An absent father and unfaithful husband, Odysseus returns to Ithaca with one last chance, as Jordan Peterson would say, to clean his room.
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“The Return” is a rare gem from Hollywood; a psychological drama with powerful understated acting performances and beautiful locations. It’s a retelling of the suitor’s arc at the very end of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. It seems like a risk to focus on the least fantastical part of the poem, but there is plenty of material to mine about masculinity, mid-life, failure, and overcoming oneself.
ThefilmstarsRalphFiennesasOdysseusandJulietteBinocheasPenelope.Thepairwaslastseentogetherin“TheEnglishPatient,”andtheirchemistryisevenbetter30yearslater.Bothoftheirperformancesareextremelyintenseandmesmerizingtowatch.DirectedbyUbertoPasolini,hedoesafantasticjobimmersingtheviewerinancientIthacainavisceralway,theislandfeelssmallandthecharactersfeelreal.TherearenolargespecialeffectspiecesandyoumightthinkthereisnotenoughcontentinthispartofTheOdysseytofleshoutafullfilm,butPasoliniletshisactorsandscriptbuildupthenecessarysuspen
