Picnic at Hanging Rock (12A)

★★★★★ Still dazzling, Peter Weir’s 1975 parable of imperial anxiety and sexual hysteria, rereleased for its 50th anniversary, is a classic of Australian new wave cinema. ~ The Guardian.

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Returning to the big screen to celebrate its 50th anniversary in a dazzling 4K restoration, Peter Weir’s 1975 adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel has lost none of its mystique or mesmerising power.

On Saturday 14th February 1900 a party of schoolgirls from the Appleyard College took a trip to Hanging Rock near Mt. Macedon in the Australian state of Victoria. Some of the girls were never seen again. 

A significant influence on filmmakers including Sofia Coppola, Picnic at Hanging Rock has become a landmark for its dreamlike exploration of the intensely romantic, yet profoundly unsettling, experience of girlhood and burgeoning sexuality. It’s a wonderful, haunting treat. 

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★★★★★ A fascinating film that is by turns fascinating and mysterious. ~ Empire.

★★★★★ An eerie and profound masterpiece. There’s a suggestion, that the girls are the sacrificial victims of colonial naivety, consumed by a landscape they can never fully comprehend. ~ The Times.

★★★★ It's a very sexy picture, which stares an enigma straight in the eye and, in the process, proved to the world that the new Australian cinema was capable of making films other than those that featured gnarled and drunken sheep-shearers. ~ Radio Times.