Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critics What's this?

  • Summary: On a winding mountain road, Vittorio gallantly helps Kate with her stalled car, and without a single word exchanged, speeds off. Later in town, he learns that Kate has returned to join her family's traveling circus after leaving under mysterious conditions many years ago. Intrigued by her story, Vittorio stays for the show, and the next one, and little by little, is ingratiated into the circus and the lives of its performers - all the while trying to discover the secret that led to Kate's sudden departure. (Cinema Guild) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. 90
    At under 90 minutes, Around a Small Mountain is, by Mr. Rivette's standards, a small vignette. It could have been ---and perhaps was -- part of something longer and more complex, but it stands as perfectly on its own as Pic St.-Loup, marvelous to contemplate and changing slightly every time you see it.
  2. 70
    It's all slight enough to blow away, and rare enough to warrant seeing it before it does.
  3. 50
    If you want an introduction to the director's work, you're better off with "La Belle Noiseuse" (1991) and his masterpiece, "Celine and Julie Go Boating" (1974).

See all 6 Critic Reviews