Discover ‘La Chimera’ – The Sun-Drenched Italian Tale That Unveils a Whole New Language!

Time has a way of increasing the monetary value of objects that we leave behind. Items that were once brand new become antiques over the years – like the Etruscan artifacts that were unearthed after being hidden for thousands of years in Alice Rohrwacher’s film “La Chimera.” The film is a radiant piece of art, both in terms of aesthetics and its boundary-blurring themes. Just like Rohrwacher’s previous works, there is a breathtaking mingling of the physical and the spiritual, the urban and the rural, life and death, past and present – all of it blends together as smoothly as colors in a dusk sky.

Rohrwacher, an Oscar-nominated director and writer based in Italy who lives away from the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry, doesn’t attach much importance to the price tags of these ancient belongings. Their true value, she implies, lies in what they meant to their original creators: a deep conviction in a grand afterlife, and how that parallels our own human search for purpose.

The main character, Arthur (played by Josh O’Connor of “The Crown”), is a wandering British archaeologist living in a small town in Tuscany in the 1980s. He is tied to his elusive sense of purpose by a dream: Beniamina (Yile Vianello), the woman he loved and lost. But he mostly engages in an illegal trade, using his unique talent to locate spots where treasures from the past are buried. Arthur leads a group of bohemian misfits who barely make a living as tombaroli or grave-robbers. Museums or private collectors will end up with their unlawfully acquired “grave goods.”

O’Connor, who speaks Italian for most of his performance, conveys a mysterious, mournful melancholy. He roams the town without any money, like a hurt child craving a hug but unwilling to express his need, appearing like a strikingly good-looking ghost in a grubby white suit.

However, there is a lifeline for him in the form of industrious Italia (the glowing Brazilian actress Carol Duarte), a young mother of two who works for Beniamina’s mother, Flora (the renowned Isabella Rossellini). While Arthur is continuously haunted by sunlit memories of Beniamina, Italia is preoccupied with the present, in particular, her quest for a place to call home and an opportunity for a brighter future. Even after becoming romantically involved, they each exist on different planes of existence.

Rohrwacher conducts her emotional excavation with a whimsical viewpoint. Midway through the film, a troubadour sings a ballad about the poor robbers we’ve been following and highlights Arthur’s lost state. This song plays over a montage featuring sped-up sequences of cops-and-robbers chases, adding a touch of humor and a nod to old cinema tricks. These imaginative touches don’t feel superfluous; instead, they reinforce Rohrwacher’s ability to balance reality and fantasy.

The talented French cinematographer Hélène Louvart (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”) uses different aspect ratios and film stocks to emphasize the in-between nature of “La Chimera.” The rustic quality of the film’s craftsmanship, which could deceive us into thinking it’s being projected from a supposedly lost and recently discovered old reel, aligns with the modest ethos of a storyteller interested in people who may not be remembered in history, but who lived passionately nonetheless.

Intentionally, O’Connor never completely merges with Rohrwacher’s other characters. Arthur’s outsider perspective is part of what makes his character tragic, earning him bewildered glances from locals. It’s not just that he’s from a different European country, but also that he’s accepted a place in the realm of the dead, to the point where the dead communicate with him in his nightmares, enquiring about their stolen possessions, the sole evidence of their existence. It’s easy to sympathize with their concern. Doesn’t everything we do aim to prove that we matter?

Rohrwacher remains focused on the people who give real meaning to property. An abandoned train station becomes a shelter for the homeless under Italia’s compassionate care, while wealthy Flora’s mansion falls into decay as her daughters ransack its contents, planning to put their mother in a nursing home. As Arthur eventually becomes a buried relic himself, his only escape is a beam of sunlight and the elusive red string symbolizing Beniamina that brings the story full circle.

Somber yet vibrant, “La Chimera” is a monumental piece of art presented with the unpretentious invitation of a warm summer morning. It allows the viewer to traverse time and space, one radiant image at a time. A committed humanist, Rohrwacher creates films that are destined for immortality. If her latest piece were to be discovered 2,000 years from now among the ruins of what we now know as civilization, it would present a remarkably flattering portrayal of us.