‘La Chimera’ Review — Josh O’Connor, Tomb Raider

A review of the new film, in theaters now

We’re all very lucky: there are two movies starring Josh O’Connor in theaters right now. Challengers is electrifying, featuring a charismatic performance from O’Connor that leaps off the screen. He’s sweaty and full of swagger, and it’s impossible to take your eyes off him. In La Chimera, the new film from Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, he’s… well, he’s pretty sweaty here too. But it’s a much more reserved performance, internal and nuanced. And it’s no less compelling.

In this film, O’Connor plays Arthur, a man with curious talent. Using a dowsing rod, he’s able to locate Etruscan tombs, somehow sensing the portals to the past lurking beneath the Italian countryside. As part of a theatrical band of merry misfits called the Tombaroli, Arthur and friends dig for “grave goods,” finding pots and trinkets left thousands of years ago as gifts for the souls of the departed.

Arthur isn’t doing well these days. He’s recently been to jail for his black-market antique trading, and his love Beniamina (Yile Yara Vianello) has gone away. He seems to only have one suit, a bedraggled linen number that we’re told smells. When he returns home to his mountainous, picturesque Italian town, Arthur reconnects with Signora Flora (Isabella Rossellini)…