Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock: The Time Aspect and Its Connection to the Mysteries of the Film

Essay from the year 1998 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2+ (B), University of Potsdam (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Contemporary Australian Film, 0 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Peter Weir, a famous Australian director, made film hits like Greencard and Dead Poet Society. His film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1976) was his first big success, as well in Australia as in Europe. The story is based on a novel written in 1967 by Joan Lindsay, and it is not certain whether part of it is taken from a true incident or whether it is pure fiction. Picnic at Hanging Rock is a mystery film that does not give an answer to the mysteries it tells. Maybe because there are none, just like the college's gardener says ''Some questions have answeres, some don't.'' Time plays an important part in the film. On the one hand there are several indicators of time that put emphasis on the importance of time. On the other hand time seems to be put out of order, there appear to be situations which happen timeless. These contrasting time aspects and the mystery connected with them shall be analysed in the following. In both spheres the time factor plays an important role. This is shown by several unmistakable indicators.