La chimera

A rather scruffy looking Josh O'Connor is "Arthur" who has found a way to make a living in rural Italy where he uses his unique gift with a divining rod - well a big twig, really - to uncover ancient artefacts from deep beneath the surface. He's not averse to a bit of grave robbing either - for which he has recently been imprisoned, and now he and his cohorts sell their stuff to "Spartaco" (Alba Rohrwacher) and via a rather unique technique, too! What's clear is that "Arthur" is getting over something fairly monumental in his life, and we get a clue to that when he visits the rather doting but blissfully ignorant and elderly "Flora" (Isabella Rossellini) at her increasingly dilapidated mansion house where the furniture is destined for the furnace and her family all know the secret, but dare not speak it. He, himself, inhabits a shanty-town style shed abutting the old city wall, his once proud linen suit now grubby and filthy and he is rarely without a cigarette. As the plot unfolds - aided by an agreeably sparing amount of dialogue - we start to get a sense that "Arthur" is actually coming to his senses after something akin to a concussion. The pieces of his life are slowly coming together again as he and his pals make the discovery of a lifetime, only for... It's a slowly paced film, but that works well - as do the infrequent but quite punchy comedic elements of the drama. There can be a comparison drawn between the gradual unearthing of the long lost relics and with his own re-realisation but it's all delivered with a brightness that keeps it from becoming downbeat or depressing. Director Alice Rohrwacher offers us a personal story tempered with a bit of mythology and a fair degree of ill-defined humanity that is compellingly incomplete in many ways. I reckon it might merit a second watch, there's plenty of nuanced writing here.

I'm a sucker for most things italian, especially it's cinema, I loved La Chimera. The story of Arthur, an Englishman inhabiting an Italian's universe, whose remarkable abilities have led him to a life with a group of tomb robbers going after Etruscan antiquities for sale on the black market. Beguiled by love, Arthur is tormented by the memory of his lost Beniamina, whose mother (Isabella Rossellini) serves as a matriarchal groundpost. His lone, sad male presence in an otherwise all female family, is delightfully contentious and catty. Italia, the 'student maid', plays the fool to survive and succeed against odds.

Like a troupe of players, the tomb hunters seem like a vagabond theatre troupe, reminiscent of the circus in La Strada, one of Fellini's greats.

Adventurously cutting between film stocks and formats, the direction and camera work are exceptional and fitting.

A wonderful tale of surprise and intrigue driven by a cast of characters that only Italian's could present. Lovely in it's life and vibrancy.

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.

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.

When an English tomb raider (Josh O'Connor) skilled at dowsing uses his skills to hunt down buried Etruscan artifacts, he achieves success at his craft but suffers setbacks when he falls in with the wrong crowd. As a consequence, he drifts through life, trying to find his way (and, ironically enough, a moral footing), an odyssey filled with quirky people and events, a would-be romantic interest (Carol Duarte) with two carefully concealed children, an aging operatic instructor (Isabella Rossellini) skilled at fleecing her "students," and, of course, his coterie of comical criminal cronies. Writer-director Alice Rohrwacher's latest tells a delightful fable full of wit, whimsy, colorful characters, high intrigue and its share of surreal moments, all set against the Italian landscape. The film admittedly takes a little time to find its stride, so getting through the opening act will require some patience (editing here would have helped). But, once the picture finds its way, it becomes a fun-filled ride, peppered with absurdist humor and filmed with Fellini-esque cinematography and a production design reminiscent of the famed auteur. With a runtime of 2:10:00, it could stand some trimming (most notably at the outset, as noted above), but this cinematic charmer is a modestly pleasant diversion to watch while stretched out on the couch while casually savoring a demitasse of espresso and a plate of biscotti. Godere!