Glasgow Film Festival 2024: La Chimera

Italy | 2023 | 130’ | cert TBC | Alice Rohrwacher | Italian and English with English Subtitles | Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, Alba Rohrwacher, Carol Duarte

The Crown’s Josh O’Connor proves he’s just as good in Italian as he is in English in Alice Rohrwacher’s heady mix of gritty social drama and magical realism. He plays adrift Englishman Arthur, who is mourning his lost love and whose dowsing talents see him join a group of grave robbers to locate ancient artefacts. There’s never a dull moment as Rohrwacher dips in and out of Arthur’s reveries at the same time as he is drawn to Italia (Carol Duarte), who is the helpmate of his lost girlfriend’s mum (Isabella Rosselini in towering support). A tale of intrigue that offers plenty to unearth.