'Picnic at Hanging Rock' (1975) - Film Review

 Figure 1: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Original Poster]

This review analyses Peter Weir’s well-known drama mystery film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), explicitly focusing on the subject womanhood, and how the characters within the film indicate this through the use of semiotics. Referring to the works of Megan Abbot and her publication entitled, ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock: What We See and What We Seem’ (2014) exploring what is shown within the film, and the hidden meaning behind elements, Elliot Nunn’s video document ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock | Chaos & Order’ (2017), and the publication n ‘PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975)’ (2017) looking at how the girls react to womanhood. The review will explain the different aspects of the film that symbolise attributes of womanhood and how this effects the characters and how they are portrayed.

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) is authentically adapted from a novel by Joan Lindsay Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967) telling the story of Appleyard Collage, an education establishment for young ladies, following a series of events that happen on St. Valentines Day in central Victoria in 1900. In which three girls and   woman go missing at Hanging Rock. (Abbott. M, 2014)

From the very beginning of the film, the audience is introduced to the young female characters in a way that illustrates the concept of young women entering womanhood in which they will then be sexualised. This is revealed with the camera angles. “The film opens with shots of the schoolgirls all peeping at one another, through mirrors, doorways, and we—through the camera’s voyeuristic intrusion into the girls’ toilettes, their private worlds—are peeping at them. “(Abbott. M, 2014) with the camera peeping on these u8young girls reflecting on the way women are perceived within society in a sexualised way.

Figure 2 – Phallic appearing Hanging Rock Ruediger, R. (2014)

This conservative and innocent notion of the girls is then heavily contrasted later in the film, when they are confronted symbolically by womanhood. This is shown in the form of the Hanging Rock. “In the repressive atmosphere of Appleyard, young female flesh is to be hidden, contained, and concealed. Only at Hanging Rock, unleashing, as it does, a mysterious eruptive energy, do the hats and gloves come off, are even the stockings unrolled.” (Abbott. M, 2014)

This journey into womanhood is shown through the girls’ hike up the phallic-shaped rock, in a sense abandoning their adolescence. This is also shown through the girls giving into the allure of the rock (womanhood) “By the wildness and eruptive lore associated with Hanging Rock, as eager to pass through innocence and into adult sexuality. It is a great and perilous passage to a place that they long to go (others, like Edith, fear to go, are not equipped to go), but from which there can be no return. “(Abbott. M, 2014) Sexuality is also shown before this however is held back by the constraints of the surrounds, such as the love Sara has for Miranda.

Figure 3 Sara’s love for Miranda - Smith, L. (2016)

However, the girls themselves that ventured up the Hanging Rock already possess a sense of womanhood, having already been guilty of a form of transgression. For example, Miss McCraw is too tart, while the young girls have each exhibited their bare legs. “Girls have each displayed their bare legs in the open for anyone to see, and in climbing up this mountain have evinced a waywardness that the less adventurous girls do not share.” (N/A, 2017) This enhances the idea that by doing this act, it rips away their innocence from them forcing them to live in a ‘harsh ‘environment similar to that of womanhood.

Figure 4 – Miranda seen as swan -Screenmusings. (1975)

The environment allows the girls to connect to the nature and to sexuality. The film surrounds itself around the girls and how animals and insects interact with them. “A skink crawls by Miranda as she sleeps. Ants and flies are everywhere, but especially on bare skin. Birds, a spider, and an unexpected koala eye Michael as he pounds his way up the mountainside.” (N/A, 2017) This creates a connection between the true. This is highlighted through the comparison between Miranda and the swan.

Within the film one of the young men imagine Miranda as a swan, that symbolically represents her. “Visions of a swan – who represents Miranda as an individual but is also a bird which the Romans associated with her Botticellian other half, Venus – torment him with their frequency and reality” (N/A, 2017) This indicates the sexual womanly connotations that surround the character, and her mysterious nature. This also brings fourth her womanhood, allowing the audience to see her power in enticing others into sexuality being connected to the god Venus, often representing woman empowerment.

Even after vising the rock, the concept of the rock having an effect on the womanhood of the young girls follows through the colours later used in the clothing. After being found Irma returns to say her final goodbyes to her school friends., wearing red clothing, contrasting to her friends wearing white. The contrast between the red and white symbolises that of purity in a sense that the girls are wearing white showing their innocence within the womanhood, while Irma who has been to the Hanging rock has been corrupted and through her womanhood.

It could even be argued through the girls almost attacking Irma they are rejecting womanhood and how it is shown. “Her scarlet hat and cape seeming to mark her as one with erotic knowledge, one who has “passed over” and yet withholds the secret understanding they all seek as their own. She enters the school’s gym, where rows of girls in bloomers and thick stockings exercise listlessly. (Abbott. M, 2014). This erotic knowledge could also be arguably representing the menstrual cycle linked to womanhood, with the red symbolising the period itself. Along with the other girls representing the repressiveness associated with periods during that time period, of blocking these issues within society. 

Figure 5 – Irma wearing red contrasting with the rest of the girls (1975)

To conclude, the film uses various techniques such semiotics and camera positions, to indicate womanhood, without explicitly stating anything, similar to the mysterious characters themselves. This could be due to the time period the film was set when topics such as womanhood was shied away from, yet this allows the audience to gain view into how the characters interact with coming of age at a time, when sexuality was reserved.

Bibliography

Abbott, M. (2014). Picnic at Hanging Rock: What We See and What We Seem. Available: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3202-picnic-at-hanging-rock-what-we-see-and-what-we-seem Last accessed 28/03/2019.

N/A. (2017). PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (1975). Available: https://seeingthingssecondhand.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/picnic-at-hanging-rock-1975/  Last accessed 28/03/2019.

Nunn, E. (2017). Picnic at Hanging Rock | Chaos & Order. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvcfxQQjvmw&t=7s  Last accessed 28/03/2019.

Harvard Illustrations List

Figure 1: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) [Original Poster] - NFSA. (1975). N/A. Available: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/online-exhibition/picnic-at-hanging-rock  Last accessed 28/03/2019.

Figure 2 – Phallic appearing Hanging Rock Ruediger, R. (2014). Picnic at Hanging Rock: The Criterion Blu-ray / DVD Combo review. Available: http://theruedmorgue.blogspot.com/2014/06/. Last accessed 28/03/2019.

Figure 3 Sara’s love for Miranda - Smith, L. (2016). PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK 1975. Available: https://lecinemadreams.blogspot.com/2016/04/picnic-at-hanging-rock-1975.html   Last accessed 28/03/2019.

Figure 4 – Miranda seen as swan -Screenmusings. (1975). Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). Available: https://screenmusings.org/movie/dvd/Picnic-at-Hanging-Rock/pages/Picnic-at-Hanging-Rock-672.htm  Last accessed 28/03/2019.

Figure 5 – Irma wearing red contrasting with the rest of the girls (1975) - The Criterion Collection. (1975). Picnic at Hanging Rock. Available: https://www.criterion.com/films/565-picnic-at-hanging-rock  Last accessed 28/03/2019.