Layers of Meaning, Layers of Earth: Necro-Eco-Mythical Perspectives and Traces of the Past in Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera”

The authors analyse the film La Chimera, focusing on its numerous vegetal and animal motifs, as well as its representations of soil and graves. They interpret the film as a continuation of Alice Rohrwacher’s ecological cinema, placing it within a context of post-anthropocentric and necrohumanist thought. They argue that La Chimera displays a distinctive ecological sensibility – one that intertwines mythological and metaphysical references with a critique of exploitation that encompasses both human and non-human realms. The film rejects the traditional idealisation of the Italian landscape and draws upon the legacy of neorealism – not understood as a formal style, but rather as an ethical perspective – to depict the complex relationships between the worlds of the living, the dead, nature, and memory. La Chimera constitutes a compelling example of ecological cinema that does not sever ties with the cultural tradition, but instead integrates diverse perspectives and motifs into a chimeric vision: necrologic, mythical, and politically resonant.