La Chimera

LA CHIMERA (2023) Cert 15 in English & Italian with English subtitles
Josh O'Connor, Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato, Isabella Rossellini. Directed by Alice Rohrwacher. (2hrs 11m)

Josh O'Connor is one of the rising stars of British acting. After early breakthrough roles in TV series including The Durrells and The Crown (as the young Prince Charles) he's more recently established himself as an international leading man, heading the cast of films such as Luca Guadagnino's tennis ménage à trois Challengers. La Chimera gives him a very different sort of role as Arthur, a beaten-down British archaeologist with a shady past, who falls in with a motley band of Italian tomb-raiders who uncover priceless relics to sell on the black market. With films such as Happy As Lazzarro and The Wonders, director Alice Rohrwacher has come to specialise in glorious tales of magical realism which blend together the gritty everyday lives of Italy's modern-day underclass with those of their ancient predecessors. Here, though, Arthur is also in search of another, more recent vanished treasure, his lost love Beniamina. The result is enigmatic and absorbing, a dream-like mash-up of past and present; the tale of a disillusioned backstreet Indiana Jones struggling to understand not just ancient mysteries but also his own.