Around a Small Mountain

"A gorgeous, melancholy miniature."—Time Out London

Could this be the final film from Jacques Rivette, the French New Wave titan whose films (including Celine and Julie Go Boating and La Belle Noiseuse) were the subject of our 2007 retrospective? Now in his 80s, the frail Rivette is known for the epic length of his films, but Around a Small Mountain is his shortest to date.

Centered around a chance encounter on a road in the mountainous French countryside, the film sees a man (the great Italian actor Sergio Castellitto) decide to tag along with a woman (the always mesmerizing Jane Birkin) as she returns to the circus community that she left years ago for mysterious reasons. The film is a valedictory tribute to Rivette's cherished themes of performance, spontaneity, and the creative process. (84 mins., 35mm)

Around a Small Mountain review