The Return: Sirens of Struggle

Author Mathilde Refloch attended The Return premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. The film is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States later this week.

When Homer wrote The Odyssey thousands of years ago, he probably didn’t expect everyone to want to take on the challenge of replicating it. The Return is the latest of numerous attempts to capture this godly story and yet another one to sink.

Odysseus returned from Troy with only a 20-year delay. Meanwhile, Penelope is held captive by a group of suitors in his castle, all with one goal: to marry her. Ithaca is in ruins. Odysseus, the king, has a mental breakdown, his son, Telemachus, the heir, faces an existential crisis, and Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, the queen, wants these suitors out of her home. Can you see the shipwreck coming?

Odysseus had enough time to get home, settle in, and f— in the amount of time since Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes last appeared on screen. After Wuthering Heights and The English Patient, the two actors tested their chemistry again, and it seems Aphrodite continues to bless them. Binoche doesn’t need to be a witch; she already knows how to disarm Fiennes. Their relationship is the only relic from that journey: raw and tender, walking a fine line between love and hatred, forgiveness and revenge.

The image of a submissive Penelope is long gone; in this movie, she gives him a hard time. Perhaps Odysseus should have stayed with the sheep, and the Cyclops—even their wrath wasn’t as bad as hers.

This film is the passion project of both director Uberto Pasolini and Fiennes, who had long wanted to direct it himself. It might be a case of overthinking things—sometimes, you just have to do it, though perhaps some things should have stayed in Pandora’s Box. Focusing on the king’s return to his city, this adaptation feels more like a Shakespearean production at the Globe Theatre than an actual movie. After all, one of the co-screenwriters, the deceased Edward Bond, was an English playwright. You might think they tried to stay faithful to the source material’s ancient language, but in doing so, they seem to have strayed from the story. Here, Athena is missing, the reveal of Penelope’s ruse is altered, and even the bed scene is changed.

The changes made by Bond and John Collee could have been left on the shore if Pasolini had found a way to disarm us with his realization. Like Orpheus, however, he failed in his task. Using a natural set might have lent the film some realism, but instead, it feels even more surreal watching Fiennes run through the woods in ancient underwear. The use of what seems to be a Byzantine castle might make some history buffs wish to reinstate Prometheus’ curse.

And for those who will take on the Herculean task of watching this movie, just know that the resolution scene goes faster than slaying a hydra. It will almost make you miss Troy (2004); at least we had Brad Pitt’s butt in it.

The chemistry between the two leads and Charlie Plummer’s debut as Telemachus are the only survivors of this journey. The director and the screenwriters have succumbed to the sirens’ song, and now the film is sinking. Wouldn’t it be nice to know beforehand if a movie should be made? Next time, ask Cassandra.

Watch the trailer for The Return here: