The Return: Fiennes and Binoche Reunite in an Ancient Tale with Modern Resonance

By Karen Gordon

Rating: B

For this movie lover, there are few things as soul-satisfying as watching a remarkable actor — or in the case of The Return, two remarkable actors — do their work. 

And I feel doubly blessed to have seen two recent movies starring the superb Ralph Fiennes, an actor who seems incapable of giving a bad performance or of conveying a false note.  He has already been touted as an Oscar contender for his lead role as the burdened priest in the movie Conclave. 

Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche as Odysseus and Penelope in The Return

The Return is unlikely to make the same waves. But it is a reunion that once again pairs Fiennes with his acting equal Juliette Binoche. This is also her second movie of the year. If you have not seen The Taste of Things, released in early 2024, I'd urge you to seek it out.

This is the third time they've worked together on screen after 1992’s Wuthering Heights, and the 1996 classic The English Patient, which won Binoche a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Watching them is worth the price of admission. 

The Return is based on a portion of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey.   It tells the story of Odysseus (Fiennes), the King of Ithaca, returning home after being away for 20 years. 

For the first decade, he led his army in the siege of Troy, ultimately destroying it. But 10 more years have gone by and he has not yet returned home, and his absence has created problems for Ithaca and left a power vacuum.

As the film begins, Odysseus arrives on the shoreline, naked and barely alive.  He is unrecognizable, initially mistaken for a beggar, and content to stay that way while he rebuilds strength and takes account of what is going on in his kingdom.  His wife, Penelope (Binoche) has been under siege in her own way.  

With Odysseus gone for so long, most people believe he is dead. Suitors have come to the island, and are now demanding that Penelope pick a new husband who will become king and inherit whatever riches remain.  

The suitors range in ages and disposition from the volatile and violent Polybus (Jamie Andrew Cutler) to the more refined Antinous (Marwan Kenzari).  Antinous seems to be the closest to Penelope, approaching her in her private room, and speaking softly, although when she deflects from giving him the answer he wants, the facade of gentlemanliness gives way to demands and threats.

Penelope refuses to believe that Odysseus is dead and plays a quietly strategic game, doing what she can to resist the increasing pressure, and the rising violent mood as more suitors arrive vying for position. To buy time, she says she will not choose her husband until she has finished weaving a shroud for her elderly father-in-law.

Odysseus and Penelope have a son, Telemachus (Charlie Plummer) who, in spite of having never met his father, also believes he’s still alive. He tries to defend his mother from the impatient horde of suitors, who start to plot his murder as their frustration with her inaction grows.

Forced to make a move, Penelope announces that she will choose her next husband by a contest, involving a show of skill, based on a feat that only Odysseus could accomplish. All of the suitors as well as Odysseus (still in the guise of a beggar) show up to the contest. 

Director Uberto Pasolini keeps the action in The Return at a very slow boil, taking his time with the story.  The film sometimes feels like a filmed stage play with the focus on the interaction between the characters. The menace comes from the way the suitors start to maneuver for power in their own ranks.

Even as the film heads towards the contest and its ensuing violence, there is much less of an emotional impact than in a more conventional mainstream movie. That may be the film's weakest point. At the same time, it may be that Pasolini wants us to look more thoughtfully at the story of Odysseus and how war and the years of being away from his home have affected him.

Pasolini has taken a classic, set thousands of years In the past, and very subtly pulled out themes about masculinity and power, about the psychological and emotional toll of war and PTSD, and its way of changing a person’s way of being. These are things that, unfortunately, still speak to the modern world.

The Return. Directed by Uberto Pasolini, written by Edward Bond, John Colee, and Homer. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche and Charlie Plummer. In theatres Friday, December 6.