Picnic at Hanging Rock



Twenty years after it swept Australia into the international film spotlight, Peter Weir’s stunning 1975 masterpiece remains as ineffable as the unanswerable mystery at its core. A Valentine’s Day picnic at an ancient volcanic outcropping turns to disaster for the residents of Mrs. Appleyard’s school when a few young girls inexplicably vanish on Hanging Rock. A lyrical, meditative film charged with suppressed longings, Picnic at Hanging Rock is here available in a pristine widescreen director’s cut with a Dolby digital 5.1 channel soundtrack.

Disc Features

- The long awaited director's cut of the film, with a new widescreen transfer and a new 5.1 surround mix
- The original theatrical trailer
- Liner notes by Vincent Canby
- Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

Hanging Rock - revealed!!

That website has a summary of the final chapter of The Secret of Hanging Rock (it's a real book), an ill-advised extended version of the original novel that contains the final chapter that Lindsay originally and wisely decided to leave out. Needless to say, the "explanation" is an absolute shambles.

I have not clicked the link, and a big part of me does not want to. Will reading this ruin the film and book for me forever?

Sasquatch ate them? WTF??

I think it's safe to read it. Although, if Criterion could get Peter Weir to shoot that ending it would make a great supplement if they rereleased this.

Hmm...bizarre.

On the latest DVDTalk.com podcast/interview w/ Peter Weir, Mr. Weir commented that Criterion was looking into getting the rights to a documentary on the making of 'Picnic', that was perhaps available on some other region discs, for another Criterion "upgrade". I don't remember what the name of the doc was, but the interviewer commented that some felt that it was perhaps more interesting than the feature itself.

I'm not sure that this is the ideal place to ask - it seems preferable to starting a thread for such a small question - but does anyone here have the Australian 2-disc reissue with the anamorphic transfer? I've bought a copy on eBay and after emailing the seller beforehand and being told that the box states '16x9 enhanced' the package has arrived and the box states no such thing, merely '16x9'. However it does say that 5.1 audio is included which I understand is only on the reissue as well? Obviously I could open the thing and probably deduce which version I have but I'm wary of doing that if I'm possibly going to have to negotiate a return. Can anyone shed any light on which version I've got here?

The old non-anamorphic edition's box, states, "1.77:1 letterbox", so I would assume that you have the anamorphic edition. I still have the non-anamorphic box, but replaced the non-anamorphic disc with the German anamorphic disc, which was a hasty move. The audio on the German disc is inferior to the Australian DVD. I would go for the anamorphic Oz 2-disc if it weren't for the rumours of a Criterion remastered SE.

Thanks for that but I seem to have outdone myself with bad luck here - it's actually a single disc edition that I didn't even knew existed. By the looks of it it's the first disc from the reissue with 5.1, presumably anamorphic and containing just a trailer as far as extras go. Bugger.

The cover wrongly states 5.1, there's only stereo and I'm not sure if the image is anamorphic although it looks very good either way. I think I'll be selling this on and trying again.

I have the Australian 2 disc which is anamorphic so i went and did a comparison with the Criterion version. The print on the Criterion is sharper while the colors on both are the same. Both versions have the same audio so overall i would pick the Criterion for the image even if it is not anamorphic and the Australian for the extras. I do hope Criterion will reissue this great movie!!

They will

It looks like Peter Weir may have jumped the gun:

That's shocking, it seems like this has been bandied about for re-release for as long as I've been reading this board.

That interview podcast on DVDTalk radio is over two years old now, so I was beginning to wonder. Hopefully it will still happen at some point.

After reading the "secrets" and the possible explanations across various websites, I feel that the audience is meant to not know. There is no solution given, or really any evidence of one. In my opinion, tragedy struck, but in what way, I feel as if I nor anyone does really expect to know anything, no matter how many times they analyze the book/movie. However, this technique makes the film that much more mysterious and tragic, yet beautiful at the same time.

I've looked around and not really found a good description of the difference between Weir's preferred cut (the only one I've seen) and the original theatrical release. Can anyone explain?

Some of the scenes are longer and the Suspiria-esque feeling is more present.

Ah, okay. So nothing major, then.

The major difference between the two versions is that the theatrical cut contains a subplot that develops the relationship between Michael (Dominic Guard) and Irma, the girl who is found. As knives said, some scenes are slightly longer, but what was trimmed from them in the director's cut is not very noticeable. It's the Michael-Irma subplot that makes most of the difference. Which version you prefer may depend largely on which you saw first. Having seen the theatrical version recently when I bought the R2 edition, I can say that the film works quite well without the subplot, but it has its merits too.

The R2 disc also contains the excellent documentary "A Dream Within a Dream," in which Weir discusses why he decided to do a director's cut, and actress Anne Lambert (Miranda) briefly discusses why she prefers the theatrical cut.

Saw this a few months back. It's currently on amazon's poll about which of five titles under Criterion's label should be released on Blu-ray later this year (poll closes May 25th). Besides "Picnic..." the other candidates are "Au Revoir Les Enfants," "Down By Law," "Howards End" and "Kwaidan."

The first 30 minutes of this movie are some of the most hypnotic, beautiful, dramatic, scary and uneasy moments I have ever experienced watching a film. By giving the audience backstory text of what we've about to see (which is as phony as the one that opens "Fargo") every scene, every face, every line of dialogue and every sound (particularly Zamfir's panflute) gains significance and relevance that they wouldn't otherwise have because we think they might be the last we see/hear of the soon-to-be-missing Appleyard school girls. The slow-motion shots of Miranda (gorgeous Anne Lambert) make her a cross between a muse and a martyr to those that knew her which briefly includes us, the viewing audience, as participants. If Weir himself told me personally that aliens came down to Hanging Rock and took Miranda and her friends up to meet Bodicelli on a "Stargate"-type wormhole I'd believe him. The rest of the movie dealing with the aftermath of the girls' disappearance is OK (Margaret Nelson's Sara is particularly strong) but they feel like rethreads of the knockout opening half-hour.

BTW,


Just wondering because this left me puzzled.

Ebert's original 1980 review is available online for the first time here.

Just for completeness' sake, here's his Great Movie review.

It is getting a blu-ray release in Australia!

Someone wants the world's longest DVDBeaver screencap comparison to be secure in its title

Director's Cut on Blu-ray announced for July 26th (UK): http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/15110736/Picnic-At-Hanging-Rock-The-Director-Cut/Product.html?source=9593.