La chimera

Arthur, masterfully interpreted by Josh O’Connor, is a young Englishman in love with the ancient civilisations. He and his friends earn their living looting Etrurian tombs, selling the artefacts on the black market to rich collectors. In La chimera, Arthur, haunted by a lost love, will go on a private and impossible quest to save himself and a forever lost past.

Filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher, a regular at IFFR, continues her journey into a little known reality of Italy, neglected by cinema but fundamental to understanding a country full of mysteries and contradictions. Profoundly in love with the territory she is filming, Rohrwacher grasps the resilient beauty of a landscape and its inhabitants. The contrast between a past glory and gloomy, profit driven present is narrated without easy judgments or stereotypes, with a discreet and loving eye Rohrwacher follows the complex nature of her character. With the camaraderie of a phenomenal cast, in which Isabella Rossellini shines with wit and elegance, and the ever-amazing camera work of Hélène Louvart, La chimera takes us on a cinematic journey.

– Rebecca De Pas