“Picnic at Hanging Rock” (The Miniseries): A Review

 Copyright by Gary L. Pullman

The six-part miniseries (now showing on Amazon Prime) Picnic at Hanging Rock (2018) is an eerie thriller set in 1900 Australia. A mix of crime, cruelty, defiance, and unpleasantness, if not horror, with suggestions of lesbianism, male homosexuality, and sibling incest, the series also hints, at times, of the supernatural, although this last element is vague and not necessary to the understanding of the events.

 

Despite being entertaining, the series is rather disjointed due to frequent shifts in time: a lot of flashbacks occur, obscuring the story's present action. As the title of the miniseries suggests, much of the action results from a picnic at Hanging Rock, several miles distant from the girls' boarding school owned and operated by the mysterious Mrs. Appleyard.

 

What, exactly, accounts for the girls' disappearance is never explained. A number of possibilities, however, include kidnapping by a pair of riders or by a gentleman who is picnicking in the area at the same time as the girls' visit; an accidental fall from one of the rocks the girls climb during a hike; the girls' escape from Mrs. Appleyard's strict and, indeed, cruel “care”; or even the activity of ancient spirits which, tradition claims, haunt the area.

Whether the events that transpire in the school and at Hanging Rock result from psychopathic sadism or from supernatural causes, plenty of mysterious, indeed inexplicable, action confounds viewers and keeps them guessing. In the end, each viewer must decide for him- or herself just what did occur and why. Despite some flaws (the frequent screeching of animals is especially annoying) and a bit of rambling, the miniseries is entertaining and eerie. Its haunting events stay with one, following a viewing, although some may not care to give the production a second look.

 

The cast includes Natalie Dormer as Mrs. Appleyard; Lola Bessis as Mademoiselle Dianne de Poitiers; Yael Stone as Dora Lumley; Madeleine Madden as Marion Quade; Anna McGahn as Miss Greta McCraw; Bethany Whitmore as Blanche Gifford; Lily Sullivan as Miranda; Samara Weaving as Irma Leopold; Inez Curro as Sara Waybourne; Ruby Rees as Edith; Emily Gruhl as Minnie; Harrison Gilbertson as Michael Fitzhubert; Nicholas Hope as Colonel Fitzhubert; Marcus Graham as Tomasetti; James Hoare as Albert Crundall; Aaron Glenane as Reg Lumley; Philip Quast as Arthur; Mark Coles Smith as Tom; and Don Hany as Dr. Mackenzie.

 

The miniseries, a feature-length film, a theatrical production, and a radio play are based on the 1967 novel by Joan Lindsay, which offers a somewhat different plot and, in its deleted final chapter, a very different conclusion than that of the miniseries.

Grade: C+