''Around a Small Mountain'' () is a 2009 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Jacques Rivette Jacques Rivette (; 1 March 1928 – 29 January 2016) was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine '' Cahiers du Cinéma''. He made twenty-nine films, including '' L'Amour fo ...

, which was his final film before his death on 29 January 2016, and starred

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin ( ; 14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British and French actress, singer, and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema. A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, ...

and

Sergio Castellitto Sergio Castellitto (born 18 August 1953) is an Italian film director, actor, and screenwriter. Biography Sergio Castellitto was born in Rome in 1953, to parents from Molise and Abruzzo, Southern Italy. After graduating from the Silvio D'Amico ...

. It was screened in the main competition at the

66th Venice International Film Festival The 66th annual Venice International Film Festival, was held from 2 to 12 September 2009, at Venice Lido in Italy. Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee was the jury president for the main competition. Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta was the Hos ...

Plot

Kate (

) is driving along a winding mountain road when her car stalls. Vittorio (

) happens along, stops, and fixes her car without ever speaking to her. After he drives away, he slows down and decides to turn back. Something about the woman has interested him. Later in town, Vittorio learns that Kate has returned to join her family's traveling circus after leaving under mysterious conditions fifteen years ago. Kate's lover was killed during a performance. Intrigued by Kate's story, Vittorio stays for the show, and then decides to stay in town for a while, booking the room above a local cafe. He begins to attend all the shows, fascinated by the circus and the lives of its performers—all the while trying to discover the secret that led to Kate's sudden departure. When the circus caravan leaves town, Vittorio follows. With nowhere to go and nothing else to do, both he and Kate seem to be running away with the circus. Gradually he learns about the buried past of the circus and the buried careers of its performers.

Cast

as Kate *

as Vittorio *

André Marcon André Marcon (born 6 July 1948) is a French actor. In 1980 he starred in '' Le Voyage en douce'' directed by Michel Deville. Selected filmography * '' Le Voyage en douce'' (1980) * '' Stolen Life'' (1998) * '' Peau d'Ange'' (2002) * '' The P ...

as Alexandre *

Jacques Bonnaffé Jacques Bonnaffé (born 22 June 1958) is a French actor and stage director. He has appeared in more than ninety films since 1980. Debut Jacques Bonnaffé was formed at the Lille Conservatory after his high school years in Douai (North) where he ...

as Marlo *

Julie-Marie Parmentier Julie-Marie Parmentier (born 13 June 1981) is a French actress. She began practising theater at nine years old, in Saint-Quentin, Aisne. At the age of fifteen, she played in her first feature film, ''Petites'', by Noémie Lvovsky. Since then ...

as Clémence * Hélène de Vallombreuse as Margot * Tintin Orsoni as Wilfrid *

Vimala Pons Vimala Pons (born 1983) is a French actress and juggler of part Indian descent. Her notable films include ''The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu'' (2013), '' La Loi de la jungle'' (2016), ''Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle ...

as Barbara * Mikaël Gaspar as Tom * Stéphane Laisné as Stéphane * Dominique D'Angelo as Dom * Hélène De Bissy as La patronne de l'auberge * Pierre Barayre as Le patron de l'auberge * Marie-Paule André as Estelle *

Julie-Anne Roth Julie-Anne Roth (born 31 March 1973) is a French actress. From 1996 to 1999 Roth studied at the CNSAD. She appeared in more than sixty films since 1989. Theater Filmography Film Television Awards and nominations References Ext ...

as Xénie * Elodie Mamou as Elodie

Reception

Critical reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 6.3/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". In his review for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, writing:

Awards and nominations

* 2010 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon Nomination for Best Actor (Sergio Castellitto) * 2009 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Nomination (Jacques Rivette)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Around A Small Mountain 2009 films 2000s French-language films 2009 drama films French drama films Films directed by Jacques Rivette Italian drama films 2000s French films Films with screenplays by Pascal Bonitzer