Film Review - La Chimera

Images courtesy of Palace Films.

A patchwork quilt of genres, Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera is a grimy and charismatic fairytale, and Josh O’Connor is its beating heart. 

Set in Italy during the 1980’s, O’Connor portrays Arthur, a lovelorn archaeologist with a gift for finding buried ‘treasures’ — often at the expense of his safety, wellbeing, and personal relationships. We soon learn the reason for this high cost is that these ‘treasures’ are in fact Etruscan artefacts from shrines and tombs of the ancient civilians. 

The film opens with Arthur freshly out of prison after an excavation gone wrong, and wastes no time on attempting to help the audience understand context for his predicament. So continues a theme where Rohrwacher prioritises vibes over story, occasionally sacrificing meaningful dialogue or plot events in favour of creating visceral moments and lingering themes. Whilst this can contribute to what feels like a slightly bloated runtime, the film is ultimately successful in conveying the vibrancy and romance of Arthur’s world. From his lost love to his found family, there is a strong sense of life amongst the backdrop of grief and grave robbings. 

Where La Chimera leans into its own whimsy and magical realism, it shines. Folksy musical interludes and its commitment to showing not telling allow for offbeat editing choices and a charming irreverence that holds through the entire film. However, the multiple loose ends and drawn out scenes often present as a lack of direction that drives home the two-hour runtime for viewers. In spite of this, Josh O’Connor delivers a performance that stands up to this length, and remains sincere throughout the whole film. Arthur is fully believable, brimming with flaws and quirks that make him the perfect vessel to carry the story — his choppy Italian and romanticising of life make him the imperfect Prince Charming of his own haphazard fairytale. 

For a film that could (and often does) go in several different directions, Alice Rohrwacher tells a remarkably compelling story that blends genres, tones, and themes in such a way that the disarray ultimately works in its own favour. La Chimera is perfect for anyone brave enough to challenge their own conventions of romance and adventure, and get their hands a little dirty.

La Chimera is screening in cinemas from Thursday 11th April. For tickets and more info, click here.