9 June 24 | Vol 3 Issue 2
I’ve had what is euphemistically called health concerns, which caused a hiatus from the newsletter. Future posts may be briefer, the schedule erratic, interests more esoteric than previously. If you’ve joined via a recommendation during the interim hold out for a few issues, consumerist philosophy and thoughts on what makes life... well, life will return. This week how the original film poster for La Chimera, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, causes one to view the film in a different light.
Much has been made of the movie’s magic realism, the director Alice Rohrwacher talks about that here.
I’m going to invoke French philosopher Roland Barthes’ essay “The Death of the Author” and argue the film actually belongs to a different genre. I’ll do the reveal later. What really interests me is the way Rohrwacher embellishes the narrative using media outside of the movie.
I live on a sleepy island administered by Spain, where the only films not dubbed into Spanish are Hollywood blockbusters. While travelling last month I had the opportunity to see three foreign language films with English subtitles, rather than in España. Watching a Japanese film with Spanish subtitles may help with learning my island’s language, but it’s not great for comprehending the movie.
Having said the island is sleepy, it’s with some irony I must 'fess up that jet lag and those euphemistic health concerns caught up with me, and I watched La Chimera half asleep. OK, fully asleep at times. Complete with noddy head, and sudden jerks awake. Luckily no snoring, at least not that I know of.
Having now seen it a second time, and staying awake throughout the film, I can heartily recommend it. Full transparency here, I’m a sucker for contemporary neorealism. I recently heard this style of film-making described as ”you feel the characters continue having a life after the film has finished” which sums up the vibe perfectly, but also may be inapt for this particular movie.
It passes my Statham Test.
The extent to which a film uses its mixture of different media: sound, visuals, music, to tell different aspects of the story. Or to turn it around — the extent to which the visuals match exactly the audio
Forget any Tomb Raider comparisons, think some kind of The Great Beauty meets Gomorrah mash up.
That’s it, no review, there’s enough of those already on the web [1 ]. Simply a recommendation to go watch.
If you have already seen it, read on, if you haven’t, risk major spoilers.
A clue is given to what I think is the film’s true nature, with the original release poster depicting the Hanged Man tarot card, giving context to the film’s most unusual effect — the camera slowly turning upside down whenever Arthur’s divination skills come into effect.
Further promotional material uses more traditional images, a sort of dusty Death on the Nile affair, and a quirky Wes Andersonesque cast.
![La Chimera promotional images](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff2fc1a62-54e7-4a94-8154-000c07c081ae_766x1200.jpeg)
![La Chimera promotional images](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcb3d858d-6669-4077-993a-8ae426146eec_900x506.webp)
The only other film I know of that uses multimedia in this way is Donny Darko whose website contained events that happen before and after the timeline in the film itself.
Explanations for the Hanged Man tarot card encapsulate Arthur’s backstory, his dramatic arc, and fate.
Here’s a few. Prophecy. Waiting. Intuition. Divination. Needing release. Sacrifice for love. [2 ]
The film is a ghost story.
It opens with Beniamina already dead, I believe killed while raiding a tomb, pulling at a red thread stuck in the ground. The location of her body unknown. Rohrwacher has previously directed a short film called The Red Thread about Eurydice’s descent into the underworld. [3 ]
It is Arthur’s fate to join her in the same fashion. In Eastern mythology a red thread connects soulmates.
He is in effect dead from the start of the film. The people Arthur interacts with onboard the train when we first meet him are spirits — ghosts — who already know his destiny. His divination powers in unearthing tombs is not a special skill but his supernatural connection to Beniamina in the underworld.
You could argue that Arthur is murdered by Spartaco via the rival gang — they only call out his name once or twice to ensure he’s dead — or that the silence after their initial shouts is him exiting life as he enters the underworld. It doesn’t matter either way, it has been Arthur’s fate from the very beginning to unite with Beniamina, being buried in a tomb, and pulled from the underworld by her red thread, inverting the hanged man now he has found his chimera. Finally able to move forward, no more waiting, no more needing release. “Because of this new perspective, you are now more willing to act or make changes in your romantic life. The card can also be interpreted as a warning against making meaningless sacrifices in the name of love. Check that your needs and those of your partner are balanced.” [4 ]
Hindsight from viewing the movie a second time clarified my interpretation of it being a ghost film. Especially watching it awake.
🏛️
This week featured
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rohrwacher
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References
Any film that starts of with the artist explaining how good it is and what to watch out for makes me reach for my shooter
Welcome back ... good post ... he looks just like he's walked off the set of the Durrells