PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

This extraordinary film from the director of “The Last Wave” (1978) recounts a legendary story of the disappearance of three schoolgirls and a teacher on St. Valentine's Day, 1900, during a picnic held at the landmark of Hanging Rock, outside Melbourne. Charged with mystery and menace from the opening shots, Weir's camera perfectly conveys the visual beauty of the locale, as well as the stuffy, over-decorated atmosphere of the Victorian-era girls' boarding school. Rachel Roberts appears as Mrs. Appleyard, the unyielding headmistress, Dominic Guard as the young man who tries to save the girls, and Helen Morse, one of Australia's top young stars, as a teacher. This visually ravishing film creates a sensual, pulsing atmosphere both haunting and hypnotic. PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK is the largest grossing film in Australian motion picture history, and follows Weir's initial critical success, “The Cars That Ate Paris” (1974).