With its serious dialogue, pauses and intense drama, The Return plays something like an opera without the singing and music. Source: Australian Catholics.
One of the most significant returns in classical literature is that of Odysseus and his long journey after the end of the Trojan War to his native Ithaca. In the past, there have been a number of films about the adventures of Odysseus/Ulysses on the trip home.
The Return focuses on the last part of Homer’s epic, which means that there are none of the adventurous and mythological episodes.
The film opens with a naked Odysseus stranded on the beach of Ithaca. He is found and cared for by a sympathetic slave. When Odysseus revives, he keeps his identity secret and appears as a beggar.
It is a gripping personal drama, especially with Fiennes as Odysseus. The audience appreciates what is happening to him not only through what he says but also with the intensity that Fiennes communicates with his body language.
Penelope (Binoche) is the wife that he left behind. She waits for him, believing that he will return. Besieged by suitors, she sits at her loom daily, declaring she will name a suitor after she finishes the garment she is working on but pulls it apart at night, to start again the next day.
She has been waiting 20 years – 10 years of the Trojan war and 10 years of her husband’s travels. There is also their son, Telemachus (Plummer), disturbed by his father’s absence, by his mother’s behaviour, and the collapsed state of Ithaca in Odysseus’s absence.
Ithaca is in chaos. There is a mounting number of suitors for her hand, lounging around, violent, demanding of Penelope. And she continues to resist, supported by her devoted nurse (Molina).
And, so the questions. Will Odysseus make himself known? Will Penelope recognise him after this time? How will he encounter his son and what will be Telemachus’ reaction? And what of the suitors and their idleness, exploiting the inhabitants of Ithaca?
The climax builds and suddenly violence is let loose.
The Return is like an opera without music. Others have suggested that it is performed rather in the manner of a Shakespearean play.
Review by Fr Peter Malone MSC, Jesuit Media
The Return: Starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer, Marwan Kenzari. Directed by Uberto Pasolini. 116 minutes. Rated M (mature themes and violence).
FULL REVIEW
The Return (Australian Catholics)
