theguardian.com
Picnic at Hanging Rock at 50: how a low-budget whodunnit became a cultural juggernaut
As Peter Weir’s Australian classic receives a 4K restoration for cinema, the director and creative team reflect on how it was made – and why it endures
Half a century after it landed in cinemas, the extent of Picnic at Hanging Rock’s enduring legacy seems both astonishing and improbable.
This half-a-million-dollar bush whodunnit, in which a group of schoolgirls and their teacher inexplicably disappear during an outing to Hanging Rock in central Victoria on Valentine’s Day 1900, has managed to make its mark among fashion’s foremost names, infiltrate the world of teen magazines, and run an implausible gamut of cinematic influence. Alexander McQueen riffed on it in 2005; 20 years later, brands like Zimmermann are still turning Picnic into runway fodder in Paris. Sofia Coppola referenced it twice, first for a Marc Jacobs ad, and then again for her gauzy, sexy remake of The Beguiled. Continue reading...
