British Empire Films Australia
Directed by Peter Weir
My rating: 3.5 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)
Students at a private all-girls school in rural Australia visit a nearby geological formation on Valentine's Day at the turn of the century. The day begins with the reading of love poems and dressing for the occasion. After a short buggy ride through town, where they are on display for all to see, the arrive and have a picnic. Four of the girls decide to explore the formation on their own. They reach the summit exhausted and lay down to rest. Then, three of the girls continue onward, never to be seen again, while the fourth goes screaming back to the picnic. The police form a search part the next day, and question a local young man and his valet, but come up empty. The young man decides to search for the girls himself, and manages to find one unconscious but alive. She recovers but has no memory of what happened. At the school, things become unraveled, with the head master worried if it will survive as students drop out. She singles out one girl in particular and threatens to send her to an orphanage. Tragedy and more deaths follow, but with multiple explanations possible. The open-ended nature of the central mystery is both the film's greatest asset and weakness, leaving one wanting more, but also allowing the viewer to come up with their own explanation. Breathtaking, dreamlike cinematography by Russell Boyd and pan flute music by Zamfir complete the mood.
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