Harper’s archery picnic is faithful (more or less) to George Elliot’s Daniel Deronda. It’s a picnic archery meeting for women only. Elliot uses the sport as a metaphor for gender relationships. Archery is a variation of the goddess Diana hunting, except here, the women wander through woodland aiming at painted game targets.
The women seem not to be competing, except for being watched closely by men. Gwendolyn Harleth, in this instance, flirts with Henleigh Grandcourt, which does not affect her aim. She’s a very proficient archer, an audacious flirt but aloof to Grandcourt’s courtship.
Because the archery is so essential, the actual picnic is absent from Elliot’s narrative and Harper’s screenplay. Elliot describes the picnic set up in “a grassy spot called Green Arbor, where a bit of hanging wood made a sheltering amphitheater. It was here that the coachful of servants with provisions had to prepare the picnic meal.” Harper shows the setup under an elaborate marquee, but that’s all. The day ends with Harleth facing an uncomfortable revelation Harleth. On receiving an anonymous note, Harleth clandestinely meets Lydia Glasher, who reveals Grandcourt’s villainy, abandoning her and their two children. Forewarned, Gwendolyn continues to be aloof towards Grandcourt. Mistaking her ability to control Grandcourt, she marries him and is punished for it. 
The cast: Hugh Dancy as Daniel Deronda; Romola Garai as Gwendolyn Harleth; Hugh Bonneville as Henleigh Grandcourt
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See Tom Hooper. Daniel Deronda (2002). Screenplay by Andrew Davies based on George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda (1876); Walter Courtney Rowden Daniel Deronda (1921). Screenplay by Frank Miller; Joan Craft Daniel Deronda. (1970). Screenplay by Alexander Baron