After my first attempt, here’s something new. I’m short of ideas as to how that bright area on the left should appear:
Here’s the raw file (zipped, otherwise I end up with a jpeg here, don’t know why):
20221125_081712_0057.ORF.zip (17.9 MB)
and my sidecar file:
20221125_081712_0057.ORF.xmp (22.8 KB)
Everything licensed Creative Commons, By-Attribution, Share-Alike.
Thanks for the photo!
Here’s my version. I used a recent build, but I don’t think I used anything that’s not present in the current 4.0.1 (or 4.0 for that matter)
Nothing very special, except I did quite a lot of fiddling with filmic. I used v5 in color preserve ‘no’ which is a bit different to most of the filmic options. I like the image fairly dark, as to me it looks natural that way, but that might just be me. 
20221125_081712_0057.ORF.xmp (17.7 KB)
thanks everyone for all the highlight test images 
in the old days we used to have pascal de bruijn who was very diligent at creating good defaults for many cameras for darktable. i think that was an important undertaking… i’m trying to get some of that for vkdt too. here’s what is a default render in current git:
with the cfg
20221125_081712_0057.ORF.cfg (2.8 KB)
especially for highlights setting good defaults that work for most images is not easy at all. i think it’s impossible in general, but looking at many test cases maybe the defaults can work for most of them.
Try to play with the Filmic color preservation modes. It looks like you used Max RGB, which tries to preserve color - often to it’s detriment.
I did find it quite challenging to nail a look for this picture. Nevertheless here is my edit.
Thanks for the play.
Hello,
Here is my interpretation with the Darktable 4.1 master.
I tried to bring more orange color in the sky while keeping the reflections on the whole picture.
20221125_081712_0057.ORF.xmp (14.7 KB)
Greetings from Brussels,
Christian
I tried to emphasis the sky and the light as the main subject, and give it a more nocturnal feel.
RT 5.9-RC1 20221125_081712_0057.ORF.pp3 (25.3 KB)
I have some issues with this sidecar file on darktable 4.0.1+1~ga59e0af56
It complained about some version incompatibility with the lens module, and every click is processed so slow, working... is displayed for ages.
Yes, I had Max RGB and it was awful. Although something is still wrong, even with no preserve chrominance:
20221125_081712_0057.ORF.xmp (54.8 KB)
I’m not sure what’s happening in the bright bit of sky. When I’m on the PC a bit later I’ll load your sidecar and have a look… curious. I might do the same with @dqpcoxeas 's out of interest. Regarding slowness, you could check whether the ‘diffuse and sharpen’ module is in use, even multiple instances. It’s a very powerful module but can really slow things down on a more average computer (like mine)
Maybe I should play with higlight reconsideration module, or the reconstruct tab in filmic rgb?
Yes, there are several diffuse and sharpen instances in @dqpcoxeas sidecar.
I don’t think there’s any need… if I drop the exposure way down (-2 or -3ev) it’s clear that the raw file is not clipped. I must confess I was a little puzzled about the intense yellow on the left of the sunset portion of the image. Usually filmic rgb will tone down that kind of thing slightly, especially in v6 ‘preserve no’ (non-expert here btw).
I think the harsh transition in the bright sky was caused or enhanced by the brilliance settings in the color balance rgb ‘centro’ module. I fiddled with it slightly and got this (below) without touching anything else, except also the saturation setting in the same module.
But it seems a surprisingly challenging image, especially if one wants to keep the bright color in the sky!
Oh, and yes, the slow response you mentioned will be the d&s modules. Try switching them all off and see if things speed up!
Another try using different settings in that color balance rgb module. Slightly different but better IMO. Used the 4 ways tab for darkening instead of the brilliance sliders. I don’t really get on with the brilliance adjustments for some reason 
20221125_081712_0057_02.ORF.xmp (56.6 KB)
The options for highlights recovery and ton mapping starts to get a bit overwhelming to me. A lot of things to try during wintertime .
Here my first try using sigmoid. In addition, I used the masks tab in Color balance RGB to color the highlights.
20221125_081712_0057_01.ORF.xmp (38.3 KB)
If it helps…
The Darktable version I’m using right now is : 4.1.0~git897.6bb53e25-1
Indeed, I use multiple instances of diffuse or sharpen depending on the needs.
Saúdos.
