Alice Rohrwacher's latest film, "La Chimera," is an ambitious and self-aware rumination on life, death, and heartbreak. Through the imaginative style of its director, the film is playful and charming yet ultimately heartbreaking.

Using multiple film formats, Rohrwacher's visual choices (a mixture of 35 & 16mm along with Super 16) create an occasionally magical spell. While the story is rooted in reality, DP Hélène Louvart weaves in and out of reality and a kind of cinematic dream state, representing the mindset of the film's lead character.

Entrenched in a small village in Italy's Umbria region, under the close supervision of her protective father, young Gelsomina sees little of the outside the world. She doesn't ask too many questions, either. On the farm where she lives with her young and sisters and her parents she helps out in the family's beekeeping business. Her fate appears sealed. And yet, two events will soon inject some much-needed chaos: her family hosts a young man who's right out of juvie, as part of a social rehabilitation program, and a reality show comes to the area to do an on-site taping.