Picnic at Hanging Rock - BBC2 adaptation

[nuffsaid]

Anyone watching this - I absolutely loved the film, mysterious, ethereal, excellent representation of late 19th Century English stuffiness in the heat of the Australian outback.

So I was intrigued when my Sky box showed me a TV version. It got a good review here - Picnic at Hanging Rock review – as mysterious as the film, but bigger in every way - although I've also seen 2 star review, also in the guardian. I really don't like this review though. It pans the films score with the pan pipes which for me totally adds to eerie aura.

I saw the first ep last night and it doesn't get anywhere near the film for me, there's no sense of the stifling heat, sometimes it looks totally overcast, the sun should be beating down on limp white frocks. I'll finish it to see their take on the mystery, but as far as the original book is concerned, there is no answer to seek, it's pure mystery and a sense of a moment, which the film captured superbly - one of the rare films I actually bought the DVD of.

 

[belboid]

Taped it. I was quite surprised to dicsover that it wasn't actually based on a true story, I'd always thought it was.

 

[nuffsaid]

Taped it. I was quite surprised to dicsover that it wasn't actually based on a true story, I'd always thought it was.

Poetic licence. But I admit when I first saw the film on TV decades ago I thought the same and it added to the mystery of it.

 

[SheilaNaGig]

I loved the film and the book.

I’m finding the TV show very irritating. There are glitches in the story for sure: It would have been impossible for a young white girl to walk barefoot in the bush without getting her feet torn up, even if she *had* gone out at dawn in nothing but her shift (she wouldn’t have); a young soldier boy would never have behaved towards a young lady in that way; and she certainly wouldn’t have managed to stab his foot right through his army boot and into the floor with a pitchfork. And pouring whiskey over his still booted foot would have simply wasted the whiskey, none of it would have reached the wound, certainly not enough to help, nor to make him cry out like that. Not to mention the completely unbelievable barging about the young girls got up to in the gym. These kinds of crass inaccuracies make me mistrust all the rest of the storytelling.

I’m missing the ethereal claustrophobia - and the weird almost incestuous obsessiveness between the girls - that both the book and the film did so well.

I’m finding the tacked on backstory for Mrs Appleyard redundant and creaky.

But I enjoyed it enough to want to see the next episode.

Mainly though it made me want to see the film again.

 

[nuffsaid]

I loved the film and the book.

I’m missing the ethereal claustrophobia - and the weird almost incestuous obsessiveness between the girls - that both the book and the film did so well.

I’m finding the tacked on backstory for Mrs Appleyard redundant and creaky.

But I enjoyed it enough to want to see the next episode.

Mainly though it made me want to see the film again.

Yes to all of that - I'm hoping to watch the film again at the weekend, at least until the wine sends me to bed.

 

[circleline]

This was (almost)a cult film which I just missed when I started at a new school in the 80s. Really felt I'd missed out and it seemed to elude me ever since. Meant to record this t'other day; didn't realise it was a BBC2 version, may watch it now.

Taped it. I was quite surprised to dicsover that it wasn't actually based on a true story, I'd always thought it was.

Yeah, I too thought it was based on a true story; things done different back then.

Also: taped. Have to watch myself, keep having to edit this out of my conversation, lol - shows your age...(mere vanity).

 

[redcogs]

crikey i must be getting dementia, i had confusion in my mind between picnic at hanging rock and the most excellent 'Walkabout'.

Maybe ill watch picnic on catchup.

 

[Poi E]

crikey i must be getting dementia, i had confusion in my mind between picnic at hanging rock and the most excellent 'Walkabout'.

Maybe ill watch picnic on catchup.

Only one was directed by an Aussie, if it helps.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

SheilaNaGig I agree with everything you found irritating plus Mrs Appleyard's sunglasses and the very American high school movie posturing of the mean popular girls.

But I did kind of enjoy it because all those things make it clear that historical accuracy is not the point of this adaptation. It's a fantasy and I'll stick with it to see where it goes. Good frocks too - that alone will always keep me watching.

I have seen the Peter Weir film but think I found it boring as I have no real memory of it. I think it's one of those movies that if you get it, you love it.

 

[krtek a houby]

I loved the film and promptly picked up a second hand copy of the book, which I've only recently un-earthed. Is it a good read?

 

[spanglechick]

I loved the book, but thought the film was dull and completely failed to deliver the passion and intensity of the relationships that the book shows so well.

The new adaptation is very of our time - the high school movie tropes are knowing and although anachronistic, clearly part of how this story is being told. It is, after all, a story set in a school. And the Weir film is achingly of its own time too.

I thought the narrative additions were mostly well-judged. The fete gave us the school in local social context, and the assault foreshadows the danger on the picnic and makes the world one of potential man-made harm to the girls. And I can't believe that young soldiers (especially those with nothing to lose) never committed sexual assaults on young ladies.

 

[danny la rouge]

There was nothing on TV this afternoon, so thought I'd try it. Could only manage 20mins. I thought it was terrible.

 

[greenfield]

It had the look and feel of an episode of Doctor Who. Not in a good way.

 

[Duncan2]

It had the look and feel of an episode of Doctor Who. Not in a good way.

Bit disappointed to learn that the story had no basis in fact must admit I was very taken with the film,to the point that I probably won't bother with the TV remake.

 

[moomoo]

I saw the original when I was around 13 and it affected me for life! Even reading this thread is giving me the willies! I’m too scared to watch it again to this day.

 

[redcogs]

i mean to say why would any middle aged man go oot in public with hair down to waist when there are more barber shops per head of population than at any time in human history?? Eh??

 

[redcogs]

INIT!

 

[redcogs]

Apologies for the above two posts, which were intended for the 'Irritating presenter' thread.

if i had brains i would be dangerous, as everybody seems to tell me..

 

[spanglechick]

I know I’m in a minority, but I’m still enjoying this.

Anyway, did you know that the book was published without its final chapter, a chapter which solves the mystery?

https://carusopascoski.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/secret_hanging_rock.pdf

Enjoy.

 

[bimble]

^ that's what I'll need to make sense of it all when i've finished watching the whole weirdly compelling but sort of floaty flimsy show? Excellent, saved to desktop. Thank you.

 

[belboid]

I know I’m in a minority, but I’m still enjoying this.

Anyway, did you know that the book was published without its final chapter, a chapter which solves the mystery?

https://carusopascoski.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/secret_hanging_rock.pdf

Enjoy.

Haven’t started watching it yet, tho it is due up next I think.

Having read that final chapter, I am compelled to say ‘thank god for editors’