One of the great gifts we have been given as contemporary viewers is the opportunity to see Alice Rohrwacher flourish into arguably one of the greatest filmmakers of her generation. It has been an authentic, fascinating process to observe, and one that has provided us with several astonishing films, each one handcrafted by a director who has a vision that is bound to define future generations in much the same way several artists inspired her. Her most recent offering is La Chimera, in which she voyages to the Italian countryside at some point in the early 1980s, and takes us on a journey with a lovable group of misfits as they go about their daily routine. They fashion themselves as renegade archaeologist but are more appropriately labelled as graverobbers, since their general modus operandi is to comb the pastoral landscapes of the region for burial sites, which they elegantly plunder, removing the artefacts, which they bring to the mysterious Spartaco, a faceless entity that purchases their items in exchange for amounts of money that are enough for these people to survive, but still too paltry for them to earn a living, leading to their continued efforts to unearth the rarest items, in the hopes that they will make that one discovery big enough for their future. It is a peculiar story and one that is a quintessential work of one of our great modern filmmakers, someone whose mastery of both visual and narrative detail has stood her in good stead for several years now. It might be possible that La Chimera is Rohrwacher’s finest film, a dense but poetic odyssey to the past and the people who occupied it, and it is certainly one of her most ambitious, which is quite an achievement considering how she has been pushing the boundaries of her craft for over a decade now. Somehow managing to be both intimate and sweeping on both a psychological and cultural level, and filled to the brim with complexity and nuance that adds even more layers to an already engrossing film, La Chimera is one of the year’s most astonishing works, and a film that lingers with the viewer long after we have stepped away, many of the images staying embedded in our minds, allowing us the chance to mull over the multitudes of themes presented to us over the course of this fascinating and deeply moving film.

From its first moment, we are struck by the profound meaning embedded deep within La Chimera, which is a film that possesses the kind of enviable complexity that is coveted by so many filmmakers, one that is driven by a curiosity to capture the inner workings of the human condition, delivering it in a beautifully compelling and deeply moving way. The film is set in the recent past, less than half a century from the current moment – yet, it feels suspended in time, a distant remnant of a bygone era that is beautifully preserved but filled with intentional flaws, which correlates well with the theme of unearthing these artefacts, which are imperfect masterpieces. The more rugged appearance of this film is an intentional choice by the director, with Rohrwacher using these aspects to construct this striking story. However, it becomes as much about the details as it does the broad narrative strokes, which are intrinsically connected to the concept of dealing with the past. We all carry the burden of history in our way, and whether you are a native to a specific place or an outsider who observes a culture from a distance, there is something profoundly powerful about how we navigate the past. La Chimera is a film that is tied intrinsically to a particular time and place, with the story focusing on the exploits of a group of people deeply dedicated to revisiting the past, specifically our protagonist, a young man who is adrift in a world he doesn’t understand, forced to be in a state of constant pondering about the past, one that can never even be sure is real or just a fabrication, something fueled by his fantasies and clearly declining mental state, a result of a life living as nothing more than a vagabond who plunders graves to make a meagre living. Rohrwacher’s sense of historical context is absolutely remarkable, and we constantly find ourselves trying to unpack the meaning behind certain choices she makes throughout this film, and it becomes an absolutely wonderful exercise in examining the human condition in small but substantial ways, each detail being insightful and captivating in ways that we may not have expected at first.

As we have come to expect from Rohrwacher, the message is only as strong as the manner in which it is delivered, which is precisely why La Chimera is so intriguing, since it is a challenge to pin it down in terms of the tone. Few directors have been more capable of evoking an atmosphere as purely enchanting and charming as she has throughout her career, and Rohrwacher has truly embodied the very spirit of magical realism, drawing from a literary culture that we don’t often find intermingling with cinema. A film like La Chimera is one of the rare instances of a work that is structured, both narratively and tonally, like a novel – we are immersed in the world in which these characters exist, and we watch them develop and move in fascinating and engaging ways, with the same sense of curiosity and discovery coming in this film. We find ourselves becoming gleefully lost in the world in which this film takes place, and the director has a knack for crafting stories that are detailed and captivating, as well as being filled with such extraordinary meaning, some of which are surprisingly entertaining considering some of the more serious psychological concepts embedded within the film. Rohrwacher creates an atmosphere of whimsy, which is mostly represented in the use of an ensemble cast on something of a picaresque journey (one has to wonder whether she was at all inspired by Federico Fellini in this regard since a lot of his films carried the same sense of off-the-wall madness), but never disregards the more serious aspects of the film, which is driven by a genuine sense of curiosity for the surrounding world. The blending of genres is always intriguing, and we constantly find ourselves growing more curious about this film through how it combines different themes, folding them together to create this magnificent and captivating film that never falls victim to its shifting tone or oscillations between genres, instead taking full advantage of these more peculiar traits, using them to form a firm and meaningful identity, from which it can make some fascinating and captivating choices, both in terms of the story and its execution.

Rohrwacher borrows liberally from many influential Italian filmmakers, and one of the aspects that she actively employs is the use of an ensemble cast – the appeal of this film is not only the story being told but the eccentric and fascinating individuals that we find spread throughout it, which adds so much charm and nuance to this film. Credit has to be given to the cast for bringing these roles to life with such fervent attention to detail and earnest sincerity, which goes a long way in helping move the narrative along at a steady, consistent pace. We have Josh O’Connor, who has already established himself as one of the most interesting young actors of his generation, taking on the central role of Arthur, a young man of indeterminate origin and ambigious intentions who integrates himself into this ragtag group of charismatic graverobbers, using his supposed gift of being able to pinpoint the exact location of precious items through the use of a seemingly enchanted rod that guides him to the precise point where his colleagues dig to find the treasures hidden within. A quiet, internal performance built from a place of genuine curiosity, this role is yet another addition to O’Connor’s steadily growing body of work, one that is extraordinarily interesting and the very definition of what every young actor should strive to achieve in some way or another. He is joined by a few notable Italian performers, with the always terrific Isabella Rossellini delivering a wonderful, scene-stealing performance as the eccentric Flora, whose absent-minded charms hide a lot of pain and trauma, which is perfectly balanced by the consistently engaging Rossellini, who has been one of the most magnetic screen presences for decades and continues to deliver astonishing work. Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato and Alba Rohrwacher (who makes for a tremendous and delightfully sinister villain) are all terrific entries into the ensemble as well and help populate this charming film, each one of them navigating the very narrow boundary between humour and pathos in a way that is nothing if not thoroughly remarkable and deeply engaging.

Rohrwacher is a filmmaker who has been as consistent in her development of specific stories as she has capturing their grandiosity. Her films are beautiful and striking, and in both a visual and aural sense, she puts as much work into La Chimera as she does the story, which is not always easily achievable when dealing with a narrative that has this many moving parts that need to be executed with precision to ensure that what we are seeing is not only genuinely moving, but also artistically resonant. The director works closely with cinematographer Hélène Louvart (who has worked with several of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, and this film stands as some of her most visually striking work to date), as well as a dedicated crew of craftspeople (including the costume and production design departments, both of which are beyond essential in this film) to transport us back to a very specific time and place. The film is set in the 1980s, but it needed to feel suspended in time, with these characters seemingly existing in between the past and present. This feeling of displacement is portrayed beautifully in the film, with the visual flair given to the story being extremely captivating in realizing these ambitious themes. A film like La Chimera can only make an impact with the right balance of artistic ambition and narrative complexity, and the director’s ability to combine the two with such extraordinary prowess is not anything to dismiss, and we find ourselves becoming all the more engrossed in the world that Rohrwacher and her colleagues create. The score starts as supplementary, simply there to highlight and emphasize certain aspects of the narrative. However, the composers and sound designers are handed the responsibility to establish the entire mood, crafting an atmospheric sonic landscape in which the blend of music and sound effects creates a poignant and captivating tone that proves just how important sound is to a film such as this, where every intimate detail carries some meaning. La Chimera is a masterful work of not only writing and direction, but of artistic expression as a whole, and Rohrwacher serves as both a visionary putting all these ideas together and a shepherd, guiding the narrative to become something so deeply intriguing and enticing, which is instantly one of the many reasons why this film manages to be so profoundly moving and incredibly magical.

Part adventure film, part romantic comedy and a thoroughly engaging experience, La Chimera is a film that is difficult to categorize, but easy to appreciate for all of its unique elements, and we find ourselves constantly at the receiving end of a challenging, captivating drama that understands the human condition better than most similarly-themed films, which is a credit to Rohrwacher and her ability to capture the most intricate details of humanity in such vibrant, meaningful detail. The concept of a chimera is something that we can debate – it technically refers to a mythological creature, an entity that is widely known but rarely seen, making it both an iconic and mysterious aspect of Italian culture, going back to antiquity. However, this film is not just about the search for these elusive artefacts, but rather the belief that every character is looking for their chimera, something that represents our deepest and most profound desires, and which will bring us a sense of satisfaction and completion should we ever be able to retrieve it. Each one of these people has a different item for which they are searching – for some, it is a historical artefact, for others it is a person, someone from their past – and in both instances, there is a deeper reason for wanting to seek out these items, much more than any of us could ever hope to understand, which is precisely why the film is such an actively engaging, entertaining work of complex, deep and profound humanity, driven by such humour and pathos, and told by someone who has nothing but the most sincere admiration for the human condition in its most profound, meaningful form. It is difficult to not adore La Chimera for everything that it represents, and the actively engaging sense of humour and precise, meaningful execution make this one of the year’s best films, and a personal peak for Rohrwacher, who continues to develop into one of our finest filmmakers.