infatueted by the story! Great video!
it is not only the beauty of the rock formation that is scary, it is also the beauty of those girls that is "scaring", unsettling, so much more highlighted by exactly those victorian embellishments - it is a secretive eroticism, always present, never openly addressed - in fact, only once the male protagonists once reflect about this in a scene - they observe the girls at the rock, and in their remarks on their beauty this conflict between the "vulgar" reference to their sexuality and the "romantic", secret notion of it is consciously themed.
I've never heard of this movie, but will add it to my list!
Please do! There's so much to love beyond the story. The music is absolutely haunting, and the eerie mood and beauty of the film stays with you.
The way you edited that final clip into the end, beautiful!
At last, someone has a channel about old Hollywood wood, and the original story the production was working with - or against! Subscribed 💗
I waa completely bewitched by this film, just like those in the film!
Just saw this movie someone had recommended it after viewing a documentary about how people often just vanish without a trace in national parks and woods etc. The whole thing is weird and interesting
I saw this film when it came out. Thinking of it today, I think missing 411.
Your video are always informative and well researched. I would guess that this is more a gothic film than noire. The film and the book are quite similar but the book explores the life of one of "boys" at Hanging Rock. He's the one who finds the only survivor.
This is definitely a gothic mystery/drama. I just love the creeping feeling of doom it evokes. It's simultaneously beautiful and terrifying.
Astute and concise. Thank you!
Thank you for this video.
My pleasure!
I prefer this adaptation of the novel to the recent series. The series tries to 'explain' too much. The novel doesn't really, even in that "unreleased passage" ending, we still do not get much. Also, I like that the relationships between the characters is more subtextual, where as in the modern show they have to come right out with everything. Audiences are smarter than they think. We can get it just fine without having it shoved in our faces. I did enjoy the acting in the modern show. Natalie Dormer is always a real trip. And I loved the art direction and costumes in both versions. Love the book. I read it way too young and have been really haunted by it ever since...
I've just seen the ad for the recent remake, haven't seen the original yet, and your comment is helpful. It was recommended to me because locally we have a nature reserve, which includes a large outcropping called Hanging Rock from which one gets a view of the beach across the street and the surrounding areas.
I'm sure I would have felt the same way as Joan when visiting the rock with girls dressed as she imagined in her book. It was like her dream becoming a reality or being transported from your dream into a surreal reality.
Picnic at hanging Rock is such a good movie
You could really call it a Gothic - well, as Gothic as you'll get out in the Australian countryside.
In 1836, Major Thomas Mitchell named the rock formation Mount Diogenes during his expedition through Victoria. At the time it was popular to use Greek names. Hanging Rock is originally the name for a prominent rock at the entrance to a hiking trail: a round boulder that hangs in a crevice and leaves a passage.
The rock formation was a shelter in the early 19th century for gold prospectors and bushrangers such as the legendary Mad Dan Morgan, a thief and murderer known for his brutality.[3] Some striking places are also named after him, such as Morgan's Lookout and Morgan's Blood Waterfall.
I think it’s implied that the rocks look like faces or heads. In North America, there are several sites where rock formations look similar, especially Mount Rushmore, which the USA carved into its’ face 4 American Presidents, which was previously made up of 6 faces of Native Americans. Sacred locations always seem to have power or a perceptible buzz around it. Something like this I once encountered near Tucson Arizona with a friend, there, was a black butterfly circling us at the crest of a small mountain and a Carlos Costeneda book near a bag of crystals atop a rock altar. Skeptics before that incident, we cautiously slowly crept away and backed down the mountain.
I watched it back on first release and it left me a bit 'meh'. It all seemed contrived, self-consciously meaningful and a bit pervy about nubiles in white muslin and black stockings, but a good film nonetheless. However, it is significant as one of the great success stories of the establishment of the Australian Film Development Corporation in the 1970s, which propelled Australian cinema onto the world stage.
WHAT we SEE & WHAT we SEEM are BUT a DREAM withIN a DREAM 👁️
❤❤👍
👍Liked, subbed.
THe film was made in 1975 not 1979
I loved the film but years later felt strangely cheated when I found out that the story was a fiction.
Came here after watching “old’
Depending on the original elevation of this " extinct volcano", after 6,000,000 years it wouldve eroded away to a mere hill, less than 25 meters tall. And then, mostly a mound of naturally occuring cohesionless sediment.
The actresses playing the girls are super-cuties!
yes they are!
The book was marketed as a true story in France. Very disappointed to finally learn that it was only a fictional story
It’s easy to describe this particular picnic it Brazzarie
The girls entered The Black Lodge
She was three and she came into conciseness by pooing her pants and fir the first time. Knew she whould die. Great story😢.
Lambert had to stop doing acting, because of a stalker, sadly.
The lost final chapter of her novel ruins the entire narrative. Thank goodness for editors.
I agree. I read the lost chapter and was underwhelmed. The editor made the perfect choice.
1975- not 1979
Joan Lindsey did not have a dream ,she waited to write the book, till there was no one alive, as the characters were real ,she actually says that the people are long gone ,and their was the time, the actress Anne Louise Lambert was filming at the rock ,and went for a walk ,when she saw an old lady come towards her and she saw it was Joan Lindsay ,and she came up to Anne and hugged her saying O Miranda its been so long ,here one for the books two girls did go missing at the rock and one of them was named Miranda they were never found, the theory is they were raped and murdered ,and this was also recorded in a book by Janelle McCulloch called Beyond the Rock where she meets with a women who is still alive who remembers the girls going missing, and were all told to be carefu,l also Joan Lindsay I believe was related to the Police constable at Woodend small world ,in hence saying this dream this my foot when Peter Weir asked her if the story was true she said I hope you never ask me again ,why food for thought , yes she wrote a good book based on truth and yes some fictions as the Picnic never took place like in the book and film ,but two girls did go to the Hanging Rock and never came back ,so yes it will stay a mystery .
the missing last chapter was published years later.
Love this video - am sending it to my american and English friends who b thinknits real. 😂❤
Oh my. Tell them it's definitely NOT real. 😂
@@CinemaCities1978 🤪
I went to hanging rock
Where can I watch the full recap
initiation ritual
Can you smell what the to rock is cooking?
Nothing about the rock was unsettling. Reminded me of home and that wasn't spooky or anything. I wasn't afraid of the woods or rock cliffs. I thought the movie was boring.
@@calistafalcontail I thought it was over the top acting when they woke up from their sleep and the girl starts screaming just because they walk between the rocks. Gives no explanation of why she was screaming. Made no sense why she would scream. They had walked between rocks several times already, so there is nothing frightening about it.
Did Mrs.Appleyard kill Sarah?
I think so.
@@CinemaCities1978 I thought Sarah comitted sucide but Appleyard was covering up Sarahs whereabouts by saying she left to orphanage. So i guess she took her up to the top of the house and pushed her off into the greenhouse. No?
not that kind of story.
She threw Sarah out the bedroom window.
No, Sarah committed suicide. But Mrs A was afraid of another scandal and tried to avoid it by telling lies about Sarah's departure.
I hate miranda she looks fake to me and she only drags everybody to their damnation
It’s MRS Appleyard, not MISS Appleyard. And it’s Appleyard COLLEGE not Appleyard School.
😳💘💘😳
5:39
Has anyone look under the rock
Man why choose the ugliest rock on earth to make a story!
I guess the spookness of it works well..but no way would I visit that joint
😂
It's a beautiful place, I've been there. ❤😊
I've been there a few times as live not far away. It's a fun place and they have horse racing there now. Not on the rock of course LOL.
The most anti-climatic film ever released? I think so.
𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙢 😕
It is fiction story....and it ends there
?
@@plasticweapon it never happened, it is story, enough informations on internet