La Chimera
Just out of jail and still searching for his late beloved Beniamina, crumpled English archaeologist Arthur reconnects with his wayward crew of tombaroli accomplices – a happy-go-lucky collective of itinerant grave-robbers who survive by looting Etruscan tombs and fencing the ancient treasures they dig up. Arthur isn’t interested in the artefacts, though; he’s seeking a legendary door to the underworld, and to Beniamina.
- Released:
- Runtime: 130 minutes
- Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
- Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Josh O'Connor, Alba Rohrwacher, Vincenzo Nemolato, Carol Duarte, Barbara Chiesa, Elisabetta Perotto, Chiara Pazzaglia, Francesca Carrain, Lou Roy-Lecollinet, Ramona Fiorini, Yle Vianello, Carlo Tarmati, Gian Piero Capretto, Giuliano Mantovani, Luca Gargiullo, Luciano Vergaro
- Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Comments
- dweston-38669 - 4 June 2024
A film about treasure hunting that should remain buried.
Josh O'Connor is fast becoming one of our most accomplished actors and this,his second film I've seen this week featuring him after Challengers,shows he can liven up any shoddy film- for which Challengers and La Chimera both certainly are.
Both films are tediously overlong with characters that aren't even remotely sympathetic and yet we are asked to spend 130mins in their company. Both have thin stories that aren't required to be this length.
There are some effective scenes, all belong to O'Connor, that made me chuckle - the selling of the marble head on the ship,the rag tag gang of fortune hunters being duped by the 'Police' and running away, all the scenes with Isabella Rossellini (great to see her again).
Writer/ director Alice Rohrwacher has a keen eye for colour and composition set within the poor looking parts of Italy but she's indulged by undiscipline.
No wonder, yet again, that both Kermode and Bradshaw are fans. - TVO94 - 5 May 2024
Finding peace
The movie explores several characters of whom most in some way or another have something missing from their life: for the mother, its her safety and in particular the safety of her children; for the tomb raiders, its money and perhaps excitement; for Arthur it is the love of his life, a person permanently lost to the other side -- death -- whom he symbolically tries to connect with by opening tombs. Its a simple but beautiful idea from the screenwriter. While the first set of problems, that is chimeras, given to the supporting characters surrounding Arthur, are at least in principle solvable through luck or work, or even if these chimeras or problems remained unsolved, even then, life would continue as usual, however, Arthur's lost is qualitatively different. The movie builds towards the fact that only a new love or death can set Arthur free. In the end Arthur samples a new love, but still find himself looking for the love of his life. The redemption comes through his death, or there is no redemption in this life, this is left for the viewer to decide. - slzoras - 27 November 2023
A tale of two worlds
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.
