The Return (2024 Film)

''The Return'' is a 2024 drama film directed by Uberto Pasolini and starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. The film is a retelling of the last sections of Homer's ''Odyssey'' as adapted by Edward Bond, John Collee, and Pasolini.

It premiered in the Gala section at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024, and was theatrically released on December 6, 2024, in the United States by Bleecker Street. It was released in the UK and Ireland on April 11, 2025 by Modern Films, with event screenings in advance at the British Museum on April 9 and Curzon Mayfair on April 10.

Plot

Twenty years after fighting in the Trojan War and journeying back home, Odysseus washes up naked on the shores of his home island Ithaca. He was tended by Eumaeus and Yias where he can recover from being swepted away by the ocean. Dispirited, Odysseus was traumatized by the war and learns about his kingdom.

Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, is facing pressure to find a suitor in the absence of her husband to claim the island after the kingdom went into decline when Odysseus left for the war. Her son, Telemachus, was approached by Antinous, and he attempts to convince him to press Penelope into marriage, but he refuses, knowing that Antinous cannot be trusted as the other suitors are not very trustworthy.

Meanwhile, Penelope weaves her elderly father-in-law's burial shroud to cope with his impending death. Telemachus asks her to take a suitor to end the chaos, but she refuses until she completes the shroud that is woven. Odysseus's father dies; the suitors press Penelope to marry, insisting that Odysseus is also dead. She says she will make the shroud her wedding gown, and that she will choose a suitor soon.

Meanwhile, Eumaeus takes Odysseus to the palace, where his dog, Argos, recognizes him after waiting for his return before finally passing away. He disguises himself as an old soldier and begs for food; the suitors abuse him. They force him to fight a huge man, but Odysseus kills him. Suspicious, Penelope speaks to Odysseus, but ends up sending him off. However, Odysseus's old nursemaid, Eurycleia, discovers his identity while bathing him, after recognizing a scar on the back of his leg. He bids her be silent. Telemachus is being hunted by the suitors to silence any interference with the marriage, but Odysseus saves him. Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and their friends flee behind a pool of water, which throws the hounds off their scent. Telemachus is infuriated that Odysseus is his father, accusing him of abandoning him and his mother in Ithaca. He laments Odysseus's failure to bring the Ithacan warriors home, but he resigns himself to it.

Antinous discovers Penelope unraveling her weaving and forces her to make a decision. Odysseus's crew hears that Penelope will make a decision the next day. They go to the palace where Penelope tells the suitors that her choice is to make them compete with Odysseus's old bow, seeing if they can shoot an arrow through the holes of multiple axe heads, as he did, the suitor wins her marriage. None of the suitors can even string the bow. Odysseus offers to try, strings it, and shoots the arrow through the axe-heads. He then shoots the suitors as the royal servants close the doors to prevent escape. When his arrows run out, Odysseus relentlessly kills the suitors. Telemachus is tempted to flee, but he helps his father fight. Antinous surrenders, and Penelope, desirous of peace and tired of the violence, bids Telemachus let him live, but he kills him, horrifying his mother.

Telemachus insists on sailing away to find himself and his destiny. Odysseus notices that Penelope is using an unfamiliar bed; he ascends to a hidden room and finds their old bed, which she had sealed away after he left. Odysseus and Penelope reconcile with each other and offer to share their past with them, allowing them to move forward.

Cast

Production

Development

The project was announced in April 2022. The script for the film was written by John Collee and Edward Bond. The film's director, Uberto Pasolini, and James Clayton produced the film. Pasolini said he had been considering adapting Homer's ''Odyssey'' for 30 years; he asked Fiennes to act and direct in 2011. Fiennes said he couldn't do both, and in 2022 asked Pasolini to direct, accepting only when Fiennes pushed him. Pasolini asked Fiennes who should play Penelope, and Fiennes replied "Juliette inoche of course". The film marks the third time Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche have appeared together following 1992's ''Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights'' and the 1996 Oscar winner ''The English Patient''.

HanWay Films began handling international sales and took the project to the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. In February 2023 Bleecker Street picked up North American rights and appointed Andrew Karpen and Kent Sanderson as executive producers. Roberto Sessa for Picomedia with Rai Cinema, Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovravkis for Heretic and Stéphane Moatti, Romain Le Grand, Vivien Aslanian and Marco Pacchioni for Kabo Films and Marvelous Production were producers on the Italy-Greece-U.K.-France co-production.

Filming

The film began production in Greece in the spring of 2023, with principal photography in the regions of Corfu and the Peloponnese, before continuing on to locations in Italy. Filming had wrapped in Corfu by June 2023. Other scenes were shot in the country to the north of Rome. The total cost of filming was $20m, compared to the $250m spent on Christopher Nolan's 2026 ''The Odyssey''.

Music

The music for ''The Return'' was composed by Rachel Portman and performed by Roma Film Orchestra, conducted by Emanuele Bossi. It was released on Digital Records.

Release

In July 2024, ''The Return'' was announced as part of the Gala section at the Toronto International Film Festival scheduled for September 2024. The film was theatrically released on December 6, 2024, in the United States by Bleecker Street. Distributed by 01 Distribution, it was released theatrically in Italy on January 30, 2025.

It was featured in the Limelight section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam to be screened in February 2025.

Reception

Katie Walsh in the ''Los Angeles Times'' calls the movie "an acting showcase", with Jeannette Catsoulis in the ''New York Times'' also praising strong performances by Fiennes and Binoche. Reviewers, including Corey Atad in the ''Toronto Star'', noted the Shakespearean quality of the drama.

Analysis

The production lacks any of the gods of Homer's poem, according to Pasolini. There are further no monsters or mythical beings such as the Cyclops and sirens, in contrast to Nolan's film. Pasolini said that his Odysseus had to feel that the guilt and pain from the siege of Troy and the deaths of his companions "was his own doing". Fiennes did physical training for five months to acquire the wiry and muscular body that Pasolini wanted for Odysseus, followed by months of running and weight training to reduce his body fat as far as possible. Odysseus's body was intended to look "like a bit of old rope" rather than a "gym body", in Fiennes' words.

Ben Nicholson, reviewing for the British Film Institute, writes that the film reworks only the second half of the poem, omitting all the "famous wanderings" and the adventures with the siren's songs, blinding the Cyclops, or having his men turned into pigs by the enchantress Circe. In his view, leaving out all the "supernatural winds" and mythical beings permits Pasolini to tell the tale realistically and foregrounds the characters' psychology. He finds both the narrative and the filmmaking "stripped back", with "elegant and understated" cinematography. The result, writes Nicholson, is a "nuanced psychological drama" that takes an unflinching look at the story, providing "gripping" cinema. Ian Haydn Smith, for the International Film Festival Rotterdam, describes the film as an "emotionally intense drama, rapturously shot by Marius Panduru". He finds Fiennes's subtle acting and physical transformation equally remarkable, ably matched by Binoche "at her most incandescent".

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Return (2024 film), The
2024 films
Films shot in Greece
Films based on the Odyssey
Films directed by Uberto Pasolini
Bleecker Street films
HanWay Films films
Rai Cinema films
Picomedia films
Italian epic films
British epic films
2020s Italian films
2020s British films
2020s English-language films