THE RETURN
Italy, United Kingdom | 2024 | 116m | English
Cast: Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes, Charlie Plummer, Marwan Kenzari,
Claudio Santamaria, Ángela Molina
Director(s): Uberto Pasolini
The Return picks up as Odysseus (Fiennes, also at the Festival in Conclave) washes onto the shores of Ithaca. It has been more than 20 years since he left his kingdom to fight in the Trojan War and, in all that time, his wife and queen Penelope (Binoche) has waited. Their son, Telemachus (Charlie Plummer), has lost faith that his father will return and worries for his mother’s safety as a group of increasingly unruly suitors pressure her to take one of them as the new king.
Barely recognizable to himself or to the people who once revered him as a mighty warrior, Odysseus slowly makes his way toward the castle, seeing what has become a desolate island in his absence. With tension growing, Penelope works on weaving a red quilt, promising that she’ll choose a suitor once it’s finished. It becomes a symbol of all the little ways she keeps holding on. When Odysseus finally enters the fray, Penelope puts forth an iconic and instantly recognizable test for her weakened king to prove himself true among a viper’s nest of men lusting for power.

Courtesy of TIFF
TIFF 24 REVIEW BY: DARREN ZAKUS
DATE: OCTOBER 18, 2024
RATING: 2 out of 5
The Return is a Greek tragedy at its finest as the film fails to capitalize on the thrilling nature of Homer’s epic poem and aside from the welcomed reuniting of Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, the film never materializes to beyond anything more than a snoozefest of epic disappointment.
There is a reason that Homer’s The Odyssey has remained one of the most significant literary works over 2,700 years after it was originally written. One of two epic poems written by Homer, it tells the story of Odysseus and his ten year journey home after the Trojan War and the many perils he encountered to reunite with his beloved wife and son. Full of danger, mythical creatures of Greek mythology and epic trials, Homer’s work has been the basis for many films and television series and is still studied in schools worldwide. Instead of trying to adapt the entirety of Homer’s poem in one film, director and co-writer Uberto Pasolini focuses on the later half of the Odyssey and tells the story of Odysseus upon his return to Ithaca, and despite reuniting Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche for their third film together following Wuthering Heights and The English Patient, The Return never captures the excitement or wonder of Homer’s work and wastes the great pairing of Fiennes and Binoche, instead choosing to remain narratively adrift.
Focusing on the later books of The Odyssey immediately removes any creatures of Greek mythology and many of the most notable moments of Homer’s poem, but that doesn’t mean there is not enough material to make an engaging film. Odyssey’s return to Ithaca and the many noblemen trying to gain the hand of Queen Penelope leaves lots of rich material to work with, btu sadly the screenplay fails to give Homer’s writing any invigorating spark. Moving at a snail’s pace and playing out like a historical drama rather than a Greek epic, the writers are more concerned with leaving Odysseus hiding out in the woods rather than trying to make any exciting move by him to reclaim his throne after being presumed dead. The film quickly becomes a tiresome watch, that not even the natural beauty of the filming locations in Greece captured brilliantly by cinematographer Marius Panduru and a haunting musical score by Rachel Portman that effortlessly captures the tone of the film can energize an otherwise lacklustre screenplay. Yes, the film does end on the throne room sequence with Odysseus that does deliver a glimpse of the excitement of Homer’s poem, but with a run time of almost two hours, it's far little too late of an attempt to salvage the film and inject the film with some resemblance of life.
It’s hard to fault Fiennes and Binoche for this film, as their performances are without question the highlight of it. Their scenes together, while limited, are the best of the film as the dynamic they create on screening is the most fascinating aspect of the film as these two highly intelligent individuals and separated lovers reunite and have to say little about the twenty year gap in which they have seen each other, while what is not spoken between them says it all. As Odysseus, Fiennes gives a hardened and broken performance of a man who has gone through hell to reunite with his family, while Binoche does a great job of navigating the hot political water she finds herself in dodging multiple suitors with their eyes on the throne. Sadly, the rest of the cast does not match their standard. Marwan Kenzari is lacking a villainous aurora as Antinous, the main suit trying to claim the throne, never creating a truly threatening presence despite ample time on screen to do so. As Telemachus, Odysseus and Penelope’s son, Charlie Plummer feels miscast with a performance that feels weak and out of place in the film, especially when he shares the screen with Fiennes or Binoche.
Audiences have a pretty good understanding of what a film about The Odyssey should entail, but apart from the climactic throne room scene featuring Odysseus, The Return never rises to the same greatness as its source material. Forgoing the mythical Greek epic and instead becoming a slowly paced and uninteresting historical drama, not even the reteaming of Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche that is the perfect casting for the film’s two lead roles is enough to make The Return the worthy big screen adaptation that an epic poem like The Odyssey is worthy of.