“La Chimera” is a story of shackles, as tender performances expose a deep yearning for the past and the crushing weight it levels on life thereafter. Following a recently paroled grave robber named Arthur, brilliantly played by actor Josh O’Connor, a scenic Italian horizon filled with quirky characters is a vain filler against his towering plight of loss. With his waking days spent indulging in archaeological tendencies and moments of rest in dreamy hazes of lost love, he lives his present by virtue of history. A blend of historic plundering and a vague background of the tragedy that clings to his every thought makes moments of community rarer than the relics he digs up. Yet a vaudeville aesthetic sprinkled in by director Alice Rohrwacher creates a story bigger than the grief that bemoans it. Not only is “La Chimera” a prediction on time spent, but a beautiful poem about grief and how we choose to either avoid or address it. 

*This film screened at the 59th Chicago International Film Festival