La Chimera (2023) – Movie Review

La Chimera, 2023.

Directed by Alice Rohrwacher.
Starring Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato, and Isabella Rossellini.

SYNOPSIS:

Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth – in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.

Italian Director Alice Rohrwacher has built an acclaimed career around films that mix reality and fantasy to perfection. Her latest film La Chimera continues this trend, depicting a lovelorn Englishman Arthur (Josh O’Connor) in 1980s Italy working with a gang to steal historical artefacts from local graves and selling them through a mystery bidder. While it may seem an odd premise, it is never less than captivating for its 2hr 10-minute runtime, balancing a world of ideas, mysterious, beguiling and distinct.

Italy here is a far cry from some of the more glamorous depictions of major Hollywood movies, this is an idyllic, rural community with a sense of poverty, perhaps at odds with the value of Arthur and Co’s finds. It is a clever juxtaposition between both the recent past and ancient history and playing with our sense of history and memory.

O’Connor gives a transformative performance speaking almost entirely in Italian and imbuing Arthur with a sense of internal turmoil that we slowly unpack, what is he running from and why does he seem so lost? We find out his love Beniamina is dead and Arthur is still processing her loss, after spending some time in prison. He gives off a cool air, chainsmoking with a white suit, which has been compared to Elliot Gould in Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye. The supporting Italian cast ably supports O’Connor with Isabella Rossellini featuring in a small but vital role as Flora, whom Arthur resides with, a mentor figure for him.

What is perhaps La Chimera’s greatest achievement is balancing its contemplative emotional beats with a commentary on the nature of history and antiquities Rohrwacher perhaps acknowledges how many museum items are stolen. There is a spiritual feel to things that adds a fantastical layer as Arthur seeks a way to reconnect with his lost love, this also makes us question what we are seeing, is everything playing out how we think, is there something else at play? It’s these questions and layers that make this such a unique and mystifying film.

Never quite going where we might expect with hidden meaning lurking behind every corner, it is easy to fall under La Chimera’s spell. It feels like a film from years gone by in the best way possible, showing a side of Italy so rarely captured in mainstream film. It is at times both a critique of the world of archaeology and a deep, meaningful glance at how losses linger, the bizarre marriage of the two miraculously in sync.

Josh O’Connor, who is of course on a hot streak with Challengers, is magnificent giving off a cool exterior while anguishing on the inside, losing himself in this dangerous yet exhilarating world. This further cements Alice Rohrwacher as a filmmaker of the highest order a singular talent.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Chris Connor

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