53rd San Francisco International Film Festival 22 April - 6 May 2010
FILMS/
AROUND A SMALL MOUNTAIN
36 vues du Pic St-Loup
World Cinema
France/Italy, 2009, 84 minutes
SHOWTIMES
Fri, Apr 23 / 9:30 / Kabuki / AROU23K
Sat, Apr 24 / 4:15 / Kabuki / AROU24K
Wed, Apr 28 / 6:30 / PFA / AROU28P
CREDITS
- dir
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Jacques Rivette
- prod
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Maurice Tinchant, Martine Marignac, Luigi Musini, Robert Cicutto, Ermanno Olmi, Sergio Castellitto, Margaret Mazzantini
- scr
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Jacques Rivette, Pascal Bonitzer, Christine Laurent, Shirel Amitay, Sergio Castellitto
- cam
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Irina Lubtchansky
- editor
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Nicole Lubtchansky
- mus
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Pierre Allio
- cast
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Sergio Castellitto, Jane Birkin, André Marcon, Jacques Bonaffé, Julie-Marie Parmentier, Vimala Pons
- source
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The Cinema Guild, 115 West 30th Street, Suite 800, New York, NY 10001. FAX: 212-685-4717. EMAIL: ldedo@cinemaguild.com.
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CAUSES
The Arts
After he helps her restart her stalled car, Kate (Jane Birkin) invites Italian traveler Vittorio (Sergio Castellitto) to come see her family’s traveling circus. Already smitten with Kate, he soon falls under the threadbare big top’s spell as well, postponing his trip to Barcelona to hang out with the clowns and acrobats. When he discovers that Kate—who has just rejoined the troupe after a long absence—used to walk the high wire but now fears even entering the ring, he determines to uncover the reason for her stage fright and see her perform again. Jacques Rivette’s latest, a compact and engrossingly enigmatic tale, makes the most of the master filmmaker’s love of improvisation and the theater—the latter here transformed into the rickety, barely surviving circus, where the narrative occasionally pauses to let the camera take in the acts of various performers. In contrast to the exuberance of such displays, the film also nurses a strain of melancholy, as the grief and guilt Kate has been carrying with her for so long casts a spell over the story. Rivette regular Birkin mesmerizes in the role of a woman who has closed herself off but who now awakens slowly to life’s possibilities. Full of humor, mystery, subtle romance and an unmistakable valedictory tone, this playful and loving ode by the 82-year-old director reveals him very much at the top of his game.
—Pam Grady
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