One of the most haunting and visually arresting films in modern cinema and a key early work of 1970s New Australian Cinema, Picnic at Hanging Rock with the film that brought director Peter Weir to international attention.
On Valentine's Day, 1900 a party of schoolgirls from Appleyard College took a trip to Hanging Rock near Mt. Macedon in the state of Victoria. Some of the party left the rest of the group and having climbed higher stopped to rest and fell asleep. They awoke as though still in a dream and silently ventured further through a passage in the imposing rock face. Some of the girls were never seen again.
Featuring gorgeous, BAFTA award-winning cinematography by Russell Boyd (who continued to work with Weir on his next three films) and a wonderful pan flute soundtrack played by Gheorghe Zamfir, the film is a masterclass in subtle storytelling through suggestion and atmosphere.
Picnic at Hanging Rock will be released on Blu-ray in its 1998 director's cut with a new transfer supervised by Weir himself by Second Sight at the RRP of £19.99. The listed extra features are:
- A Dream Within A Dream' (120 min making-of documentary);
- A Recollection – Hanging Rock 1900: Joan Lindsay interview;
- Hanging Rock and Martindale Hall – Then and Now;
- The Day of St Valentine (1st screen adaptation);
- Audio Interviews;
- Stills and Poster Gallery;
- Scenes deleted for The Director's Cut.
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