In our latest blog from the Eden Court Cinema Youth Board, Joe draws parallels between Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera and Wim Wenders’ Paris Texas.
This is a film which requires a completely open mind going in, an open mind that remains open throughout the runtime. If you go into it expecting the thrills of a crime-caper, whilst you won’t be wrong exactly, your patience is going to wane long before anything remotely illegal begins. Equally, if you enter the cinema expecting a hazy, melancholic film focussing on one lonesome character, you might get a little confused when our sombre protagonist starts hopping into ancient graves to smuggle priceless relics.
There are scenes which feel straight out of a Wim Wenders film. For example, the hazy, almost camcorder-like nostalgia of La Chimera’s opening scene immediately evoked the same feeling I got from “The Wedding Videos” scene in Paris Texas. Additionally - the rugged, very sombre, but still somehow amicable presence of Arthur felt like the presence of the character of Travis in Wenders’ film. Even the premise of returning “home” and reluctantly reconnecting with old friends/family is shared between the two films.
The way in which the two characters reconnect with these people however, is where these similarities abruptly end. While Travis in Paris Texas is making memories with his long-lost son, Arthur in La Chimera is raiding sacred tombs with his long-lost band of brothers. As they jump from tomb to tomb, scamming old men and stealing from ancient ones, you almost forget the tone the film began with.
The focus shifts back and forth about as many times as the characters shift above and below ground. If you become particularly attached to either side, you’ll be doing the film a disservice. It’s not a film that can be split into two distinct halves - they have to be accepted and embraced as one. It’s a melancholic crime-caper. Or perhaps it’s crime-set melancholia…
In truth, trying to label it is futile. No matter what you settle on, you’re not quite going to be able to describe the atmosphere it creates. It’s a dense, at times challenging film to digest, but one that has an undeniably unique tone, which makes it an undeniably memorable experience.
