: The circus becomes a stage where reality and artifice blur, reflecting Rivette’s lifelong obsession with the theater of human existence. Themes and Style
: Kate is returning to her family’s small, struggling traveling circus—a world she abandoned years ago following a tragic accident. 36 vues du Pic Saint Loup
“The film does indeed have about it an air of summation, or at least of farewell, as if it were the bittersweet encore at a closing night performance” Substack · (All (Parentheses)) Viewing Details Jacques Rivette's 36 Vues Du Pic Saint Loup - BOMB Magazine : The circus becomes a stage where reality
The film opens with a chance encounter on a country road: Kate (Jane Birkin) is stranded by her stalled car until Vittorio (Sergio Castellitto), an Italian traveler in a sports car, swoops in to restart it with a few "superfluid" taps on the engine. : Reviewers at The New Yorker note that
: Reviewers at The New Yorker note that the way Rivette frames the peak against built artifacts mirrors how human identity is defined through performance within the film. Critical Perspectives
Critics often describe the film as a "playfully oblique" study of mortality and the mysteries of imagination.