# So I've heard about this film "Picnic at Hanging Rock" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238 "2003-10-29T15:11:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/1 "2003-10-29T15:11:15Z")
Is it worth seeking out? ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/2 "2003-10-29T15:14:29Z")
Yes, its a very good film in my opinion. Just be aware that despite the intent of the film to present itself as a depiction of factual events, that the story is entirely fictitious. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/3 "2003-10-29T15:31:19Z")
I enjoyed it. Here’s its [IMDB](http://imdb.com/title/tt0073540/) link. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/4 "2003-10-29T15:31:19Z")
Ooh, I love that technique! My curiosity is certainly tweaked. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/5 "2003-10-29T15:31:23Z")
Also it’s more about atmosphere than plot, so don’t expect the Spanish Inquisition. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/6 "2003-10-29T20:56:04Z")
Anddon’t expect things to be wrapped up in a perfect little package. They aren’t. But it is quite enjoyable, haunting andall that, if you can bear whiny little Australian girls. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/7 "2003-10-29T21:35:58Z")
Great movie, provided you enjoy it at its own pace and allow yourself to get drawn into it. I don’t think it’s a terrible spoiler to tell you that you can’t expect a neat, tidy, explain-it-all ending. Enjoy the fact that it works so well and so brilliantly _without_ the neat Hollywood ending. ---
**Author:** ![Peach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@Peach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peach)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/8 "2003-10-29T22:23:40Z")
Someone spoil the ending to me. I saw the movie a long time ago, and enjoyed it, but the ending left me a tad bit confused. what happened?? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/9 "2003-10-29T22:34:10Z")
There is no rational explanation, **Peach**. Ambiguity and the unknown is what it’s all about. The writer and director lay suggestions for several different interpretations – the rest is up to the viewer to decide. Or not. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/10 "2003-10-29T22:42:56Z")
Damn. I rented this movie years ago, started watching it, wandered out of the room, and never wandered back in. You’ve just reminded me that I want to try to finish it someday. Does anyone besides me always mix this one up with _Bad Day at Black Rock_? “Now, THIS one is about vanishing Australia schoolgirls, and THAT one is about Spencer Tracy as a karate-choppin’ one-armed amateur detective…” ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/11 "2003-10-29T23:48:17Z")
Yes. Good movie. GOOD MOVIE. See also: anything else directed by Peter Weir. Except Green Card. Yes, I _liked_ Dead Poets Society. I’ve seen The Plumber, but not The Cars that Ate Paris. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/12 "2003-10-30T01:00:57Z")
Personally, I am not a fan of films that don’t really have endings. I figure, if I want to hear a story that starts somewhere and doesn’t really end, I can listen to my Aunt Margaret tell me about her trip to the hairdresser. Call me old-fashioned, but I like a story - a complete story - not necessarily a happy-end wrapped in a pretty bow, but a story that begins and ends. A lot of “artsy-fartsy” films like to pretend they wanted to leave the ending open for interpretation. My guess is they couldn’t figure out how to finish the script, or they ran out of money. Thus, while I appreciated the acting and the setting of Picnic At Hanging Rock - I appreciated it less when the film ended. I rank it up there with the crap Blair Witch Project. ---
**Author:** ![dangergene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@dangergene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangergene)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/13 "2003-10-30T01:41:22Z")
actually, it wasn’t Peter Wier who did the ambiguous ending, it was the author of the novel. The book was published without the final chapter and remained that way for many years after her death (I’m not sure how long it was, but there was some sort of arrangement whereby the final chapter was published on an anniversary of something- can anyone help?). Anyways, the final chapter was published sometime in the late 80’s and was not nearly as exciting or coherent as a lot of people imagined it might be: [spoiler]basically the girls were taken by a monster/alien/aboriginal spirit, similar to a Quinkin that could squeeze itself impossibly flat. It came out of the rock and took the girls, squashing them impossibly flat too, but not killing them. They were then dragged into the rock too and that was that. The chapter describes the girls experiencing the squashing in the strangest of terms and then being taken into the crevices of the rock and darkness. . If my memory serves me correctly. It’s been a good ten years or more since I read it… [/spoiler] The film’s atmosphere PERFECTLY captures growing up in the Oz bush in the 70’s (despite being a period peice set at the turn of the century, the film is very much a product of the 1970s in style and tone). Whenever I watch it (gots to LOVE that Criterion edition) I’m always transported back to those hot, dry days playing in the back paddocks! And the scary shit that happens in the bush when you’re ALL alone, and the only noise is the wind in the treetops… MIRANDA! MIRANDA!!! MIRAAAAAANDAAAAAAAA!!! ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/14 "2003-10-30T01:46:59Z")
This is one of the movies that is best when you know absolutely nothing about it. In fact you shouldn’t even know the title. When I got my mom to watch it I just gave her the tape and said “Here, watch this.” ---
**Author:** ![gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gentle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/15 "2003-10-30T02:19:41Z")
Roger Ebert has a [retrospective essay](http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/hanging_rock.html) as part of his Great Movies series that looks at the “director’s cut” of the film. I rather like this phrasing: > [@](#): > > The underlying suggestion is that Victorian attitudes toward sex, coupled with the unsettling mysteries of an ancient land, lead to events the modern mind cannot process. That is exactly the message of ``Picnic at Hanging Rock.’’ ---
**Author:** ![nisosbar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@nisosbar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nisosbar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/16 "2003-10-30T03:52:46Z")
Lots of people rave about it, it’s a cult film, in that respect, but I did not like it. If I had never seen it, my life would not be worse for it. Parts of it were good, but I did not like the ambiguous ending. Having said that, I LOVED “The Plumber.” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/17 "2003-10-30T22:08:47Z")
Oh yes, do pay attention to the nooksand crannies in those rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/18 "2003-10-31T01:18:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > \*\*…don’t expect the Spanish Inquisition. \*\* Well, no one ever does you know. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/19 "2003-10-31T21:07:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*Does anyone besides me always mix this one up with _Bad Day at Black Rock_? “Now, THIS one is about vanishing Australia schoolgirls, and THAT one is about Spencer Tracy as a karate-choppin’ one-armed amateur detective…” \*\* You are not alone, Ike. I remember after I saw _Hanging Rock_ for the first time, I tried to look up information on the “actual” mysterious disappearances that this story was supposedly based upon; I was sadly disappointed when I found out there wasn’t any such thing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-ive-heard-about-this-film-picnic-at-hanging-rock/210238/20 "2003-10-31T21:19:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cat Fight \* > \*\*Oh yes, do pay attention to the nooksand crannies in those rocks. \*\* The nooks and crannies are to hold the schoolgirls!