The film’s pacing mimics the act of excavation. It is slow, deliberate, and requires patience. But just like an archaeological dig, the rewards are found in the discovery. Rohrwacher layers her frames with symbolism. She contrasts the darkness of the underground tombs—shot with a claustrophobic intimacy—with the bright, overexposed brilliance of the Italian summer above.
Crucially, Rohrwacher refuses to judge her characters. The tombaroli are criminals, desecrating graves for profit, yet La Chimera Film
In the cinematic landscape of the 21st century, few directors possess the ability to weave the ethereal with the earthy quite like Alice Rohrwacher. With her 2023 film, La Chimera , the Italian auteur cements her reputation as a conjurer of stories that feel less like scripted narratives and more like half-remembered folktales whispered by the wind. Starring Josh O'Connor in a career-defining performance, La Chimera is a sun-drenched, dust-choked meditation on the past, the afterlife, and the things we dig up when we are looking for something else. The film’s pacing mimics the act of excavation
Rohrwacher’s direction is tactile. You can almost taste the dust in the air and feel the grit of the soil under the fingernails. She shoots on 16mm film, a choice that gives the movie a grainy, textured quality that feels like a relic of the era in which it is set. This is not a polished, digital look at the past; it is a fuzzy, nostalgic, and sometimes scratchy vision. Rohrwacher layers her frames with symbolism