AROUND A SMALL MOUNTAIN (aka 36 Vues Du Pic Saint Loup) is the latest, and possibly final, film from French director Jacques Rivette, one of the acknowledged masters of the French New Wave. This is a slight film from the veteran, and at a brief 85 minutes it is certainly his shortest. Its thin plot is set against the backdrop of a small traveling circus that is playing to empty houses. It stars Italian actor Sergio Castellitto as Vittorio, a man who stops and helps stranded motorist Kate (Jane Birkin), a performer who is rejoining the circus after a long absence. Vittorio follows the circus around from town to town for a week, and a tentative romance develops between him and Kate. As usual Rivette's film is a mix of comedy, drama, romance and the abstract musings on the mysteries of life, with minimal action and minimal dialogue, much of it obtuse and artificial. This poignant film deals with themes of grief, loss, regret and redemption, and it treats the world as a stage as Rivette uses this insular world of performers to hold up a mirror to our own lives. The mountain of the title is more of a metaphorical one. Rivette interrupts the personal drama with reprisals of an old-fashioned clown routine. The cast includes many regulars who have appeared in the director's previous films. Around A Small Mountain may be slight Rivette, but for admirers of this 81-yea-old director's unique style and his languorous pacing that will be more than enough to satisfy them. For others though this may prove to be a bit slow and dull.
Review of Around a Small Mountain
