Roger Ebert's review of "Picnic at Hanging Rock" refers to Appleyard as "a hothouse atmosphere where schoolgirl crushes are inevitable." This may have inspired a number of other Web site descriptions of the school, including "a hothouse of barely repressed sensuality" and "a hothouse Eden."
What did you think of the school atmosphere? Were these ardent friendships typical of preadolescents, or adolescents of any gender in a restricted setting? Those were fairly passionate Valentine's messages, or perhaps our modern ideas see sex where only profound admiration is intended. But I think the place was bursting with repressed sexual longings. "Hothouse" was an apt word, indeed.
Sara's attachment to Miranda also had sexual overtones. She also had a reliance on Miranda as a substitute family member, which made the bond more complex.
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I certainly thought of Sara as being in love with Miranda, in more than a sisterly way.
The "hothouse" description is good, I think. The girls were at that age when all they could think about was romance. The repressed atmosphere exacerbates it. There was definitely a sense that the trip to Hanging Rock was an opportunity to let their hair down, so to speak. They had left the uptight school for the wild, and the effect was to unleash their sensuality, as Ebert said in his review. It began with the hippie-like dancing and twirling, then the removing of shoes and stockings, the reclining against each other, etc.
It all started with taking the gloves off!
I think the hothouse description is apt — a bunch of girls cloistered together with few outlets for romantic expression. I think that kind of atmosphere was very typical of the era. Colette was writing her Claudine books at that time — about a French schoolgirl who has an "improper" relationship with her female teacher.
Most of the girls in "Picnic" struck me as just being in love with love, as Rick suggested, treating one another as suitors in the absence of male companions. But Sara's love for Miranda struck me as clearly sexual and clearly individualized. Miranda was not just a substitute for a boy Sara couldn't have, and her desire for Miranda was not merely aesthetic, as Mademoiselle's seemed to be. Sara wanted Miranda in all her glorious girlness, and that was something in the film that really impressed me because, for one, that was a rare thing in film in 1975, and, for two, it made her more than a type (for me).
(So, I've answered your hothouse question. Are you trying to trap me? Hehe)
Have you wondered whether the picnic might have turned out differently if Sara were allowed to go? Did you have any sense that Miranda led the other girls astray, like she was some type of Siren luring them to their demise? Like she was a force of nature in cahoots with the rock, and maybe she also led Sara to her death. The Sirens, incidentally, lured sailors to death on cliffs and rocks and such, didn't they?
Wait! And I just read that the Sirens have the head of a female and the body of a bird. Remember all the birds flying around the rocks?! There were several scenes with different kinds of birds.
I think the Siren theory would also explain the lack of foundation for people being drawn to Miranda. She's simply a Siren; no other quality is needed — besides her inexplicable fatal allure.
Oh, I like that idea, especially in the context that she was the ringleader who kept the other victims going, who drove Michael up there to illness and amnesia, and perhaps lured Mrs. Appleyard to her death as well.
Oh good. Yes, I think you have found something here. I too noticed the repeated shots of birds flying around the rocks. And there was also that scene where Michael had a vision of Miranda only to realize that he was really looking at a swan. Miranda as a Siren would make some of the casting and character development choices make more sense.
I would put Mrs. Appleyard in a different category, though. She seems more the traditional tragic character done in by her own limitations. It was the collapse of her little stable world that drove her to her death more than the lure of the Siren-on-the-Rock.
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