A glorious new BFI restoration of the director’s cut.
An ethereal, potent coming-of-age drama about a strange disappearance during a school trip to the Australian Outback.
Returning to the big screen to celebrate its 50th anniversary in a glorious new restoration of the director’s cut, Peter Weir’s adaption of Joan Lindsay’s novel has lost none of its mystique or mesmerising power.
On a boiling hot Valentine’s Day 1900, students from Appleyard College, a girls’ private school in Victoria, Australia, embark on a field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, several of the girls wander off. It’s not until the end of the day that the group realise that some of their party have mysteriously disappeared.
Weir’s wonderfully enigmatic film, with its ethereal cinematography, is possessed of a ghostly, foreboding atmosphere. Picnic at Hanging Rock has become a landmark for its dreamlike exploration of the intensely romantic, yet profoundly unsettling, experience of girlhood and burgeoning sexuality. It’s a wonderful, mesmerising treat complete with Romanian folk musician Gheorghe Zamfir’s unforgettably haunting panpipe score. Utterly unique.
