La Chimera

An enchanting romantic adventure, an ethereal spiritual journey and a ripping heist movie like no other, the captivating new fable of lost love from Alice Rohrwacher (Happy As Lazzaro, The Wonders) – the best received of her career to date - follows a young British archaeologist who gets caught up in an international network dealing in stolen Italian artefacts.

Tuscany, early 1980s. Arthur (a revelatory Josh O’Connor, The Crown, Challengers) has just been released from a short stint in prison. During his earlier studies in the region, he fell in love with Beniamina, the daughter of a local aristocrat Flora (Isabella Rossellini), but now she’s gone. Arthur has fallen in with the Tombaroli, a rowdy crew of twenty-somethings who pretend to make their living as farmers and entertainers, but instead pilfer the area’s ancient Etruscan tombs for earthenware and ornaments to sell on the black market, hoping to one day strike it rich…

Meanwhile Flora’s live-in maid and tone-deaf music student, Italia (Carol Duarte), catches Arthur’s eye but she has her own secrets.

Premiering to major success at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Rohrwacher’s rule-breaking, magical film uncovers a world of wonders just below the surface. LA CHIMERA is a mesmerising ode to the fragility of the beautiful things in life, and a cautionary tale about how easily they can be lost. 

Utterly captivating. A beguiling fantasy-comedy of lost love: garrulous, uproarious and celebratory in Rohrwacher's absolutely distinctive style. It’s a movie bustling and teeming with life. Peter Bradshaw - THE GUARDIAN