Alice Rohrwacher's is a mesmerizing, genre-defying exploration of memory, love, and the literal weight of history. Set in the 1980s in the sun-drenched, dust-caked landscapes of Tuscany, the film follows Arthur (Josh O’Connor), a melancholic British archaeologist with a supernatural "gift" for locating ancient Etruscan tombs.
The film’s secret weapon is its third act, which shifts the setting from the men’s tunnels to the women’s world. Here, we meet Italia (Carol Duarte), the pregnant, practical sister of Beniamina, and Flora (Isabella Rossellini), an imperious former opera singer who runs a ramshackle music school out of her crumbling villa. Where the men steal to possess, the women build to sustain. The final sequence, a breathtaking, vertiginous journey through a necropolis that connects the past to the present, is not a treasure hunt. It is a funeral procession. La Chimera Film
Rohrwacher constantly echoes the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Arthur is Orpheus, descending into the earth (the tombs) to retrieve his lost love. The film poses a haunting question: What happens if you look back before you are supposed to? Here, we meet Italia (Carol Duarte), the pregnant,
However, is her most assured work. It is funnier, faster, and more visually audacious. Rohrwacher has cited influences ranging from Federico Fellini (the chaotic carnival of characters) to Pier Paolo Pasolini (the raw, earthy politics). But the result is wholly unique. It is a funeral procession