An enchanting romantic adventure, an ethereal spiritual journey and a ripping heist movie like no other, the captivating new fable of lost love from Alice Rohrwacher (Happy As Lazzaro, The Wonders) – the best received of her career to date - follows a young British archaeologist who gets caught up in an international network dealing in stolen Italian artefacts.
Tuscany, early 1980s. Arthur (a revelatory Josh O’Connor, The Crown) has just been released from a short stint in prison. During his earlier studies in the region, he fell in love with Beniamina, the daughter of an aging local aristocrat (Isabella Rossellini), but she’s now gone. Arthur has fallen in with the Tombaroli, a rowdy crew of twenty-somethings who pretend to make their living as farmers and entertainers, but instead pilfer the area’s ancient Etruscan tombs for earthenware and ornaments to sell on the black market, hoping to one day strike it rich…
Premiering to major success at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Rohrwacher’s rule-breaking, magical film uncovers a world of wonders just below the surface. LA CHIMERA is a mesmerising ode to the fragility of the beautiful things in life, and a cautionary tale about how easily they can be lost.
OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2023 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL (In Competition)
OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2023 ST ALI ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL (Special Event)
OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2023 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Headliners)
OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2023 NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2023 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (Special Presentation)
OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2023 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
OFFICIAL SELECTION – 2023 TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL
"Utterly captivating. A beguiling fantasy-comedy of lost love: garrulous, uproarious and celebratory in Rohrwacher's absolutely distinctive style. It’s a movie bustling and teeming with life."
- THE GUARDIAN
"Transcendent. A work of continuing surprise and ebullience that blurs the boundaries of the ancient and the modern and recalls the greatest artists of Italian cinema."
- THE SATURDAY PAPER
"A joyous, masterful work of magic. Plays like a discovery dug up from the ground where it has been for centuries, just waiting to burst into full bloom before the gaze of living eyes"
- SIGHT AND SOUND
"Uniquely magical."
- THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
"Divine. Rohrwacher is a magician."
- LITTLE WHITE LIES
Thursday 11th April
133 min
M
Alba Rohrwacher, Isabella Rossellini, Josh O’Connor, Vincenzo Nemolato, Carol Duarte, Yle Vianello, Giuliano Mantovani, Melchiorre Pala, Gan Piero Capretto, Ramona Fiorini, Julia Pandolfo, Lou Roy Lecollinet
Alice Rohrwacher
Romance
English & Italian with English subtitles
Pentridge Cinema, Palace Penny Lane, Palace Balwyn, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Brighton Bay, The Kino, Palace Westgarth, Palace Norton Street, Palace Central, Palace Moore Park, Palace Byron Bay, Palace James St, Palace Barracks, Palace Electric Cinema, Palace Raine Square
