La Chimera

Shades of Italian neo-realism, magical realism, and silent movies are on full display in La Chimera, a moving, observed comedic period drama centered on a Tuscany village that discovers Etruscan artifacts in the 1980s. Strong was steeped in the style of Italian neo-realism, with payoffs in the tradition of Fellini’s 1950 films. Though very niche, Alice Rohrwacher’s latest Italian feature is a beguiling, enchanting film that is unabashedly sincere.

Shooting in film stock, who bounces between narrative features and documentaries, keeps her fourth narrative feature on course and is energetic from the start. We open with Arthur (Josh O’Connor), an unkept Englishman who looks as if he just walked out of a silent movie from the 1920s as he wears a scruffy white suit and has a five o’clock shadow and chain-smokes. He has an archeological background and has the demeanor of a glum gangster.

We open up with him on a train, just released from an Italian prison. He has some flirty exchanges with some of the female patrons on the train, but he is too timid to act upon anything. He’s also on his way to the village to visit Flora (Isabella Rossellini), an elderly patrician. Arthur was once in love with her dead daughter, Beniamina (Yile Vianello), and we see Beniamina in Arthur’s visions, and he can reconnect with her in the spirit realm through a door to the underworld. As Flora, Rossellini delights, her charisma still ignites, and her performance keeps Arthur grounded. Arthur’s pathos also shines in his exchanges with Floria. It’s a notable and key supporting role, one where she gets to perform where her Italian roots are. Rossellini embodies the role so well, and she delivers an illuminating power to the material.

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As Arthur longs for head-dead love, he ends up being lured back into the criminal underworld, where he has a superpower gift given by Beniamina that guides him to where Etruscan artifacts and antiquates are buried and hidden. He ends up banding with some poor grave-robbers, where they collect the remains, which leads them to a black-market crime syndicate that can create legitimate documents claiming the loot is part of wealthy Italian aristocrats, where they end up making millions off collectors and leaving Arthur and his accomplices in the dark from the profits.

Arthur waits for the faux collectors to come through. It’s obvious the villagers scrape by, finding and stealing stolen antiques. They do all the handwork, only to be sidelined by shady dealers who underpay for the price, only to turn around and sell it for fortunes that eventually make it into museums. Arthur and his community live in ruins, with makeshift homes made out of iron sheets, as Flora’s once luxurious home is now in decay. We see these use local farming and entertainment for their careers as antique thieves, and characters even break the fourth wall and explain their love for Etruscans. Rohrwacher explores a subculture that isn’t explored too often in cinema. Many attend museums without knowing where the artifacts came from, but the truth is that so much antiquity is stolen.

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I shouldn’t reveal anything else, but I’ll say this: The film actually experiments a lot with tonal shifts, and it actually works. What would feel jarring in any other film else ends up working. This is due to its unusual, otherworldly rhythm, which keeps the narrative flowing. We get magical realism, Italian neo-realism, silent movie sensibilities, and some musical vibes. Hélène Louvart’s sublime cinematography captures Rohrwacher”s dreamy, woozy vision that now feels so singular after watching this and her 2018 comedic gem Happy as Lazzaro. Most importantly, we get to know the elusive characters, and the Tuscany setting is surely a luminous love letter. We get an idea of what the village is like, what the ancient world is like, and how grief hovers over us. After all that, the narrative and supernatural plot kicks in, and it’s irresistibly charming from there.

LA CHIMERA is now playing in limited theaters and will open in Detroit at the BIRMINGHAM 8 on Friday, April 12th.