Like so many daughters throughout history, especially the ones that still live at home, Malu Rocha (Yara de Novaes) exists in a state of constant rebellion against her mother. A volatile, weed-loving, Rio-born actress who dreams of turning the family house into a community theater for the kids who live in the local favela, Malu relishes every opportunity to cause a scene in her own living room, even — or especially — if that opportunity comes at the expense of good taste.
When she comes home one day to find her mom, Lili (Juliana Carneiro da Cunha), sharing a cup of tea with a mild-mannered priest, Malu begins lecturing the guest about how Jesus Christ was a communist who “started a religion full of pedophiles.” Lili tries to excuse this behavior by insisting that her daughter is a drug addict, but that isn’t enough to stop the priest from making a hasty exit stage right.
When she comes home one day to find her mom, Lili (Juliana Carneiro da Cunha), sharing a cup of tea with a mild-mannered priest, Malu begins lecturing the guest about how Jesus Christ was a communist who “started a religion full of pedophiles.” Lili tries to excuse this behavior by insisting that her daughter is a drug addict, but that isn’t enough to stop the priest from making a hasty exit stage right.
- 4/9/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
La Chimera is a movie directed by Alice Rohrwacher starring Josh O’Connor. With Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato and Isabella Rossellini.
La chimera
“La Chimera” is one of those movies that, right from the start, is special and beloved for being so: it’s eccentric, poetic, and a full-on tribute to Italian cinema and Italy itself, along with its rich history.
Its premise is simple, yet complex: a gang of antique and tomb thieves. Meanwhile, our protagonist is in search of his “chimera”, something deep within, something we strive to do, seek without knowing we’re seeking, and in the process, makes us human.
Here’s a heads up: it has traveled half of Europe and part of North America, basking in praise for its poetry and lyricism, and its director is already a phenomenon among newer directors.
Indeed, Alice Rohrwacher has become a shining star of European cinema in recent years.
La chimera
“La Chimera” is one of those movies that, right from the start, is special and beloved for being so: it’s eccentric, poetic, and a full-on tribute to Italian cinema and Italy itself, along with its rich history.
Its premise is simple, yet complex: a gang of antique and tomb thieves. Meanwhile, our protagonist is in search of his “chimera”, something deep within, something we strive to do, seek without knowing we’re seeking, and in the process, makes us human.
Here’s a heads up: it has traveled half of Europe and part of North America, basking in praise for its poetry and lyricism, and its director is already a phenomenon among newer directors.
Indeed, Alice Rohrwacher has become a shining star of European cinema in recent years.
- 4/7/2024
- by Liv Altman
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Chicago – One of the heralded auteur filmmakers of the recent decade is Alice Rohrwacher. The Italian director joins her cinema forebears like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini, both of which she’s been favorable compared to, in creating unique and personal stories that resonant beyond their narrative. Her latest, opening at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on April 5th, is “La Chimera.”
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Based on her memories as a child of Italy, the term “La Chimera” represents a pursuit that individuals have in the back of their minds and their lives that they somehow find elusive. Rohrwacher puts this in the context of a petty thief and English-speaking expatriate named Arthur (Josh O’Connor), out of jail but reverting back to his skill as a tomb raider for ancient Estrucian artifacts … in the 1980s this was a mania in Italy. His gang is looking for a quick score, but he...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Based on her memories as a child of Italy, the term “La Chimera” represents a pursuit that individuals have in the back of their minds and their lives that they somehow find elusive. Rohrwacher puts this in the context of a petty thief and English-speaking expatriate named Arthur (Josh O’Connor), out of jail but reverting back to his skill as a tomb raider for ancient Estrucian artifacts … in the 1980s this was a mania in Italy. His gang is looking for a quick score, but he...
- 4/5/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
In Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, the Italian writer-director’s fourth narrative feature film, the past melds with the present. Art is something to be dug up, to be discovered, regardless of its origins. A circus troupe does the digging, led by a quiet, discomforted British man named Arthur (Josh O’Connor), clad in his version of very penetrable armor, an all-white, stained suit. Arthur drifts back into town after a stint in prison, revisiting the home of his love, Beniamina (Yile Yara Vianello), who’s ever-present despite her lack of tangibility.
The art Arthur finds, via magic that has become a throughline in Rohrwacher’s work, fills him with despair and almost-bare riches. Who deserves to see the art buried with the dead? Rohrwacher meditates on Arthur and his troupe’s way of life, on the grasping at something physical, grasping at something to desperately hold onto. La Chimera can slip through one’s fingers.
The art Arthur finds, via magic that has become a throughline in Rohrwacher’s work, fills him with despair and almost-bare riches. Who deserves to see the art buried with the dead? Rohrwacher meditates on Arthur and his troupe’s way of life, on the grasping at something physical, grasping at something to desperately hold onto. La Chimera can slip through one’s fingers.
- 4/4/2024
- by Michael Frank
- The Film Stage
Legend has it that if you were to stroll around Riparbella, a small Italian village in the rural part of Tuscany, you would come across a number of tombs. Some were hidden, some were open, and many of these underground burial sites were more than 2000 years old, filled with ancient artifacts. For centuries, they were left undisturbed, as a sign of respect for the dead. Then, in the early 1980s, grave robbers known as tombaroli would ransack these sacred spaces and sell the stolen goods on the black market, which...
- 3/30/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Liam Neeson crime thriller In the Land of Saints and Sinners opens on 896 screens this weekend, joined by Sean Penn in Asphalt City — the Godzilla vs. Kong of the specialty market?
Neeson reunites with The Marksman director Robert Lorenz as a newly retired assassin in a remote Irish village who finds himself drawn into a lethal game of cat and mouse with a trio of vengeful terrorists. Ciarán Hinds, Kerry Condon, Colm Meaney and Jack Gleeson also star in Land of Saints and Sinners, which premiered at Venice, and was shot in County Donegal, Ireland. Screenplay by Mark Michael McNally and Terry Loane. Samuel Goldwyn Films’ widest release post-pandemic sits at 80% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Penn stars with Tye Sheridan in Asphalt City, Vertical’s co-release with Roadside Attractions that opens on 297 screens, also with a national footprint. Young paramedic Ollie Cross (Sheridan) is paired with seasoned partner Gene...
Neeson reunites with The Marksman director Robert Lorenz as a newly retired assassin in a remote Irish village who finds himself drawn into a lethal game of cat and mouse with a trio of vengeful terrorists. Ciarán Hinds, Kerry Condon, Colm Meaney and Jack Gleeson also star in Land of Saints and Sinners, which premiered at Venice, and was shot in County Donegal, Ireland. Screenplay by Mark Michael McNally and Terry Loane. Samuel Goldwyn Films’ widest release post-pandemic sits at 80% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Penn stars with Tye Sheridan in Asphalt City, Vertical’s co-release with Roadside Attractions that opens on 297 screens, also with a national footprint. Young paramedic Ollie Cross (Sheridan) is paired with seasoned partner Gene...
- 3/29/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
In ancient times, the Etruscan civilization built elaborate underground tombs not to please human eyes but those of the spirit world. A similar spirit of feeling unbound from the pressures of the present-day animates Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, a 1980s-set adventure following a roving group of tomb raiders who attempt to excavate and pillage these secret sanctuaries. The director has always depicted time as layered rather than strictly linear. The present exists not ahead the past but on top of it, and the moments she depicts will one day be history for another era. This vision lends the sensation that she, like the ancient culture she depicts, is communicating with something beyond our perception.
Rohrwacher finds a perfect partner in her search for the sublime with Josh O’Connor. The English actor provides a human incarnation of the director’s restless attempt to collapse the contradictions of time.
Rohrwacher finds a perfect partner in her search for the sublime with Josh O’Connor. The English actor provides a human incarnation of the director’s restless attempt to collapse the contradictions of time.
- 3/28/2024
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
Gian Piero Capretto, Ramona Fiorini, Melochiorre Pala, Josh O’Connor, Luca Gargiullo, Vincenzo Nemolato, and Lou Roy LecollinetPhoto: Neon
The past is so close you can almost touch it in Alice Rohrwacher’s romantic treasure hunt, La Chimera. Set in the liminal space between living and dying, better known as the Italian countryside,...
The past is so close you can almost touch it in Alice Rohrwacher’s romantic treasure hunt, La Chimera. Set in the liminal space between living and dying, better known as the Italian countryside,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Matt Schimkowitz
- avclub.com
Stars: Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Vincenzo Nemolato, Alba Rohrwacher, Isabelle Rossellini, Lou Roy-Lecollinet | Written and Directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Fresh out of jail, Arthur (Josh O’Connor) is a man who seems reluctant to head back to his past, although haunted by his lost love Beniamina. Meeting back up with his rag-tag bunch of friends, Arthur succumbs to the means of living he loves the most — stealing Etruscan artifacts from local graves. Sinking deeper and deeper into his work, Arthur’s quest to find a door to the afterlife becomes overwhelming.
2020s cinema has, so far, been a time of reminiscence. As a collective, we’ve been harking for the 1980s in particular, longing for its synth-based tunes, garish colours, and a future that felt as though anything could happen next. Typically, this manifests in something that looks of its time but clearly is made in the modern day. Instead of a synthetic homage,...
Fresh out of jail, Arthur (Josh O’Connor) is a man who seems reluctant to head back to his past, although haunted by his lost love Beniamina. Meeting back up with his rag-tag bunch of friends, Arthur succumbs to the means of living he loves the most — stealing Etruscan artifacts from local graves. Sinking deeper and deeper into his work, Arthur’s quest to find a door to the afterlife becomes overwhelming.
2020s cinema has, so far, been a time of reminiscence. As a collective, we’ve been harking for the 1980s in particular, longing for its synth-based tunes, garish colours, and a future that felt as though anything could happen next. Typically, this manifests in something that looks of its time but clearly is made in the modern day. Instead of a synthetic homage,...
- 3/21/2024
- by Jasmine Valentine
- Nerdly
"You've cast a spell." One of the best films from 2023! Neon has finally unveiled the official US trailer for the Italian film La Chimera, the latest from acclaimed Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher. This first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year, where I first fell in love with it, before going on to play at the Telluride, Toronto, Zurich, and New York Film Festivals. Josh O'Connor stars as Arthur, one of the key members of a band of black market bandits (known as the "Tombaroli") who dig up archeological artifacts hidden in tombs around Italy and sell them to a collector. The cast also features Isabella Rossellini, Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher, Vincenzo Nemolato, and Lou Roy-Lecollinet. I Adore this film and everything in it – I went to see it three times at three different festivals last year. It ended up as my #1 film of 2023 on my final Top 10 for...
- 2/6/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny perhaps garnered more press out of Cannes Film Festival last year, it was another selection involving archaeologists and tomb raiders that will have a longer shelf life. Alice Rohrwacher’s latest feature La Chimera, starring Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, Alba Rohrwacher, Carol Duarte, and Vincenzo Nemolato, has now finally been set for a March 29, 2024 release from Neon following a 2023 awards-qualifying run and now the new trailer and poster have arrived.
Here’s the synopsis: “Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth – in search of the...
Here’s the synopsis: “Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth – in search of the...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Yara de Novaes as Malu. Pedro Freire:'When we were rehearsing or shooting, many times I was crying. And the actresses were looking at me like, "Wow, he's really moved by that. He's really emotional". And they told me that this was really strong for them - that because they felt that for the director, it became moving to them too.' Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute Pedro Freire's debut, Malu, is about as personal as it can get since it's based on part of the life of his own mother, Malu Rocha, who died in 2013 when he was 32. His family drama explores the tensions between ageing actress Malu (Yara de Novaes), her mother Lily (Juliana Carneiro da Cunha) and Malu's daughter Joana (Carol Duarte), a tempestuous trio, whose anger is often as fierce as their love for one another. We caught up with Freire after the film premiered at...
- 2/2/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Smoking weed and telling off Catholic priests are just two of the ways Malu Rocha (Yara de Novaes) asserts her rebellious spirit. The eccentric, indomitable and idiosyncratic actress at that center of Pedro Freire’s feature debut “Malu” is the embodiment of a highly flammable substance. Her volatile personality, capable of consuming everything in her way, ignites a Rio de Janeiro-set intergenerational drama inspired by the life story of the director’s mother.
Malu doesn’t live in the present. Most of the time, she’s either retelling stories from her youth about getting into trouble with the law during the dictatorship years, or else rambling about a hypothetical future. Malu dreams of turning her home into a cultural center where kids from the nearby favela can come for recreational activities and theater productions. But the property needs as many repairs as do her relationships with both her elderly mother...
Malu doesn’t live in the present. Most of the time, she’s either retelling stories from her youth about getting into trouble with the law during the dictatorship years, or else rambling about a hypothetical future. Malu dreams of turning her home into a cultural center where kids from the nearby favela can come for recreational activities and theater productions. But the property needs as many repairs as do her relationships with both her elderly mother...
- 1/27/2024
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin-based sales agent Pluto Film has pounced on international sales rights to Brazil’s “Malu,” the only completely non-European production in this year’s Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Competition, inspired by first feature director Pedro Freire’s troubled relationship with his mother Malu Rocha, a Brazilian actor.
“Since we love to work with new voices in global cinema, we were immediately convinced, that ‘Malu’ would fit perfectly to Pluto Film’s line-up,” said Pluto Film’s Benjamin Cölle, its managing director and head of sales.
“The film offers a unique storytelling approach from an up-and-coming director, who tackles complex themes like ambition, family, and survival in a specific cultural context with boldness. The film‘s narrative is rich with interpersonal drama and cultural context and its multi-dimensional characters add depth,” he added.
Freire has taken the personal and structured it around the relationship between three generations of women, the daughter,...
“Since we love to work with new voices in global cinema, we were immediately convinced, that ‘Malu’ would fit perfectly to Pluto Film’s line-up,” said Pluto Film’s Benjamin Cölle, its managing director and head of sales.
“The film offers a unique storytelling approach from an up-and-coming director, who tackles complex themes like ambition, family, and survival in a specific cultural context with boldness. The film‘s narrative is rich with interpersonal drama and cultural context and its multi-dimensional characters add depth,” he added.
Freire has taken the personal and structured it around the relationship between three generations of women, the daughter,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Callum McLennan
- Variety Film + TV
Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera with Alba Rohrwacher is a highlight of the 61st New York Film Festival Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall; Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest; Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days; Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses, and Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves (all Cannes Film Festival award winners) will be among the Main Slate selections of the 61st New York Film Festival. Angela Schanelec’s Music (Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Screenplay) and Bas Devos’s Here (Best Film in the Encounters section and the Fipresci prize) are also in.
Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, starring Kôji Yakusho (Cannes Best Actor), is another highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer; Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera; Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped; Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Pictures Of Ghosts; Andrew Haigh...
Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall; Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest; Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days; Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses, and Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves (all Cannes Film Festival award winners) will be among the Main Slate selections of the 61st New York Film Festival. Angela Schanelec’s Music (Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Screenplay) and Bas Devos’s Here (Best Film in the Encounters section and the Fipresci prize) are also in.
Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, starring Kôji Yakusho (Cannes Best Actor), is another highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer; Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera; Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped; Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Pictures Of Ghosts; Andrew Haigh...
- 8/9/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
When asked, in 2019, to explain why her first three features begin during the night, Alice Rohrwacher recalled the long drives she would take with her beekeeping father as a child and how, upon arrival, she’d play a game by closing her eyes: “I’d have to work it out from what I could hear, not from what I could see, so I’d listen to the place and the information would enter my mind––and then I’d open my eyes.” More than most filmmakers, Rohrwacher’s particular genius seems tied to her way of thinking: that cinema is less a reflection of our imagination than a natural extension. The best ideas in her cinema seem plucked from nowhere (Lazzaro‘s time jump; the red cake in Le Pupille), yet arrive fully formed––even organic.
Premiering on the final day of Cannes, her new film doesn’t begin at...
Premiering on the final day of Cannes, her new film doesn’t begin at...
- 6/7/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” in which “The Crown” star Josh O’Connor plays a British archeologist named Arthur who gets involved in an international network of stolen Etruscan artifacts during the 1980s, has sold worldwide after premiering positively in Cannes.
The Match Factory has inked deals for the film in the U.K. and Ireland (Curzon); Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainement); Benelux (September Film); Germany (Piffl Medien); Hong Kong (Edko); Spain (Elastica); South Korea (M&m International); China (Jetsen); Japan (Bitters End); Taiwan (Swallow Wings); Austria (Stadtkino); Baltics (A-One); Bulgaria (Art Fest); Cis (Mauris Film); Czech Republic & Slovakia (Aerofilms); Finland (B-Plan Distribution); Denmark (Filmbazar); Former Yugoslavia (McF): Greece (Cinobo); Hungary (Cirko); Middle East and North Africa (Moving Turtle); Poland (Aurora Films); Portugal (Midas); Romania (Independenta); Singapore (Anticipate Pictures); Thailand (Documentary Club); and Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic).
As previously announced, North American rights were sold while the film was in production to Neon.
The Match Factory has inked deals for the film in the U.K. and Ireland (Curzon); Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainement); Benelux (September Film); Germany (Piffl Medien); Hong Kong (Edko); Spain (Elastica); South Korea (M&m International); China (Jetsen); Japan (Bitters End); Taiwan (Swallow Wings); Austria (Stadtkino); Baltics (A-One); Bulgaria (Art Fest); Cis (Mauris Film); Czech Republic & Slovakia (Aerofilms); Finland (B-Plan Distribution); Denmark (Filmbazar); Former Yugoslavia (McF): Greece (Cinobo); Hungary (Cirko); Middle East and North Africa (Moving Turtle); Poland (Aurora Films); Portugal (Midas); Romania (Independenta); Singapore (Anticipate Pictures); Thailand (Documentary Club); and Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic).
As previously announced, North American rights were sold while the film was in production to Neon.
- 6/7/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher’s latest pic La Chimera has inked a series of international deals for The Match Factory following its well-received debut at last month’s Cannes Film Festival.
Starring an ensemble including Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, and Alba Rohrwacher the pic has sold in the UK and Ireland (Curzon), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainment), Benelux (September Film), Germany (Piffl Medien), Hong Kong (Edko), Spain (Elastica), South Korea (M&m International), China (Jetsen), Japan (Bitters End), and Taiwan (Swallow Wings).
Palme d’Or juggernaut Neon has already taken North American rights. Ad Vitam is a co-producer and distributor in France, while Filmcoopi will be releasing the feature in Switzerland and 01 Distribution in Italy.
Further deals reported today are Austria (Stadtkino), Baltics (A-One), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Cis (Mauris Film), Czech Republic & Slovakia (Aerofilms), Finland (B-Film), Denmark (Filmbazar), Former Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Cinobo), Hungary (Cirko), Middle East and North...
Starring an ensemble including Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, and Alba Rohrwacher the pic has sold in the UK and Ireland (Curzon), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainment), Benelux (September Film), Germany (Piffl Medien), Hong Kong (Edko), Spain (Elastica), South Korea (M&m International), China (Jetsen), Japan (Bitters End), and Taiwan (Swallow Wings).
Palme d’Or juggernaut Neon has already taken North American rights. Ad Vitam is a co-producer and distributor in France, while Filmcoopi will be releasing the feature in Switzerland and 01 Distribution in Italy.
Further deals reported today are Austria (Stadtkino), Baltics (A-One), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Cis (Mauris Film), Czech Republic & Slovakia (Aerofilms), Finland (B-Film), Denmark (Filmbazar), Former Yugoslavia (McF), Greece (Cinobo), Hungary (Cirko), Middle East and North...
- 6/7/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The Match Factory announces key sales for tomb robber drama.
The Match Factory has agreed multiple sales for Alice Rohrwacher’s Cannes Competition film La Chimera.
The tomb robber drama starring Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, Alba Rohrwacher and Carol Duarte was well received by critics and ranked in joint fourth place on Screen’s Cannes jury grid.
Neon acquired North America rights for La Chimera last year. Since then The Match Factory has inked deals for the film in the UK and Ireland (Curzon), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainment), Benelux (September Film), Germany (Piffl Medien), Hong Kong (Edko), Spain...
The Match Factory has agreed multiple sales for Alice Rohrwacher’s Cannes Competition film La Chimera.
The tomb robber drama starring Josh O’Connor, Isabella Rossellini, Alba Rohrwacher and Carol Duarte was well received by critics and ranked in joint fourth place on Screen’s Cannes jury grid.
Neon acquired North America rights for La Chimera last year. Since then The Match Factory has inked deals for the film in the UK and Ireland (Curzon), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainment), Benelux (September Film), Germany (Piffl Medien), Hong Kong (Edko), Spain...
- 6/7/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Alice Rohrwacher makes movies like no one else. Her extraordinary work ventures into Italy’s labyrinthine past through fascinating pocket communities, vanishing breeds that seem suspended in time. In The Wonders, it was a family of beekeepers, like the director’s own; in Happy as Lazzaro, it was isolated sharecroppers kept in the feudal dark by exploitative landowners; and in the invigoratingly strange and lyrical La Chimera, it’s a ragtag band of tombaroli, illegal grave-robbers who dig up Etruscan relics and make their money selling those antiquities on to fences who in turn sell them to museums and collectors for vastly larger sums.
The three films make up an informal trilogy — set in the regions of Tuscany and Umbria where Rohrwacher was born and grew up — about the delicate thread between life and death, present and past. The latter remains very much alive almost everywhere you look in Italy,...
The three films make up an informal trilogy — set in the regions of Tuscany and Umbria where Rohrwacher was born and grew up — about the delicate thread between life and death, present and past. The latter remains very much alive almost everywhere you look in Italy,...
- 5/26/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In “La Chimera,” the ancient past nestles mere inches below the surface of the present, eventually breaking above ground and disrupting, if not the space-time continuum, the more mundane order of things. The borders between life and death feel similarly frictious and permeable, as if we could merely visit one from the other, as easily as sleeping and waking. Arthur (Josh O’Connor), the wandering Brit at the center of Alice Rohrwacher’s marvelously supple and sinuous new film, is accustomed to such limbo states. So are admirers of Rohrwacher’s filmmaking, which, in this eccentric, romantic tale of competing grave-robbers in Central Italy, touches the transcendental without diving into the outright fabulism of 2018’s “Happy as Lazzaro.”
Grounding the feyer impulses of “La Chimera” — a return for Rohrwacher to more metaphysical musings after the simpler charms of her Oscar-nominated short “Le Pupille” — is, well, the literal ground: grubby and gritty and,...
Grounding the feyer impulses of “La Chimera” — a return for Rohrwacher to more metaphysical musings after the simpler charms of her Oscar-nominated short “Le Pupille” — is, well, the literal ground: grubby and gritty and,...
- 5/26/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
A Chimera is something one tries to achieve but alas, never manages to find. It is the heart and soul of a quest in life, in different ways, for the cast of characters in writer/director Alice Rohrwacher’s beautiful new film La Chimera premiering today as one of the last entries in competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. It also happens to be one of the best.
Rohrwacher, who has won prizes at Cannes for two previous films, 2014’s The Wonders (Grand Prix) and 2018’s Happy As Lazaro (Screenplay) and was nominated for an Oscar this year for her live action short Le Pupille,, is back with what I think is her best film yet, an adventure, an ethereal and spiritual journey, a love story even on different levels, and a heist movie like no other. The latter refers to the center of action here as it is set...
Rohrwacher, who has won prizes at Cannes for two previous films, 2014’s The Wonders (Grand Prix) and 2018’s Happy As Lazaro (Screenplay) and was nominated for an Oscar this year for her live action short Le Pupille,, is back with what I think is her best film yet, an adventure, an ethereal and spiritual journey, a love story even on different levels, and a heist movie like no other. The latter refers to the center of action here as it is set...
- 5/26/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Editor’s Note: This review originally published during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Neon will release “La Chimera” in theaters March 29, 2024.
Just when it seemed like Cannes couldn’t get any worse for “Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny,” it turns out that James Mangold’s $300 million sequel wasn’t even the festival’s best movie about a sad and grumpy archeologist who chases a band of tomb raiders across the waters of Italy in order to stop them from selfishly exploiting a priceless artifact from before the birth of Christ. What are the odds?
Strange as that coincidence might be, it’s no surprise that Alice Rohrwacher’s new film is better than a Disney blockbuster that happens to share the same general milieu, but it’s worth pointing out that the arthouse version of this story is far more entertaining than the studio blockbuster take. It’s also...
Just when it seemed like Cannes couldn’t get any worse for “Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny,” it turns out that James Mangold’s $300 million sequel wasn’t even the festival’s best movie about a sad and grumpy archeologist who chases a band of tomb raiders across the waters of Italy in order to stop them from selfishly exploiting a priceless artifact from before the birth of Christ. What are the odds?
Strange as that coincidence might be, it’s no surprise that Alice Rohrwacher’s new film is better than a Disney blockbuster that happens to share the same general milieu, but it’s worth pointing out that the arthouse version of this story is far more entertaining than the studio blockbuster take. It’s also...
- 5/26/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Hidden cinematic treasures are buried everywhere in Cannes. But even the most tireless hunters and diggers amongst us couldn’t have predicted that this year’s finest archeology film would not be found in James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but in Alice Rohrwacher’s whimsically ethereal tapestry of romance, history and afterlife, “La Chimera.”
A rich and humorous folk tale overflowing with cultural details, aesthetic pleasures and the effervescent musicality of the Italian language, Rohrwacher’s melancholically grainy pastoral fable isn’t exactly about professional archeology, to be perfectly clear. But what some of her characters—the ancient-grave-raiding collective “tombaroli,” led by Josh O’Connor’s (“The Crown”) enigmatic Arthur—lack in bona fide archeological expertise, they make up for with rebellion and a reckless sense of aspiration.
Violating the bottomless sacred burial grounds of their little Italian village and stealing historical wonders the Etruscan people have taken to their grave,...
A rich and humorous folk tale overflowing with cultural details, aesthetic pleasures and the effervescent musicality of the Italian language, Rohrwacher’s melancholically grainy pastoral fable isn’t exactly about professional archeology, to be perfectly clear. But what some of her characters—the ancient-grave-raiding collective “tombaroli,” led by Josh O’Connor’s (“The Crown”) enigmatic Arthur—lack in bona fide archeological expertise, they make up for with rebellion and a reckless sense of aspiration.
Violating the bottomless sacred burial grounds of their little Italian village and stealing historical wonders the Etruscan people have taken to their grave,...
- 5/26/2023
- by Tomris Laffly
- The Wrap
In less than 10 years, Alice Rohrwacher has carved out a formidable reputation for herself, notably by gatecrashing the boys’ club that is traditionally the Cannes competition, and the fact that she did so in 2014 with only her second film, The Wonders, is further proof of a distinctive talent. One competition slot doesn’t guarantee another, yet Rohrwacher was back in 2018 with the follow-up, Happy as Lazzaro. Both films won prizes — Grand Prix and Best Screenplay, respectively — which means that expectations are high for the Oscar-nominated 41-year-old Italian, whose new film, La chimera, makes it three in a row.
Deadline: What can you reveal to us about La chimera?
Alice Rohrwacher: Nothing! [Laughs] It’s very difficult to talk about the film when you have not seen it, but I can tell you that it’s the story of a group of grave robbers. We call them tombaroli in Italy, and...
Deadline: What can you reveal to us about La chimera?
Alice Rohrwacher: Nothing! [Laughs] It’s very difficult to talk about the film when you have not seen it, but I can tell you that it’s the story of a group of grave robbers. We call them tombaroli in Italy, and...
- 5/26/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Alice Rohrwacher is in the Cannes competition for the third time with “La Chimera,” in which “The Crown” star Josh O’Connor plays a young British archeologist named Arthur who gets involved in an international network of stolen Etruscan artifacts during the 1980s.
For Rohrwacher, the film is connected to growing up in Umbria, once the center of the Etruscan civilization. But it’s also the final piece of a triptych on a territory that she started with her previous Cannes entries: “The Wonders” and “Happy as Lazzaro.” Three works that, as she has put it, pose a central question: “What to do with the past?”
Also starring in “La Chimera,” which can be loosely translated as “The Unrealizable Dream,” are Isabella Rossellini as a retired opera singer; Brazil’s Carol Duarte (“The Invisible Life”) as non-Italian woman who intersects with Arthur; Alba Rohrwacher as an international artifacts trafficker; and Vincenzo Nemolato...
For Rohrwacher, the film is connected to growing up in Umbria, once the center of the Etruscan civilization. But it’s also the final piece of a triptych on a territory that she started with her previous Cannes entries: “The Wonders” and “Happy as Lazzaro.” Three works that, as she has put it, pose a central question: “What to do with the past?”
Also starring in “La Chimera,” which can be loosely translated as “The Unrealizable Dream,” are Isabella Rossellini as a retired opera singer; Brazil’s Carol Duarte (“The Invisible Life”) as non-Italian woman who intersects with Arthur; Alba Rohrwacher as an international artifacts trafficker; and Vincenzo Nemolato...
- 5/23/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Italian director, who will be in Cannes with ‘La Chimera’ hosted a wide-ranging masterclass at Visions du Reel.
In the final days of the Geneva edit of her fourth fiction feature La Chimera, set for Cannes Competition, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher sat down at Visions du Reel for an expansive look at her career to date.
Her recent filmography includes an Oscar-nominated short film (The Pupils in 2022), a documentary and signing on for two episodes of a large-budget HBO TV show (My Brilliant Friend). They follow the loosely-connected, occasionally-autographical features which have dazzled audiences, from Corpo Celeste to The Wonders and Happy As Lazzaro.
In the final days of the Geneva edit of her fourth fiction feature La Chimera, set for Cannes Competition, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher sat down at Visions du Reel for an expansive look at her career to date.
Her recent filmography includes an Oscar-nominated short film (The Pupils in 2022), a documentary and signing on for two episodes of a large-budget HBO TV show (My Brilliant Friend). They follow the loosely-connected, occasionally-autographical features which have dazzled audiences, from Corpo Celeste to The Wonders and Happy As Lazzaro.
- 4/24/2023
- by Fionnuala Halligan
- ScreenDaily
The Italian director, who will be in Cannes with ‘La Chimera’ hosted a wide-ranging masterclass at Visions du Reel.
In the final days of the Geneva edit of her fourth fiction feature La Chimera, set for Cannes Competition, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher sat down at Visions du Reel for an expansive look at her career to date.
Her recent filmography includes an Oscar-nominated short film (The Pupils in 2022), a documentary and signing on for two episodes of a large-budget HBO TV show (My Brilliant Friend). They follow the loosely-connected, occasionally-autographical features which have dazzled audiences, from Corpo Celeste to The Wonders and Happy As Lazzaro.
In the final days of the Geneva edit of her fourth fiction feature La Chimera, set for Cannes Competition, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher sat down at Visions du Reel for an expansive look at her career to date.
Her recent filmography includes an Oscar-nominated short film (The Pupils in 2022), a documentary and signing on for two episodes of a large-budget HBO TV show (My Brilliant Friend). They follow the loosely-connected, occasionally-autographical features which have dazzled audiences, from Corpo Celeste to The Wonders and Happy As Lazzaro.
- 4/24/2023
- by Fionnuala Halligan
- ScreenDaily
Neon has landed North American rights at Cannes to La Chimera, the tomb-robbing drama from writer-director Alice Rohrwacher that stars Josh O’Connor and Isabelle Rossellini.
Set during the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli, or tomb robbers, La Chimera tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds. Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato star in the pic, which is production in Tarquinia and southern Tuscany and will continue during the summer in central Italy and Switzerland.
Rohrwacher’s regular collaborator Carlo Cresto-Dina produced La Chimera through his company Tempesta and longtime backers Rai Cinema. It is a co-production with Neon, Amka Films of Switzerland and Ad Vitam Production of France, in partnership with Arte France Cinema, Canal+, Ciné +, Switzerland’s Rsi/Ssr Srg and French distributor Ad Vitam.
Neon’s Jeff Deutchman and Mason Speta negotiated...
Set during the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli, or tomb robbers, La Chimera tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds. Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato star in the pic, which is production in Tarquinia and southern Tuscany and will continue during the summer in central Italy and Switzerland.
Rohrwacher’s regular collaborator Carlo Cresto-Dina produced La Chimera through his company Tempesta and longtime backers Rai Cinema. It is a co-production with Neon, Amka Films of Switzerland and Ad Vitam Production of France, in partnership with Arte France Cinema, Canal+, Ciné +, Switzerland’s Rsi/Ssr Srg and French distributor Ad Vitam.
Neon’s Jeff Deutchman and Mason Speta negotiated...
- 5/20/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Neon has acquired the North American distribution rights to Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” starring Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini.
Written and directed by Rohrwacher, the film is set in the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli (tomb robbers) and tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) who gets caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds.
The cast also includes Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato. The film has wrapped phase one of production in Tarquinia and southern Tuscany and will continue in August and September in central Italy and Switzerland.
The film is produced, as all of Rohrwacher’s previous films, by Carlo Cresto-Dina with his company Tempesta and long-time backers Rai Cinema, in co-production with Neon, Amka Films (Switzerland) and Ad Vitam Production (France), and in partnership with Arte France Cinema, Canal+, Ciné+, Rsi/Ssr Srg (Switzerland) and French distributor Ad Vitam.
Written and directed by Rohrwacher, the film is set in the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli (tomb robbers) and tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) who gets caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds.
The cast also includes Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato. The film has wrapped phase one of production in Tarquinia and southern Tuscany and will continue in August and September in central Italy and Switzerland.
The film is produced, as all of Rohrwacher’s previous films, by Carlo Cresto-Dina with his company Tempesta and long-time backers Rai Cinema, in co-production with Neon, Amka Films (Switzerland) and Ad Vitam Production (France), and in partnership with Arte France Cinema, Canal+, Ciné+, Rsi/Ssr Srg (Switzerland) and French distributor Ad Vitam.
- 5/20/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Neon is continuing its acquisition spree and has acquired the North American distribution rights to “La Chimera,” the next film from Italian auteur Alice Rohrwacher that stars “The Crown” actor Josh O’Connor and Isabella Rossellini.
Written and directed by Rohrwacher, “La Chimera” is set in the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli, or tomb robbers and tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds. Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato also co-star.
Phase one of production on “La Chimera” has already been completed in Tarquinia and Southern Tuscany, and the film will continue shooting across central Italy and Switzerland between August and September.
Also Read:
Neon Ups Jeff Deutchman to President of Acquisitions and Production
The film is produced, as all of Rohrwacher’s previous films, by Carlo Cresto-Dina with his company tempesta and long-time backers Rai Cinema,...
Written and directed by Rohrwacher, “La Chimera” is set in the 1980s in the clandestine world of the tombaroli, or tomb robbers and tells the story of a young English archaeologist (O’Connor) caught up in the illegal trafficking of ancient finds. Carol Duarte, Alba Rohrwacher and Vincenzo Nemolato also co-star.
Phase one of production on “La Chimera” has already been completed in Tarquinia and Southern Tuscany, and the film will continue shooting across central Italy and Switzerland between August and September.
Also Read:
Neon Ups Jeff Deutchman to President of Acquisitions and Production
The film is produced, as all of Rohrwacher’s previous films, by Carlo Cresto-Dina with his company tempesta and long-time backers Rai Cinema,...
- 5/20/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz’s gorgeous new melodrama joins classics that range from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? to You Can Count on Me
There are few more irritatingly prevalent errors in modern screenwriting than on-screen siblings who refer directly to each other as such: “You said it, sis.” “I’m here for you, bro.” Even the best actors can’t sell these terms of address that almost no human being actually uses: any great film about a sibling relationship should be so closely observed that you don’t need any dialogue cues to trace the family tree.
One such film is Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz’s gorgeous melodrama The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, now streaming on Curzon Home Cinema. Adapted from a popular novel by Martha Batalha, it’s a story of sisterly love enduring across decades of misfortune and forced separation. Close as children, good girl Eurídice...
There are few more irritatingly prevalent errors in modern screenwriting than on-screen siblings who refer directly to each other as such: “You said it, sis.” “I’m here for you, bro.” Even the best actors can’t sell these terms of address that almost no human being actually uses: any great film about a sibling relationship should be so closely observed that you don’t need any dialogue cues to trace the family tree.
One such film is Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz’s gorgeous melodrama The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, now streaming on Curzon Home Cinema. Adapted from a popular novel by Martha Batalha, it’s a story of sisterly love enduring across decades of misfortune and forced separation. Close as children, good girl Eurídice...
- 10/16/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
This gorgeous and moving melodrama finds two women in 1950s Rio under suffocating family expectations – and sees what happens when they are defied
‘What do you want from life?” a husband drunkenly yells at his wife in Karim Aïnouz’s gorgeous and very moving melodrama set in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. The man’s wife is Euridice (Julia Stockler) and what she wants is to be a classical pianist. Her husband is angry and hurt: why can’t she just be happy in the kitchen? Adapted from a novel by Martha Batalha, this is the story of Euridice and her sister Guida (Carol Duarte): their inner conflicts and rebellion against the suffocating patriarchy of home.
The film beings a few years earlier: Euridice is 18 and applying to study music in Vienna. Her heart is broken when boy-mad Guida runs away with a no-good sailor to Greece, promising to write when she is married.
‘What do you want from life?” a husband drunkenly yells at his wife in Karim Aïnouz’s gorgeous and very moving melodrama set in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. The man’s wife is Euridice (Julia Stockler) and what she wants is to be a classical pianist. Her husband is angry and hurt: why can’t she just be happy in the kitchen? Adapted from a novel by Martha Batalha, this is the story of Euridice and her sister Guida (Carol Duarte): their inner conflicts and rebellion against the suffocating patriarchy of home.
The film beings a few years earlier: Euridice is 18 and applying to study music in Vienna. Her heart is broken when boy-mad Guida runs away with a no-good sailor to Greece, promising to write when she is married.
- 10/12/2021
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
‘Money Heist’ scooped the most awards in the TV categories.
Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory swept the Platino Xcaret Awards for Ibero-American films on June 29 winning six trophies including best Ibero-American film.
Almodovar was also awarded best director and best screenplay while Antonio Banderas - who was Oscar-nominated for his performance and won the actor prize at Cannes - picked up best actor. The film also won best editing for the work of Teresa Font, and best original score, for composer Alberto Iglesias.
The awards were originally meant to take place in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in early May but...
Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory swept the Platino Xcaret Awards for Ibero-American films on June 29 winning six trophies including best Ibero-American film.
Almodovar was also awarded best director and best screenplay while Antonio Banderas - who was Oscar-nominated for his performance and won the actor prize at Cannes - picked up best actor. The film also won best editing for the work of Teresa Font, and best original score, for composer Alberto Iglesias.
The awards were originally meant to take place in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in early May but...
- 6/30/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory” swept the 7th Platino Xcaret Awards, winning best Ibero-American film, as well as the best director and screenplay for Almodovar. It also took home three other awards: Original music for Alberto Iglesias, editing for Teresa Font and best actor for Antonio Banderas, Oscar-nominated for his role in Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical opus.
Relegated to an online announcement by the Covid-19 pandemic, Ibero-America’s most prestigious awards ceremony unveiled the winners on its YouTube channel on Monday, June 29 where Platinos ambassador and CNN Español journalist Juan Carlos Arciniegas teamed up with Mexican actor-comedian Omar Chaparro and Colombian actress-singer Majida Issa to read out the winners.
Enrique Cerezo, president of the Premios Xcaret, said: “We regret that we couldn’t be present on site because of a nightmare we hope to wake up from soon.”
It was a banner year for Spanish productions which went home with...
Relegated to an online announcement by the Covid-19 pandemic, Ibero-America’s most prestigious awards ceremony unveiled the winners on its YouTube channel on Monday, June 29 where Platinos ambassador and CNN Español journalist Juan Carlos Arciniegas teamed up with Mexican actor-comedian Omar Chaparro and Colombian actress-singer Majida Issa to read out the winners.
Enrique Cerezo, president of the Premios Xcaret, said: “We regret that we couldn’t be present on site because of a nightmare we hope to wake up from soon.”
It was a banner year for Spanish productions which went home with...
- 6/29/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Greenery abounds in Brazilian auteur Karim Aïnouz’s affecting and bright-colored sisterhood saga Invisible Life. Based on Martha Batalha’s 2016 novel, it chronicles the forced disconnection between siblings Eurídice (Carol Duarte) and Guida (Julia Stockler), whose hearts break with each passing day apart in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. Victims of a male-dominated society that denies their dreams and ambitions, the sisters embody two sides of the same still resonant struggles women of the time endured. In addition to the striking work of French cinematographer Hélène Louvart, top talent was plentiful across the board. Illustrious producer Rodrigo Teixeira (Call Me By Your […]...
- 12/21/2019
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Greenery abounds in Brazilian auteur Karim Aïnouz’s affecting and bright-colored sisterhood saga Invisible Life. Based on Martha Batalha’s 2016 novel, it chronicles the forced disconnection between siblings Eurídice (Carol Duarte) and Guida (Julia Stockler), whose hearts break with each passing day apart in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. Victims of a male-dominated society that denies their dreams and ambitions, the sisters embody two sides of the same still resonant struggles women of the time endured. In addition to the striking work of French cinematographer Hélène Louvart, top talent was plentiful across the board. Illustrious producer Rodrigo Teixeira (Call Me By Your […]...
- 12/21/2019
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Karim Aïnouz’s beguilingly stunning “Invisible Life” is Brazil’s latest cinematic treasure. Even as the country’s conservative government threatens to cut the funding to the robust film scene that has given us critically acclaimed works like “Aquarius,” “Neon Bull” and “The Second Mother,” there are works like “Invisible Life” that remind international audiences of the stories the nation is fighting to tell in the face of adversity.
“Invisible Life” is a tale of two sisters in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. Guida (Julia Stockler), the slightly more adventurous one, escapes from a family dinner one night to go out with a mysterious suitor, a Greek sailor. She disappears the next morning, leaving behind only a note and one of her grandmother’s earrings she had left with the night before.
Her sister, Eurídice (Carol Duarte), blames herself for covering for her sister to leave the family without so much as saying goodbye.
“Invisible Life” is a tale of two sisters in 1950s Rio de Janeiro. Guida (Julia Stockler), the slightly more adventurous one, escapes from a family dinner one night to go out with a mysterious suitor, a Greek sailor. She disappears the next morning, leaving behind only a note and one of her grandmother’s earrings she had left with the night before.
Her sister, Eurídice (Carol Duarte), blames herself for covering for her sister to leave the family without so much as saying goodbye.
- 12/20/2019
- by Monica Castillo
- The Wrap
As we enter the holidays Lionsgate and Bron Studios are looking to explode with the nationwide release of the Jay Roach-directed Bombshell starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie. The Fox News sexual harassment drama had a stellar limited opening last weekend, earning an estimated $312,000, with a per-screen average of $78,000. As it opens today in approximately 1,450 locations in North America, it is sure to put more coins in its piggy bank.
“This is an important, timely and topical film driven by world-class filmmakers and outstanding performances, great word of mouth, and the strong buzz and momentum after the Golden Globe and SAG nominations,” Damon Wolf, President of Worldwide Marketing for the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group told Deadline. “Last week’s sold-out special screenings led to one of the highest-grossing limited release engagements of the year and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.”
“Bombshell is the first major movie to explore the #metoo movement,...
“This is an important, timely and topical film driven by world-class filmmakers and outstanding performances, great word of mouth, and the strong buzz and momentum after the Golden Globe and SAG nominations,” Damon Wolf, President of Worldwide Marketing for the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group told Deadline. “Last week’s sold-out special screenings led to one of the highest-grossing limited release engagements of the year and a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.”
“Bombshell is the first major movie to explore the #metoo movement,...
- 12/20/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
by Murtada Elfadl
With a depth of feeling and lush gorgeous colors that knock the wind out of you, Invisible Life is melodrama done right. Set in Rio de Janeiro in 1950 as two inseparable sisters have different dreams. One, Euridice played by Carol Duarte, wants to become a renowned pianist. The romantic Guida (Julia Stockler) yearns for true love. They are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other. We follow their story with ache in our hearts but with our eyes feasting on the beauty that fills the frame.
We got a chance to speak with director Karim Aïnouz recently in New York. [This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.]
Murtada Elfadl: Congratulations. The film is amazing.
Karim Aïnouz: Thank you. Thank you. That's good to hear
One of the things that I really love about it I grew up on Egyptian movies,...
With a depth of feeling and lush gorgeous colors that knock the wind out of you, Invisible Life is melodrama done right. Set in Rio de Janeiro in 1950 as two inseparable sisters have different dreams. One, Euridice played by Carol Duarte, wants to become a renowned pianist. The romantic Guida (Julia Stockler) yearns for true love. They are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other. We follow their story with ache in our hearts but with our eyes feasting on the beauty that fills the frame.
We got a chance to speak with director Karim Aïnouz recently in New York. [This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.]
Murtada Elfadl: Congratulations. The film is amazing.
Karim Aïnouz: Thank you. Thank you. That's good to hear
One of the things that I really love about it I grew up on Egyptian movies,...
- 12/20/2019
- by Murtada Elfadl
- FilmExperience
A fertile time for Brazilian cinema, the country’s Oscar entry this year is Karim Aïnouz’s Invisible Life, which premiered under the title of The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão at Cannes this year, where it won the top prize in its Un Certain Regard section. Starring Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler, and Fernanda Montenegro, the melodrama tells the story of two sisters in Rio de Janeiro in 1950. Picked up by Amazon Studios, the U.S. trailer has now arrived ahead of a release later this month.
Leonardo Goi said in his review, “Karim Aïnouz’s The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão is a tale of resistance. It hones in on two inseparable sisters stranded in–and ultimately pulled apart by–an ossified patriarchal world. It is an engrossing melodrama where melancholia teems with rage, with a tear-jerking finale that feels so devastating because of the staggering mix of love and fury that precedes it.
Leonardo Goi said in his review, “Karim Aïnouz’s The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão is a tale of resistance. It hones in on two inseparable sisters stranded in–and ultimately pulled apart by–an ossified patriarchal world. It is an engrossing melodrama where melancholia teems with rage, with a tear-jerking finale that feels so devastating because of the staggering mix of love and fury that precedes it.
- 12/1/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"I haven't lost hope that you'll return to Brazil..." Amazon has revealed a new Us trailer for the acclaimed drama Invisible Life from Brazil, which is a new shortened title just for Us release - the full title is still The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão. The film won the top Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival this year, and is Brazil's submission for the Oscars coming up. This feminist drama set in Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s and the story follows two sisters, Euridice and Guida. They live at home, each with a dream: become a renowned pianist, or find true love. Because of their father, they are forced to live without each other. Separated for most of their lives, they will take control of their destiny, while never giving up on their hope of being reunited. Starring Fernanda Montenegro as Euridice, and Júlia Stockler as Guida,...
- 11/26/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Among the record 92 submissions this year, 27 titles are directed or co-directed by women. There are six documentaries in the mix, as well as two animated features. Moreover, for the first time, Ghana and Uzbekistan are each fielding an entry. However, Nigeria’s submission was disqualified by the Academy as being mostly in the English language. Here’s a guide to the films, including logline and sales or production contact.
Albania
“The Delegation”
Director: Bujar Alimani
Logline: In autumn 1990,
a political prisoner is secretly taken out of jail to meet the head of the European delegation investigating human-rights violations. But nothing goes according to plan.
Key Cast: Viktor Zhusti, Ndriçim Xhepa, Xhevdet Feri
Sales: Art Film
Algeria
“Papicha”
Director: Mounia Meddour
Logline: A female student rebels against the bans set by radicals during the civil war and plans a fashion show.
Key Cast: Lyna Khoudri, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda
Sales:...
Albania
“The Delegation”
Director: Bujar Alimani
Logline: In autumn 1990,
a political prisoner is secretly taken out of jail to meet the head of the European delegation investigating human-rights violations. But nothing goes according to plan.
Key Cast: Viktor Zhusti, Ndriçim Xhepa, Xhevdet Feri
Sales: Art Film
Algeria
“Papicha”
Director: Mounia Meddour
Logline: A female student rebels against the bans set by radicals during the civil war and plans a fashion show.
Key Cast: Lyna Khoudri, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda
Sales:...
- 11/6/2019
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Valladolid, Spain – The Valladolid Intl. Film Festival (Seminci), the truest event dedicated to international arthouse cinema on Spain’s festival calendar, capped off eight days of screenings, press conferences and roundtables by handing out awards on Saturday evening at the Spanish city’s historic Calderon Theater. The evening’s big winners: Wang Quan’an’s “Öndög” and Karim Aïnouz’s “The Invisible Life.”
After premiering in competition at February’s Berlinale, Quan’an’s Mongolian dramedy “Öndög” has hit its stride eight months later scoring a best film award at last week’s Ghent Intl. Film Festival before repeating the feat at last night’s closing gala along with a best cinematography award for its Beijing-based French cinematographer Aymerick Pilarski.
Set on the seemingly endless planes of Mongolia, the film follows a rookie officer and a veteran shepard tasked with protecting a crime scene from harsh elements and harsher wolves.
After premiering in competition at February’s Berlinale, Quan’an’s Mongolian dramedy “Öndög” has hit its stride eight months later scoring a best film award at last week’s Ghent Intl. Film Festival before repeating the feat at last night’s closing gala along with a best cinematography award for its Beijing-based French cinematographer Aymerick Pilarski.
Set on the seemingly endless planes of Mongolia, the film follows a rookie officer and a veteran shepard tasked with protecting a crime scene from harsh elements and harsher wolves.
- 10/27/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Brazil’s official Oscar entry, Invisible Life will open Dec. 20 via Amazon Studios.
The tropical melodrama stars Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler and Fernanda Montenegro and is set in Rio de Janeiro, 1950. Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each one nourishes a dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist, Guida of finding true love. In a dramatic turn, they are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other.
The Rt Features production made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival back in May where it won Un Certain Regard, then continued on to numerous awards fall festivals including Toronto, Mill Valley, London and Hamptons. Cinematographer Hélène Louvart also won the Golden Camera award at the International Cinematographers’ Film Festival Manaka Brothers.
The tropical melodrama stars Carol Duarte, Julia Stockler and Fernanda Montenegro and is set in Rio de Janeiro, 1950. Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each one nourishes a dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist, Guida of finding true love. In a dramatic turn, they are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other.
The Rt Features production made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival back in May where it won Un Certain Regard, then continued on to numerous awards fall festivals including Toronto, Mill Valley, London and Hamptons. Cinematographer Hélène Louvart also won the Golden Camera award at the International Cinematographers’ Film Festival Manaka Brothers.
- 10/24/2019
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Amazon Studios has acquired the U.S. rights to “The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão,” a Brazilian film that won the Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival this year and is making its North American debut at Tiff next month, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.
Karim Aïnouz directed the foreign language film spoken in Portuguese that’s described as a “tropical melodrama” set in Rio de Janeiro in 1950.
Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each one nourishes a dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist, Guida of finding true love. In a dramatic turn, they are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other.
Also Read: Amazon Acquires Worldwide Rights...
Karim Aïnouz directed the foreign language film spoken in Portuguese that’s described as a “tropical melodrama” set in Rio de Janeiro in 1950.
Eurídice and Guida are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each one nourishes a dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist, Guida of finding true love. In a dramatic turn, they are separated by their father and forced to live apart. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other.
Also Read: Amazon Acquires Worldwide Rights...
- 8/20/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Amazon Studios has bought U.S. rights to Cannes Un Certain Regard winner The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão ahead of its North American premiere at Toronto.
European arthouse stalwart The Match Factory and CAA Media Finance brokered the deal for the well-received Brazilian film. CAA has also signed the film’s director Karim Aïnouz, an A-list festival regular.
The Portuguese-language, tropical melodrama about two sisters struggling to define themselves in the machista culture of mid-century Brazil is a strong contender to be the country’s entry for the International Feature Film Oscar. That decision will be made soon. A U.S. release date has yet to be set.
We revealed the film’s first international trailer in Cannes.
The story begins in Rio de Janeiro in 1950. Eurídice, 18, and Guida, 20, are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each...
European arthouse stalwart The Match Factory and CAA Media Finance brokered the deal for the well-received Brazilian film. CAA has also signed the film’s director Karim Aïnouz, an A-list festival regular.
The Portuguese-language, tropical melodrama about two sisters struggling to define themselves in the machista culture of mid-century Brazil is a strong contender to be the country’s entry for the International Feature Film Oscar. That decision will be made soon. A U.S. release date has yet to be set.
We revealed the film’s first international trailer in Cannes.
The story begins in Rio de Janeiro in 1950. Eurídice, 18, and Guida, 20, are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each...
- 8/20/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Brazilian director Karim Ainouz has long been a favorite of the Lima Film Festival; it’s an association that goes all the way back to the 2003 premiere of his first full-length feature, Madame Satã, which netted a Best Actor award for star Lázaro Ramos, and a Best Cinematography nod for Walter Carvalho. Sixteen years later, with more films and television stints under his belt, Ainouz is once again back in the Festival and in competition with The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, a film which confirms the director as an elder statesman of contemporary Brazilian cinema. In 1940s-50s Rio de Janeiro, the titular Eurídice (Carol Duarte) has an unbreakable bond with her sister Guida (Julia Stockler), as they both grow up with their traditionalist parents....
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 8/14/2019
- Screen Anarchy
Karim Aïnouz’s “The Invisible Life,” which won the Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes and screens this week at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, begins with two sisters, not much over 20, Eurídice (Carol Duarte) and Guida (Julia Stockler) sitting by the shore of one of the multiple bays around Rio de Janeiro, a lush tropical forest behind.
They have all their lives in front of them. Guida suddenly dashes off clambering uphill barefoot through the trees; Eurídice, more reflective, two years younger, a talented pianist, tries to follow, is overwhelmed by the sensuality of the setting.
Set over 1951-58, with a modern-day coda, “The Invisible Life” begins with the last time the sisters are caught together in a moment of quiet intimacy. Soon after, Guida elopes with a sailor to Greece. In classic melodrama mode, she returns alone from Europe, pregnant, is thrown out by their father, who makes...
They have all their lives in front of them. Guida suddenly dashes off clambering uphill barefoot through the trees; Eurídice, more reflective, two years younger, a talented pianist, tries to follow, is overwhelmed by the sensuality of the setting.
Set over 1951-58, with a modern-day coda, “The Invisible Life” begins with the last time the sisters are caught together in a moment of quiet intimacy. Soon after, Guida elopes with a sailor to Greece. In classic melodrama mode, she returns alone from Europe, pregnant, is thrown out by their father, who makes...
- 6/30/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Karim Aïnouz’s The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão is a tale of resistance. It hones in on two inseparable sisters stranded in–and ultimately pulled apart by–an ossified patriarchal world. It is an engrossing melodrama where melancholia teems with rage, with a tear-jerking finale that feels so devastating because of the staggering mix of love and fury that precedes it. It is, far and above, an achingly beautiful story of sisterly love.
Based on a 2015 novel by Martha Batalha, the director’s Un Certain Regard winner homes in on two young sisters in 1950s Rio de Janeiro, the eponymous 18-year-old Eurídice (Carol Duarte) and 20-year-old Guida (Júlia Stockler). Singularly titled as it may be, The Invisible Life is the story of their relationship, and the mutual struggle to escape from the confines–literal and symbolic–of the conservative household they’ve been raised in by strict father Manuel...
Based on a 2015 novel by Martha Batalha, the director’s Un Certain Regard winner homes in on two young sisters in 1950s Rio de Janeiro, the eponymous 18-year-old Eurídice (Carol Duarte) and 20-year-old Guida (Júlia Stockler). Singularly titled as it may be, The Invisible Life is the story of their relationship, and the mutual struggle to escape from the confines–literal and symbolic–of the conservative household they’ve been raised in by strict father Manuel...
- 6/9/2019
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.