Picnic on Valentine's Day - Blu-Ray

Movie: Australia on 02/14/1900: The girls of an elite boarding school are happy, as they are allowed to go on a picnic to Hanging Rock. The day starts off very exuberantly, with the girls even allowed to take off their gloves behind the town line. But the sunny outing turns into a dark nightmare when three of the girls and their teacher Miss McCraw (Vivean Gray) disappear without a trace. All search efforts are unsuccessful. Even when one of the girls unexpectedly reappears, she is unable to solve the mystery, lacking any memory of what happened. And as hope for the return of the rest of the disappeared dwindles more and more, the boarding school also threatens to fall to the consequences of the incident...

With Picnic on Valentine's Day, the film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay, Australian director Peter Weir delivered one of the most internationally successful films from Down Under to date in 1975, and at the same time laid the foundation for his international directing career, which found its high points with films such as Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show. With a fascinating visual language and a perfectly used soundtrack with pieces by Beethoven, Mozart and the pan flute player Gheorghe Zamfir, Weir has succeeded in creating a classic of mystery cinema, but even today the opinions are divided.

This may work on the one hand because of the very quiet, melancholic staging. The story is told with a lot of quiet moments, which some viewers might find long, especially from today's point of view. Even the director's cut, which has been shortened by a few minutes, still has a number of such moments, which, however, also make up the very special charm of the film.

On the other hand, most critics of the film are likely to be disturbed by the completely open ending and the numerous symbolic images, which allow many interpretations, but are not given a clear explanation. Clocks that stop at 12 o'clock on the day of the girls' disappearance, a red cloud, the fact that one of the girls almost foresaw their disappearance or that the also missing teacher Miss McCraw was seen almost completely unclothed near the spot where the girls disappeared, all this allows for both real and supernatural explanations, can even be interpreted in a biblical sense, but is not even remotely resolved by Weir. What is for admirers of the film its great strength, is for others rather disappointing and disturbing.

But who knows the explanatory end of the story, which was added in a later edition of the book, knows that the film would have lost much of its impact if Weir had adopted this - or his own - resolution of the mystery. Picnic on Valentine's Day, like the story the film tells, is a mystery, a fascinating piece of cinema that has lost little of its impact after more than 35 years, even if the production now almost completely defies common viewing habits. A must for all lovers of exceptional film and for all collectors. Absolutely recommendable!

Picture + Sound: On the Blu-Ray, the film is available in a digitally remastered version. Even if there are here and there small drop outs and in the dark scenes clear Bildgrieseln can be made out, the visual implementation of the classic leaves a very good impression overall. The color tones are strong and very well mixed, supporting the very special atmosphere of the film. The sound is dominated by the very directionally mixed dialogues, but also the film music, which is very important for the effect of the film, and some smaller ambient noises and sound effects provide a coherent sound image. For a film that is almost forty years old, absolutely fine!

Extras:On the single disc are just the Australian trailer for the film, a double features trailer that also promotes Weir's film The Last Flood, and a TV spot and image gallery. If you want more extras and to own the theatrical version of the film, you'll have to grab the 4 Disc Edition. Here are in addition to the Blu-Ray still three DVDs with the two film versions, as well as extensive extras included.

Conclusion: At Picnic on Valentine's Day may divide the spirits. But what is undisputed is that Peter Weir has succeeded in making a very special film with his mysterious thriller drama, which is rightly considered a classic thanks to its engaging atmosphere and multi-layered story. On the Blu-Ray, the film shows up in a technically remastered glory that still has some age-related flaws, but overall leaves a really positive impression. The single disc offers only a few extras, lush bonus material has only the 4 disc DVD/Blu-Ray edition to offer. For lovers of exceptional film classics and for collectors an absolute must!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp