If you need proof that Josh O’Connor is one of the most booked-and-busy actors working today, just look at his projects this year alone as proof. He stars opposite Paul Mescal in the tender queer romance “The History of Sound”; leads the upcoming cowboy drama “Rebuilding” from Max Walker-Silverman as well as the Kelly Reichardt-directed heist flick “The Mastermind"; and steals scenes from Daniel Craig, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington and more in "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery."
It’s a relentless but deserved rise for an actor who has consistently put in stellar work over the years, from his moving breakthrough in “God’s Own Country” to his Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning work as young Prince Charles in Netflix’s “The Crown."
And in the middle of all of it is "La Chimera," a tiny and gorgeous Italian film that O'Connor made in 2023. Its release was overshadowed by another one of the actor's more high-profile projects, the buzzy tennis drama "Challengers" with Zendaya and Mike Faist. Though "La Chimera" didn't have the same pop-cultural impact as "Challengers," the former sees O'Connor at his most wonderfully wistful, as a tombarolo digging through the layers of his own grief.
Need more convincing? Here's why you should add "La Chimera," streaming now on Hulu, to your watch list.
What is ‘La Chimera’ about?
Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher, the 1980-set "La Chimera" sees Josh O'Connor as Anglo archaeologist Arthur, freshly off a jail stint for attempting to sell stolen artifacts. However, when he returns to Riparbella, a fictional rural town on the Tyrrhenian Sea, he quickly falls back into his seemingly divine grave-robbing ways alongside his merry band of tomb-raiding pals.
He soon meets single mother Italia (a charming Carol Duarte), the housekeeper of his ex-girlfriend mother Flora (Isabella Rossellini). The romantic potential of that encounter, coupled with professional difficulties with an enigmatic black-market dealer known only as "Spartaco," sees the Brit digging desperately deep, not only to find Etruscan treasures that spell easy money but also a love long lost.
Why you should you stream ‘La Chimera’ on Hulu
Filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher sends up a downright dreamy neo-fable on grief, greed and ghosts, at once playfully scrappy and painfully yearning. At the center of it all — the cast also includes Vincenzo Nemolato, Alba Rohrwacher and Yile Yara Vianello, among others — is O'Connor's astonishing lead performance.
Hunched in heartbreak and embittered by loss, O'Connor impressively navigates two spoken languages (English and Italian) but also universal ones, from the amusements to the anguish of simply being alive.
Though slight at the box office, the folky stunner was a hit on the festival circuit (it was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and Rohrwacher won the Silver Medallion Award at Telluride) and among critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an excellent 94% approval rating, with the site's critical consensus reading: "If 'La Chimera' is a wild, improbable pursuit, this marvelous and magical tale by Alice Rochrwacher is the pie in the sky to behold."
Watch "La Chimera" on Hulu now
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