Campion’s narrative sets the picnic episode on a mild sunny day in late summer. The locale is flat plains and brown grass. In the distance, high mountains loom. Beyond which high mountains loom.
George Burbank is like the landscape he inhabits, solid and nondescript. Rose Gordon is pretty, dreamy, and weak. They appear compatible at the picnic as they stand holding their teacups. But their marriage is one of convenience. A hint of future unhappiness because Rose is an alcoholic. Living at the ranch is no picnic for her and exacerbates her dependency. George pretends not to notice.
Jesse Plemons as George Burbank and Kirsten Dunst as Rose Gordon. The teacups are a nice touch but incongruous in this landscape.
*Psalm 22:20 is known as a penitential psalm beginning with the familiar lament of the Psalmist, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?” Seeking God’s grace, among the things the psalmist requests is that God “Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the dog’s power.” The phrase “the power of the dog” suggests the power of evil.
Featured Image: They stopped for a picnic.
See Jane Campion. The Power of the Dog. (2021). The screenplay by Jane Campion is based on Thomas Savage’s novel; Thomas Savage. The Power of the Dog. New York: Little, Brown and Co. 1967