SpiritMeAway’s review published on Letterboxd:
Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera is a fable following Arthur (Josh O’Connor), a British archaeologist freshly let out of jail, as he falls back in with the grave-robbing crew that got him put there to begin with. As Arthur uses his mysterious ability to dowse for Etruscan tombs to enrich the group and pay off his debts, a seedy underbelly of tomb raiders supporting a global crime ring slowly comes into focus, as does Arthur’s doomed romance with Beniamina, one of the many daughters of local music teacher Flora (a very game Isabella Rossellini). La Chimera is one of those films that works as much as you’re able to allow it to wash over you. Arthur is a closed book – the blurb summarizing the film on Letterboxd reveals more about his motivations than the film does until its closing moments (so don’t read it if you don’t want to have the ending spoiled!) – and other than Flora and her new student Italia (Carol Duarte), the supporting cast is mostly variations on the same character, but that works to underline Arthur’s natural and voluntary othering. What Rohrwacher delivers is a beautifully shot, funny, kooky film about ownership of the past and the ways it drags you back again and again.
Find all of my reviews from TIFF 2023 on The Avocado.
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