Mark Kermode reviews Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) | BFI Player

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  • čas přidán 30. 04. 2020
  • "This eerie masterpiece [has] become a stylistic textbook for so many film-makers." Watch Picnic At Hanging Rock on BFI Player (UK only):
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  • Krátké a kreslené filmy

Komentáře • 87

  • @ThePsycoDolphin
    @ThePsycoDolphin Před 2 lety +27

    One of the eeriest things I've ever seen. A sense of creeping, haunting, indescribable loss filters the whole film. Its staggering.

  • @1977Suspiria
    @1977Suspiria Před 4 lety +72

    This movie is a haunting & hypnotic experience like no other in cinema. Brilliant.

    • @castinmeadows6956
      @castinmeadows6956 Před 2 lety

      And Monsieur Costello is a haunting and hypnotic experience like no other in cinema.

  • @stevennicholas4160
    @stevennicholas4160 Před 2 lety +17

    I do remember that scene where they wilfully disappear into the rocks sent shivers down my spine. A classic scene.

  • @leonkane8570
    @leonkane8570 Před 4 lety +41

    It is one of the most beautifully directed films ever

    • @lw3646
      @lw3646 Před rokem +2

      The director is amazing. He Also made Gallipoli 1981 and Witness 1985.

  • @lw3646
    @lw3646 Před rokem +9

    For me the best mystery film I've ever experienced and one of my top 10 films of the 1970s.

  • @OUTBOUND184
    @OUTBOUND184 Před 4 lety +38

    Immediate goosebumps seeing those girls walk into the bush. A classic.

    • @MLElf
      @MLElf Před 2 lety +1

      Same , each time I see it

    • @TheWaynos73
      @TheWaynos73 Před 2 lety +3

      yeah the fact that Edith calls to Miranda like six times without a response is well creepy. such an effective horror scene and so masterfully done. terrifying without using jump shocks or gore.

    • @MLElf
      @MLElf Před 2 lety +3

      @@TheWaynos73 just thinking about that scene now gives me chills. It’s otherworldly but in a multitude of ways

  • @THEDONTTELLSHOW
    @THEDONTTELLSHOW Před 4 lety +18

    Absolute masterpiece. It washes over you and traps you in its riptide.

  • @nigelcarren
    @nigelcarren Před 4 lety +40

    The Thing made me scared of Snow. Jaws made me scared of the Ocean, Picnic at Hanging Rock made me scared of... Panpipes. Joking aside, watching this is a truly disturbing memory. There is a bleakness to it all that caught me quite unaware as a child. Prior to this moment, I think I was only scared on monsters... so I will label this a coming-of-age horror. But not one I want to see again, and I say that as a compliment.

    • @TheWaynos73
      @TheWaynos73 Před 2 lety +5

      Picnic made me really creeped out by the Australian bush when i was a kid. seriously. The idea that an unseen force could lure you away to your doom and could come at any time would put the chills up me any time we would go hiking or camping. Even as an adult years later i still feel unsettled, after learning of stories of Yowies and Quinkins and other aboriginal bush folklore. The bush is an uneasy place and not a place i would want to be lost in.

    • @anibalcesarnishizk2205
      @anibalcesarnishizk2205 Před 7 měsíci

      @@TheWaynos73
      Not by chance there is a military word:Ambush.

  • @htgar8201
    @htgar8201 Před 2 lety +8

    I never forgot seeing in the cinema for the first time, mesmerising. A true masterpiece. I felt so proud to be an Australian, from this all Australian classic, both author (Joan Lindsay) and then director (Peter Weir)

  • @GlennDavey
    @GlennDavey Před 2 lety +5

    I've been there, it's a beautiful place. Eerie.

  • @juanaltredo2974
    @juanaltredo2974 Před 4 lety +14

    for months I couldn't shake off the eerie feeling this movie gave me, it is a profound and unmatched masterpiece. At its style and at its niche, its the best movie I've seen. I dont think I'll watch it again though, it depressed me

  • @Dancing-Spirits
    @Dancing-Spirits Před 4 lety +24

    This film is a masterpiece on so many levels, most interestingly: as a horror film.

    • @DaveWhoa
      @DaveWhoa Před 2 lety

      its a mystery, there's not really any horror in it, and certainly no gore

    • @redpenink12
      @redpenink12 Před 2 měsíci

      @@DaveWhoa there’s s hint at horror in some later scenes

  • @markvegar33
    @markvegar33 Před 3 lety +8

    It is utterly unbelievably extraordinary.

  • @jerryrichardson2799
    @jerryrichardson2799 Před 2 lety +7

    Read the novel a few years ago, now I really want to see this movie, thank you.

  • @jackspring7709
    @jackspring7709 Před rokem +4

    I remember when this movie came out and I was intrigued by it. The film has a very surreal, dreamlike quality to it - which, believe it or not, the country has, too. I visited Australia a few years ago (Perth, Sidney & Rottnest Island) and the country has an atmosphere about it that is very hard to describe. Even 'though it was just a few years ago my memories of the place are very dreamlike. This movie captures that quality - so does the film 'Walkabout'.

    • @Investigate_Mermaids
      @Investigate_Mermaids Před 9 měsíci

      Perth native here. Did you learn about the history of Rottnest Island when you were there? I and many others believe that it contributes to the eeriness of the place.

    • @jackspring7709
      @jackspring7709 Před 9 měsíci

      @@Investigate_Mermaids Hello. My (Australian) girlfriend of the time told me it was once a prison colony - and we did visit a museum there that showed the history f the place. In fact, if I remember properly, the hotel we were staying at was once a prison/barracks. You could definitely feel something there. she said the same. I read afterwards there's a satanic church there :/

  • @TheWaynos73
    @TheWaynos73 Před 2 lety +7

    Can you believe this movie was rated G when it was released? crazy. its the spookiest, most unsettling family friendly film ever put out. i dont think i would let a six year old watch it though.

  • @tamsin192
    @tamsin192 Před rokem +2

    My favourite ever film, just beautiful and fabulous. Every frame is like a painting.

  • @magicknight13
    @magicknight13 Před rokem +3

    Just watched this film yesterday after reading the book a few months back and I loved it! I honestly can't wait to watch it again! Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant

  • @denisefreitas6727
    @denisefreitas6727 Před 3 lety +7

    A true masterpiece indeed. Brilliant!

  • @clemdane
    @clemdane Před 28 dny

    First saw it decades ago and I'll never get over it. One of my top five or even higher.

  • @evenzero
    @evenzero Před 4 lety +9

    Great film

  • @FixFilmsLtd
    @FixFilmsLtd Před 4 lety +7

    Amazing film. This short but compelling review makes me want to watch it again!

  • @menagers
    @menagers Před 4 lety +11

    Some of my favourite seniors have told me that Joan Lindsay was really strange lady but have refused to elaborate like it’s a state secret or something.

    • @timheavyable
      @timheavyable Před 3 lety

      Lindsey had written a final chapter that explains what happened and has the girls following mademoiselle who had turned into a crab into smother dimension in time. The deleted chapter 18.

  • @ThereIsTooMuchButter
    @ThereIsTooMuchButter Před 4 lety +7

    Just watched it. Interesting, beautiful, beguiling!

  • @haydenwittig8877
    @haydenwittig8877 Před rokem +1

    I went to Hanging rock in the 80s as a kid in the state of Victoria 1hrs drive outside of Melbourne and it has Spiritual feel to it a strong energy.

  • @paulrawes
    @paulrawes Před 3 lety +3

    Beautiful on all accounts!

  • @stevecox7075
    @stevecox7075 Před 4 lety +9

    And you should also check out his earlier film, 'The Cars That Ate Paris', which is terrific.

    • @THEDONTTELLSHOW
      @THEDONTTELLSHOW Před 4 lety +1

      And The Last Wave. Also hypnotic and horrifying.

    • @lw3646
      @lw3646 Před rokem

      Gallipoli is brilliant, if this is a story about young women then Gallipoli is about a group of young men.
      Witness is brilliant, it's an action film but it's so much more.

  • @danrobinson572
    @danrobinson572 Před 3 lety +5

    Great movie 🍿

  • @princejohn6560
    @princejohn6560 Před 7 měsíci

    The measure of any good story, whether book or movie, is the discussion and debate it generates over the years. For this it is easy to see why Picnic at Hanging Rock is such an iconic story.

  • @nimos1
    @nimos1 Před 4 lety +22

    A masterpiece. The recent television remake was not. I was looking forward to seeing the television version, but it was a big disappointment unfortunately.

    • @robertthomson1587
      @robertthomson1587 Před 2 lety +2

      Indeed. Unnecessary and undistinguished,

    • @lw3646
      @lw3646 Před rokem +2

      Yep same thought. Some of the "girls" in it looked liked they'd already graduated.... from University..... a while back....definitely a bit long in the tooth. You loose the sense of mystery and innocence by casting them as women.
      So you have the idea of casting a group of women in their mid to late 20s as the schoolgirls, then you cast an Aboriginal woman as one of the missing girls which totally misses the point of the original story that these are British European characters in a strange unfamiliar new landscape full of mystery which they don't fully understand, it's such a blatant example of how a desire to be more diverse in some cases does more harm than good. Casting Natalie Dormer as a younger headmistress also misses the subtext of the original having this older widow in the original resenting and jealous of these younger girls who've got all their lives and a romances still ahead.
      The remake is pretty much a rewriting of the book, no sense of mystery, endless back story and terrible dialogue.

  • @danielboyer3272
    @danielboyer3272 Před 7 měsíci

    Le film le plus envoûtant de ce genre , que j'aie vu dans ma vie !!! Un chef-d'oeuvre absolu !!

  • @wondernexus3d482
    @wondernexus3d482 Před rokem

    Love this film from the moment I set eyes upon it!

  • @jrlakin370
    @jrlakin370 Před 5 měsíci

    Superb film

  • @ddc2957
    @ddc2957 Před 3 lety +5

    To my mind, our greatest film ever as a country (though The Babadook & Lake Mungo give it a run for its money).

    • @TheWaynos73
      @TheWaynos73 Před 2 lety +4

      the original Mad Max and Wake in Fright are also so brilliantly made. i love our cinema in Australia. we have made some absolute crackers.

  • @garrybaldy327
    @garrybaldy327 Před 4 lety +3

    Interesting that Kermode omits Fearless from his list at the end - my favourite Peter Weir film. Picnic At Hanging Rock, however, needed a few Brian Trenchard Smith karate kicks and car chases to liven it up.

    • @BrennFilm
      @BrennFilm Před 4 lety +1

      You sound like an American. ;-)

    • @garrybaldy327
      @garrybaldy327 Před 4 lety +1

      @@BrennFilm Impossible, there's irony in my original post.

    • @TheWaynos73
      @TheWaynos73 Před 2 lety

      The Man From Hong Kong is an Australian masterpiece in its own right

  • @firekind1980
    @firekind1980 Před 4 lety +6

    I always thought it was scary because it was a real mystery. There is no mystery which dilutes the film. It's all fiction.

    • @freetrailer4poor
      @freetrailer4poor Před 3 lety +1

      Maybe not. Watch librarian review pahr. There was article in old newspaper 1914 that referred to it.

    • @TheWaynos73
      @TheWaynos73 Před 2 lety +2

      i had visited hanging rock when i was about 12 with my family and yeah, it is a place that makes you feel uneasy. perhaps the memory of the spooky movie didnt help either. we all checked our watches to make sure they hadnt stopped. one of the creepiest moments of the story.

  • @shaunxthexmod777
    @shaunxthexmod777 Před 4 lety +2

    yes i remember this film as a boy ! Remember it well, as a boy my first crush as a boy? ..lol great film,

  • @saracarlson-kringle
    @saracarlson-kringle Před 3 lety +3

    Hmmm...kind of a 'Bermuda Triangle' on land.

  • @invernessfan3017
    @invernessfan3017 Před 2 lety +1

    This is a interesting movie.

  • @timbodedidleo
    @timbodedidleo Před rokem

    Is this Peter's most extrodinary moment in cinema?. Big call there, but honestly it's hard to disagree with you Mark. I am a massive admirer of Peter Weir and of course, Picnic At Hanging Rock. Love the lush tone of this film. The way the erie summer scenes and music usher the viewer towards a dream like state is remarkable.

  • @haydenwittig8877
    @haydenwittig8877 Před 9 měsíci

    Everything begins and ends at exactly the right time and space. Edgar Allen Poe.

  • @bridgecross
    @bridgecross Před 3 lety +2

    Lists Weir's work, doesn't mention Master and Commander?
    I should love this film. I enjoy a slow-paced narrative, and I really enjoy ambiguity. But for some reason this film left me feeling nothing.

  • @ajs41
    @ajs41 Před 2 lety

    Is that Mrs Mangel from Neighbours at 2:06?

  • @anthonyscully2998
    @anthonyscully2998 Před 2 lety +1

    The cinematographer was influenced by David Hamilton

  • @richardmurphy9006
    @richardmurphy9006 Před 13 dny

    And they remade it WTF

  • @undeadcatman
    @undeadcatman Před 7 měsíci

    First half is really well made and put together, especially stylistically with the cinematography. However, it tends to drag after the first girls appearance. Could have done with about ~20mins shaved off. Otherwise good movie, 3.5 bags of popcorn

  • @mathewkelly9968
    @mathewkelly9968 Před 3 lety +1

    Good grief I grew up in Victoria , I had to do reviews of the book the movie and went on the obligatory Hanging Rock excursion . Groan

    • @lw3646
      @lw3646 Před rokem

      You were lucky to come back haha.

  • @2nostromo
    @2nostromo Před 2 lety

    I had to watch it to get into a smart girls .... good side. Wondered about it ever since. Now I'm 68 and still don't get it. And girls don't like me anymore. I guess everything happens at exactly the right time and place.

  • @freetrailer4poor
    @freetrailer4poor Před 3 lety +2

    Although In found the movie overrated bore, I did like the style and keep reading reviews. They went up in the rocks and got lost. Happens every year in Los Angeles forest.

    • @tracboy80
      @tracboy80 Před rokem +1

      The film is way too subtle for most Americans ;)

  • @donna25871
    @donna25871 Před 5 měsíci

    It’s not a true story people.

  • @jackmurphy6864
    @jackmurphy6864 Před rokem

    Mick Taylor done away with them ;)

  • @balto8111
    @balto8111 Před 2 lety +1

    0:34 Lemmings going for their booster jab.

  • @claudiahansen4938
    @claudiahansen4938 Před 4 lety +3

    One of the worst films I've seen.

    • @racerguy-fm9jb
      @racerguy-fm9jb Před 3 lety

      shorse

    • @mothratemporalradio517
      @mothratemporalradio517 Před 3 lety +1

      I still haven't watched the whole thing. Can i possibly request an explainer of the specifics of the loathing, without spoilers?

    • @paulklee5790
      @paulklee5790 Před 3 lety

      Fool...

    • @mothratemporalradio517
      @mothratemporalradio517 Před 3 lety

      @@paulklee5790 Any recommendations for other films with a haunting sense of mystery, like Francois Ozon's Under the Sand? Especially if Australian.

    • @tracboy80
      @tracboy80 Před rokem

      You must have only ever watched a handful of films then, poor thing

  • @erywst2106
    @erywst2106 Před rokem

    If Mark Kermode recommends then it's worth watching. I first saw this film in my late teens, and whilst I found it rather slow moving and tiresome, I was also spellbound and fascinated. So when it appeared on TV recently I knew I had to watch it, to piece together the few memories I had. Now in my 50s I find it breathtaking, magical, haunting and downright scary. Utterly wonderful.