La Chimera

The enchanting allure of La chimera smoothly treads between myth and romance, where fantasy is no longer unimaginable but a transformative possibility found where the lines between dream and memory are often blurred by formal unpredictability.

Its inheritance of Italian Neorealism and Felliniesque carries within a history of emotion and style. The aesthetics aren't just a choice. They're a statement of timeless beauty. A beauty magnified by the story of Arthur, a looter involved in the black market of historical artifacts with a gift to sense where they are, that channels the grace of an irretrievable past. Josh O'Connor's contrast with the rest of the cast not only enhances the film's fascination with the dreamy yet earthy sublime but also adds elements of mystery and melancholy through the protagonist's barely hinted past.

Alice Rohrwacher's La chimera eventually develops a recognizable shape, but it doesn't sacrifice its artistry, and that's the beauty of it.

I did enjoy this movie. Josh O'Connor and all of the cast deliver stellar performances. I settled down to watch a slow burn and indeed it is just that, but maybe a little to slow. I found myself hoping something more would happen. Every actor in this movie is wonderful, but towards the last half hour I just wanted it to wrap up. When it finally did wrap up, it was a bit of a damp squib. It was obviously coming and was no surprise. Most of the dialogue is Italian but subtitles don't worry me. Everything about this movie is great and I would not point fingers at the script writers or the actual dialogue. I just had issues with the strength of the actual story line. I think it may become a lost gem. It does not have mass appeal, but that is a trademark of Josh O'Connor; he just does the stuff that he wants and what challenges him. I cannot think of anything I have seen him in that was not brilliant, and this movie is up there, but only for a limited and mainly Italian audience. However, happy it was made. It is original, beautifully cast, thoughtful sets and wardrobe. Thanks.

Poetry is the first word that comes to mind when trying to describe that movie. Alice Rorhwacher depicts a world where past and present are interwoven. A forgotten rural Italy, haunted by the remnants of Antiquity. The movie is full of symbols, and the boundaries between past and present, life and death, reality and fantasy are constantly blurred.

The main character, Arthur, is marked by grief, and hides his pain among a band of gentle thieves. All around him, there is misery but also resilience, joy, survival. In this picaresque landscape, Arthur seems to be the only character inhabited by tragedy.

Rorhwacher has the power to evoke emotions that are hard to describe. I left the theater in a contemplative state and I've been thinking about the movie a lot since then. Only good movies can do that.

Alice Rorhwacher does it again, another success after Lazarus, which I very much enjoy and remember (especially the ending). In this movie surprisingly, the ending is the least memorable part of the movie. The story follows an English archaeologist who dedicated his life to tomb raiding ancient Etrurian graves in an unspecified area of Italy in an unspecified period of the 20th century. He has a gift, a sixth sense that allows him to "sense" the presence of treasures. We follow his story as a gentle and quiet fish out of water in this country of poor farmers, criminals, art merchants, musicians, powerful matriarchs and fools. It's a weird fable about desecration, family, finding your roots, tradition.

It captures a feeling of "nowhere-ness" that really expresses the state of Italy as a country, with its rich history that is ultimately buried, forgotten, left at the behest of rich egotists and poor vandals. The juxtaposition of aesthetics is striking: the falling ruins of old houses and abandoned buildings with the sprawling but subdued rise of urban modernity (just Happy as Lazarus). The agonizing destruction of the past, the uncertainty and the greed of the future, and how the two don't even recognize each other in any way. A tale of unseen-ness. And at the center, Arthur, a man who doesn't belong in either of those, and doesn't know the point of his own existence.

So yeah, really good movie. There are a few flaws, though: Alba Rohrwacher's character feels like a very clear (too clear) personification of a concept, an idea, a satire, and she plays her like a Bond villain, which is strange and distracting. There are some moments (like the ending) where the metaphorical aspects of the film are more pronounced and less hidden, which is also distracting, and subtract meaning to the whole story. And finally, the ending could have been cut a little short; it's never pleasant when you stay seated and you feel like the movie should end at any time but it refuses and continuous.

Other than that, great movie. Slow, atmospheric, dreamy, makes you feel lost in time.

An intriguing title, clearly "chimera" in the sense of a delusion or fantasy, and maybe specifically the illusion that anything at all can have permanence. Obviously we see that in the tombs of the people who lived thousands of years ago which are now being raided by this motley crew, but we also see it in the main character's relationship with his girlfriend, her mother's crumbling mansion, and the abandoned train station in town. Everything has its day, then fades away.

I have a dim view of those who pillage archaeological sites for personal gain, and probably because of that struggled initially to appreciate this film, but Rohrwacher's gentle, digressive style slowly worked its charms on me. I had been wondering if there would be any limit to what these tomb raiders might do since early on the Etruscan objects they find are relatively "minor," and the moment they discover a breathtaking shrine, creating a moral crisis for the leader, was brilliant. I shuddered when the head of a sculpture was broken off for easier transport. We then find that they're just smaller operators in a chain of corruption that extends from the wealthy to museum curators, calling to mind real-life scandals. The monetization of priceless artifacts feels like an affront in every possible way, and the main character looking down at the goddess's head felt like he was staring into his own soul.

However that's not the final moment of truth, and he comes to another fork in the road of his life, the choice between a new relationship with a woman who is ironically renovating a living space out of ruins, or to continue using his gift for divination to pillage ancient sites despite his growing guilt. Spiritually it's a life or death choice, and we find that literally that's true too. There's something stirring about our all-too-human weakness in the face of the past which looks silently back at us, a reminder that all of our greed and maneuvering is meaningless, one we don't heed.