In 1900, several women vanish in southeastern Australia. When students and staff from a girls’ school near Melbourne go on a Valentine's Day trip to Hanging Rock in 1900, three young women and an instructor disappear without a trace. The film “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” directed by Peter Weir and adapted from Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel, is an artsy psychological mystery that feels like it could have been made anytime. It shares stylistic similarities with films such as “Days of Heaven,” “The Secret Garden,” and “The Virgin Suicides.” If those kinds of movies appeal to you, you will probably enjoy this one; I see some clear connections between this film and Weir’s later “Dead Poets Society," particularly in how both explore the restrictive nature of prep schools—the idea that you have to play along with certain rules to get by, and escape often requires a kind of banishment. The initial portion of the movie is visually interesting but somewhat slow-moving, building a sense of unease. Things become more engaging during the unsettling excursion at Hanging Rock. Once those women go missing, the film grabs you because you’re eager to find out what happened. Part of the enjoyment comes from piecing together clues and forming your own theories about what occurred, as well as looking for deeper meanings within the story. I also have “The Secret of Hanging Rock,” a 1987 publication that supposedly includes Lindsay's missing eighteenth chapter. I think it’s a phony scheme by the publisher to boost sales after her death due to the movie’s popularity overseas. There’s no proof this supposed final chapter contains any explanation for the original story; Lindsay always maintained she didn’t write an answer and intentionally left the narrative unresolved, strongly defending its open-ended nature. It doesn't help that this unusually short 'last chapter' feels out of place with the style and content of the novel—it's awkwardly straightforward in its supposed explanation. Still, it offers one possible interpretation and certainly contributes to the overall mystery. The film’s runtime is 1 hour and 47 minutes; there’s another version that runs about eight minutes longer. It was filmed at Hanging Rock in Victoria, roughly a fifty-minute drive northwest of Melbourne, while scenes set at Appleyard College were shot at Martindale Hall near Mintaro in South Australia, approximately seven hours northwest of Hanging Rock. Additional footage was captured in a studio located in Adelaide, about an hour’s drive south of Martindale Hall. GRADE: B

Source on TMDB