Thank goodness for world cinema. As much as I enjoy a new superhero saving us from a tyrannical villain every 3-6 months, other countries have no other choice but to build movies around fantastic stories not reliant upon CGI. La Chimera might be made by A24 (NEON is distributing), but even they might balk at this film’s pitch. And it would be too bad, because Alice Rohrwacher’s tale is one of the most surprising, and best, films of 2024 so far.
It’s tough times for Arthur (Josh O’Connor). Even though he’s out of prison, the Englishman’s beset on all sides by irritating Italian train patrons trying to sell him things or pry to deeply into his life. He’s less than thrilled getting back to his little Italian home too, where old, greedy friends like Pirro (Vincenzo Nemolato) are trying to get him back into the life that got him jailed, and Flora (Isabella Rossellini), the mother of his ex girlfriend, nags him when they will get back together. Only two things keep Arthur going: he’s mildly interested in Flora’s tone deaf music student Italia (Carla Duarte), but he’s more drawn to his home’s countryside, filled with all sorts of pottery and fascinating objects from history.
Not gonna lie, you might get a little fidgety the first half hour of La Chimera. However, it’s vital for the rest of the story to work. What Alice Rohrwacher is doing during that time is building Arthur’s character and world, piece by piece. Initially, he’s pretty abrasive, as the admittedly annoying train patrons cause him to snap, making the audience think, “oh no, did he murder somebody?” But then the writer/director introduces us to Pirro and Arthur’s house, which help reframe our initial Arthur meeting. Then a trip to Flora’s house expands Arthur’s world a little more, as well as the audiences. The series of mini trips complete and world built, Rohrwacher eventually leads us to a late night party with Arthur and Pirro/Arthur’s other old friends where an old man comes to them with a business proposition.
I won’t reveal what that proposition is, but that’s when the movie’s puzzle snaps into place. What once started out as an Italian version of a British working class drama, transforms into something more complicated. The movie takes on this ethereal nature, where assumptions like time and place dissolve in the search for connections across space and time. It’s even more special that Rohrwacher and Josh O’Connor pull this off with no CGI budget, using great acting and excellent sets to cast a spell over the viewer. The movie builds towards this big climactic sequence at a new industrial site, where Arthur’s strange behavior at the world around him snaps into 20/20 focus for the audience. Along the way, themes of humanity’s connection, past’s conversation with the present, cultural customs, and levels of criminality all become intoxicating, fascinating discussion points I never saw coming after the silly benign setup. When the credits rolled, I gasped and my eyes bulged at the incredible movie magic trick Alice Rohrwacher has just pulled over the last 2 hours.
If you want to see something you’ve never really seen before, give La Chimera a try. Especially if you’re someone who never takes history seriously. After watching Alice Rohrwacher’s gem, your walks through your town, hang outs with friends, even simply enjoying a cocktail at home might take on deeper complex meanings for you, and open your mind and even what you might be capable of in the world today if you simply listen and learn.