| The Circumstance | |
| Native Name: | |
| Director: | Ermanno Olmi |
| Screenplay: | Ermanno Olmi |
| Cinematography: | Elvidio Burattini |
| Editing: | Ermanno Olmi |
| Studio: | RAI |
| Distributor: | Italnoleggio Cinematografico |
| Runtime: | 96 |
| Country: | Italy |
| Language: | Italian |
The Circumstance (Italian: La Circostanza) is a 1973 Italian drama film written, directed and edited by Ermanno Olmi. The film was screened at the 1974 San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it received a special mention.[1]
Laura, a lawyer who comes from an upper-class Milanese family, leads an altogether placid life. After witnessing an almost-fatal motorcycle accident near her family's country home, she becomes obsessed with the young victim, leading to a series of flashbacks and introspective instants that probe the bourgeois life she leads.
Critic Derek Elley titled The Circumstance a "romantic highpoint in Olmi's oeuvre" and "his most accomplished piece of work."[2]
The Circumstance was screened at Film at Lincoln Center in 2019 as part of a retrospective on Olmi's work.[3]