It took some time for me to get what and how Alice Rohrwacher’s latest film “La Chimera” is about. At first, the movie requires some patience for slowly getting into its rather aimless low-key mood, but I got more charmed and interested as observing how the story has some quirky fun as simply sauntering here and there along with its shabby hero, and that is enough to compensate for a few weak aspects of the film. 

The movie, which is set in Italy around the 1980s, opens with a British lad named Arthur (Josh O’Connor) going to the hometown of his lost girlfriend, who is assumed dead by everyone except her aging mother Flora (Isabella Rossellini). When Arthur arrives at Flora’s old residence, he is sweetly welcomed by Flora, but, for some reason, he chooses to stay at a makeshift shack not so far from Flora’s residence, and he does not seem to care that much about how uncomfortable the shack is for staying.    

We come to slowly gather that Arthur is an archaeologist who has been associated with a group of local tomb robbers for his certain exceptional talent. Via a sort of the sixth sense, he can easily detect those old ancient graves buried around here and there in the area, and he is willing to work with them again even though he has just been released from prison, though he is not so pleased when he is reminded of how untrustworthy his partners-in-crime often can be.

Anyway, the movie shifts onto a more cheerful tone as Arthur and his accomplices resume their criminal business, which is actually no secret at all to everyone in their town. Although the local police are frequently watchful, Arthur and his criminal colleagues are usually one or two steps ahead of the local police, and the movie even makes their circumstance look all the sillier via a familiar comic visual touch.

In the meantime, Arthur comes to befriend Italia (Carol Duarte), a young woman who has worked as a maid for Flora in exchange of taking a routine singing lesson from her. While she is not exactly talented as Flora dryly points out early in the movie, Italia is actually more interested in staying in Flora’s residence as long as possible for a private reason to be revealed to Arthur later. While generously keeping that secret from Flora, Arthur finds himself getting attracted to Italia, but his mind still cannot help but haunted at times by the memories of his girlfriend (The movie never clarifies what really happened to her, by the way).

Because the movie usually sticks to its hero’s frequently unstable viewpoint, you will come to question what is exactly going around him, and Rohrwacher and her crew members including cinematographer Hélène Louvart, who previously collaborated with Rohrwacher in “Happy as Lazzaro” (2018), willingly blur the line between reality and fantasy from time to time. In one particularly amusing scene, a heated argument between one certain supporting character and Arthur’s accomplices suddenly sounds animalistic for no apparent reason, but then we come to interpret this offbeat moment as how Arthur regards the circumstance, and that is the main reason why we are not so surprised by his following choice.  

In my humble opinion, the finale feels a little too uneven, but it still works on the whole. You may wonder what really happen in the end even after the movie is over, but you will probably appreciate a brilliant touch of magic realism at least. In addition, you will also be amused by its symbolic aspect if, like me, you are familiar with a certain Greek myth associated with a beautiful young princess named Ariadne.     

Above all, the movie is anchored well by another solid turn from Josh O’Connor, a talented British actor who has steadily advanced since his breakthrough performance in Frances Lee’s haunting gay romance drama film “God’s Own Country” (2017). Besides convincing as a lonely outsider constantly reminded of the foreign environment surrounding him, O’Connor ably conveys to us his character’s human qualities without signifying too much in his mostly gloomy presence, and we become more curious about what makes his character tick, even though we still do not get to know his character that much even in the end.

While many of the supporting characters in the film are rather under-developed in comparison, a number of main cast members surrounding O’Connor did a good job of filling their respective roles with enough sense of life. While Isabella Rossellini surely brings some grace and dignity to her mostly functional role, Carol Duarte’s vivacious presence complements well O’Connor’s restrained acting, and Vincenzo Nemolato and Alba Rohrwacher, which is incidentally the sister of Rohrwacher, are also well-cast in their substantial supporting parts.

In conclusion, “La Chimera” may be less impressive compared to “Happy as Lazzaro”, but it is still packed with enough amount of personality and charm. Yes, this is certainly another your average slow arthouse movie, but it is worthwhile to watch for mood, storytelling, and performance, and I am already considering watching it again for appreciating its strong points more. In short, Rohrwacher demonstrates again that she is indeed a distinctive filmmaker to watch, and I will gladly see how she will keep going after this lovely piece of work.