Throughout the film, we are given clues that something odd or even supernatural may have happened. For example, at one point the girls’ carriage driver and teacher both note that their watches have stopped at exactly noon, right around when they arrived at the rock. Should we take this as some unnatural force at this ancient rock plaguing the girls? At another point in the film, as the ladies examine and take measurements of the distinctive geological formation, we notice a small group of men also eating lunch and sunning themselves. After the girls go missing, should we believe that these men did something to them? That perhaps they have been kidnapped or murdered? Were they abducted by a UFO? Did they simply fall into a crevice in the rock? Is this all a dream?
The Criterion Critique: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
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