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La Chimera

APRIL 26 - MAY 1

Brash and exuberant, this romantic adventure directed by Alice Rohrwacher is brimming with old-fashioned charm. Its emotions are big: in 1980’s Tuscany, disgraced British archaeologist Arthur (Josh O’Connor) leads a motley crew of travelling musical entertainers whose real vocation is robbing ancient gravesites. With the help of Arthur’s magical divining rod, they locate Etruscan artifacts and sell them to a villainous art dealer. But Arthur’s on a private quest as well: he’s pining for his lost love, daughter of noblewoman Flora (Isabella Rossellini), and he hopes to rejoin “Beniamina”—perhaps in death. Two complications arise: Arthur encounters Rossellini’s former maid, Italia (Carol Duarte), and sparks fly; just as Arthur’s rod (symbolism duly noted) alerts him of a buried treasure bigger than anything his gang has ever found. It might be his last big score whether he knows it or not. Gorgeously filmed by Hélène Louvart (shifting between 35mm and Super 16mm), the Italian setting becomes its own character in the story, a melancholy dreamscape populated with ghosts and memories. “La Chimera” is a colloquial phrase, roughly translating as “pie in the sky,” and that suits this storybook tale of undying love, nostalgia for the past, and unexpected heroism. Arthur and his rowdy band are likeable rogues in the Errol Flynn tradition, laughing, drinking, singing, and occasionally breaking the fourth wall to address the audience. It adds to the musical theatre-like feel of the movie, where everyone’s an actor—but a sincere actor, the kind of deeply believes every line he recites. This is an unapologetically bold foray into Magic Realism, a love triangle of sorts, with Arthur torn between Italia, a woman of flesh and blood, and Beniamina, a fantasy made more alluring for being unattainable. Poetic, humorous, exciting, and contemplative, La Chimera is the perfect response for cynics who don’t think “they make movies like that anymore.” 

(Unrated; may contain some mature content. In English, and Italian with English subtitles.)