History Film / PicnicAtHangingRock

A 1975 Australian mystery/drama film by Creator/PeterWeir of the UsefulNotes/AustralianNewWave. It is a film adaptation of Joan Lindsay's 1967 novel ''Literature/PicnicAtHangingRock''.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The four girls who climb the rock--Miranda (Choleric), Marion (Melancholic), Irma (Phlegmatic) and Edith (Sanguine).

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Miranda, Marion, and Irma all take their shoes and socks off to keep exploring the rock completely barefoot. Edith is flabbergasted they would do this.

* ReCut: Weir's director's cut removes about eight minutes from the film, with the OldFashionedRowboatDate scene as the major victim. (Sadly, ''only'' the director's cut is available in America, one of the few times Creator/TheCriterionCollection has really dropped the ball. Many viewers find the original theatrical cut to be superior. There is a UK DVD available with both versions of the film.)

* The kickstarter for the plot for ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'' was when musicians Joe and Jerry witnessing the Valentine's Day Massacre, and fearing for their lives, dressed up as women and joining an all-girls jazz band.

* WidowWoman: Mrs. Appleyard still mourns her dead husband.

* WhiteShirtOfDeath: At the end of the film, Sara [[spoiler: she commits suicide in her white nightdress]].

* SiblingYinYang: [[spoiler: Sarah is sensitive and cultured while Albert is hot blooded and barely manages to write. Justified because Sarah become the ward of a richman who paid for her education while Albert spent his childhood as a StreetUrchin until being old enough to get a job.]]

--->[[[AwkwardSilence They both look very awkward]]]

--->[[[AwkwardSilence So awkward]]]

* {{Meganekko}}: Marion wears black-rimmed glasses and seems like the most bookish of the girls.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The book is quite short (just under 200 pages) and squeezes in LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. The film stays faithful to the main story outline (with the fate of Miss Lumley being the major change), but wisely focuses on just a handful of the characters after the disappearance (Mrs. Appleyard, Sara, Mlle. de Poitiers, Michael, Albert, Sgt. Bumpher). It also places the revelation that [[spoiler:Albert and Sara are siblings]] at a key point in the final act, while the book just tosses out hints about it early on and never really follows up on them.

''Picnic at Hanging Rock'' was a 1967 novel by Australian artist/writer Joan Lindsay[[note]]The sister-in-law of ''Literature/TheMagicPudding'' author Norman Lindsay[[/note]] (just the fourth book of her career, even though she was 70 when it was published). It was adapted into a classic UsefulNotes/AustralianNewWave mystery/drama film, released in 1975 and directed by Creator/PeterWeir.

The book and the film are both considered iconic Australian works. The actual Hanging Rock in Victoria is a major fan pilgrimage site. They even have a statue of Miranda in the visitors' centre. Janelle [=McCulloch's=] 2017 book ''Beyond the Rock: The Life of Joan Lindsay and the Mystery of Picnic at Hanging Rock'' is a detailed look at Lindsay and the background of the story.

!!Examples specific to the book:
* AuthorAppeal: Joan Lindsay ''loved'' Valentine's Day. It was even the date of her wedding anniversary.
* BookDumb: Albert's letters are full of grammatical errors and amusing misspellings (like "jennerous").
* DanBrowned: Supposed quotations from the "actual" police reports of the time are referenced in the novel, which went unquestioned by many readers.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Miranda's AffectionateNickname for Sara is "Pussy".
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Both Mrs Appleyard and Miss Lumley]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In the book, odd things happen with time during the picnic. No one's watch works correctly. Things take longer than they should or happen much more quickly than seems possible. None of it is so far out there that it is unrealistic, but it is just weird enough for the audience to consider the possibility that the supernatural may have been involved in the girls' disappearance. [[spoiler: This is pushed firmly into supernatural territory by ''The Secret of Hanging Rock'', as summarized [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_Hanging_Rock here]].]]
* MindScrewdriver: Twenty years after the original novel was published, a bonus chapter explaining what happened to the disappeared women was released. [[spoiler:Turns out they turned into lizards and disappeared into a timewarp leading into the Rock.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: This is hinted with [[spoiler:Mrs Appleyard]] after [[spoiler:Sara dies]] because on her desk is the [[spoiler:letter from Sara's Guardian revealing his mistakes]], [[spoiler:she]] then [[spoiler:numbly]] goes to Hanging Rock and witnesses [[spoiler:the decaying ghost of Sara before jumping]].
* OneBookAuthor: This was Lindsay's only novel. Her earlier books were all memoirs, and she wrote a children's picture book many years after this book. [[note]] She did write short stories and was writing another novel near the end of her life[[/note]]
* OneNameOnly: All other major characters have surnames, but Miranda's is noticeably avoided in the book. It's St. Clare [[NamedByTheAdaptation in the film]].
* OutOfCharacterAlert: In the book, Mlle de Poitiers realises Sara is in danger because she never would have left Miranda's portrait behind.
* RevisedEnding: The novel's final chapter was deleted, then published separately in 1987 as ''The Secret of Hanging Rock''.
* {{Tuckerization}}: Several characters (Marion, Miss [=McCraw=], Hussey the coach driver, Dr. [=McKenzie=]) are named after real people Lindsay knew in her youth.
* WhereAreTheyNow: [[spoiler:The last chapter of the novel mentions that the Appleyard college the house is based in burned down a year after the events of Hanging Rock. Michael has settled down in a property of his own in North Queensland. Edith died in Melbourne few years after leaving the college, while Irma is living in Europe and married to a French count. Albert, Mme De Poitiers and Mr. Whitehead will live a long life.]]

* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: The film opens with the schoolgirls exchanging passionate valentines. Sara has a very obvious crush on Miranda. She's not the only one.

''Picnic at Hanging Rock'' was a 1967 novel by Australian artist/writer Joan Lindsay (just the fourth book of her career, even though she was 70 when it was published). It was adapted into a classic UsefulNotes/AustralianNewWave mystery/drama film, released in 1975 and directed by Creator/PeterWeir.

** Mrs. Appleyard, who cares little for the children, and openly hates some of them - when the girls disappear, the closest she comes to a heartfelt emotion is anger that it happened to girls of imminent social standing whose families would be trouble to deal with, and irritation that it didn't happen to others she would rather have been rid of.

* {{Jerkass}}: Mrs. Appleyard, who cares little for the children, and openly hates some of them - when the girls disappear, the closest she comes to a heartfelt emotion is anger that it happened to girls of imminent social standing whose families would be trouble to deal with, and irritation that it didn't happen to others she would rather have been rid of. Miss Lumley, who ''ties Sara against a wall'' to correct her posture (although on Mrs. Appleyard's orders, and she seems to feel bad about it).

* OneBookAuthor: This was Lindsay's only novel. Her earlier books were all memoirs, and she wrote a children's picture book many years after this book.

* AnimalMotifs: In Michael's dreams Miranda is represented by a swan. Sarah's valentine to Miranda also has a swan on it. Insects appear at several key points, from the ants devouring the leftover Valentine's cake to the praying mantis seen after [[spoiler: Sara's death]].

It tells the story of an ill-fated outing undertaken by Australian girls enrolled at an exclusive finishing school. The students of Appleyard College are permitted to spend Valentine's Day 1900 at Hanging Rock (an actual geological formation in the countryside northwest of Melbourne), collecting information for an essay to be written upon their return. After being granted permission by their French mistress, four girls -- Miranda, Marion, Irma and Edith -- set off to explore the upper slopes of the rock. Wandering through the maze-like tunnels, Edith discovers that the others appear to have fallen into a trance; the trio have, as one, removed their shoes and stockings, and proceed to drift into another narrow passage. Fearful, Edith runs back to get help. Mathematics teacher Miss [=McCraw=] heads up to fetch them, however, teacher and students disappear without a trace. The remainder of the story deals with a not-very-successful police investigation into the matter, turmoil at the school in its aftermath, and two young men who were also at Hanging Rock that day, who become entangled in the story: English aristocrat Michael and his Australian valet Albert.

It tells the story of an ill-fated outing undertaken by Australian girls enrolled at an exclusive finishing school. The students of Appleyard College are permitted to spend Valentine's Day 1900 at Hanging Rock (an actual geological formation in the countryside northwest of Melbourne), collecting information for an essay to be written upon their return. After being granted permission by their French mistress, four girls -- Miranda, Marion, Irma and Edith -- set off to explore the upper slopes of the rock. Wandering through the maze-like tunnels, Edith discovers that the others appear to have fallen into a trance; the trio have, as one, removed their shoes and stockings, and proceed to drift into another narrow passage. Fearful, Edith runs back to get help. Mathematics teacher Miss [=McCraw=] heads up to fetch them, however, teacher and students disappear without a trace.

* AnimalMotifs: In Michael's dreams Miranda is represented by a swan. Insects also appear at several key points, from the ants devouring the leftover Valentine's cake to the praying mantis seen after [[spoiler: Sara's death]].

** In the deleted scenes from the ending [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hChZEMQXFg the ghost of Sara appears]] - she could be a vengeful spirit or Mrs Appleyard's hallucination. It isn't ever made clear whether her death was an accident, suicide or murder, either.

* AcquittedTooLate: A variation. [[spoiler: Mrs. Appleyard decides to send Sara back to an orphanage after her tuition payments stop coming in, leading to Sara's suicide. Not long later, her benefactor sends the money, apologizing for his tardiness.]]

* AnimalMotifs: In Michael's dreams Miranda is represented by a swan. Insects also appear at several key points, from the ants devouring the leftover Valentine's cake to the praying mantis seen after Sara's suicide.