The Return (2024) directed by Uberto Pasolini. There are no gods and no monsters in this version of The Odyssey. The narrative starts with Odysseus washing up on the shores of Ithaca. This is a family drama, a homecoming, that meditates upon how war and distance and absence and loss transform someone in ways, perhaps unimaginable and unreturnable. And there are others (the suitors) to get out of the way before intimacy can be revisited.
Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus and Juliette Binoche as Penelope carry the film. The rest of the cast doesn't really have much to do other than orbit around the couple at the center of the story., or doesn't know how to live into their roles, or both; they are caricatures and shadow puppets.
The colors of this film are rich, and the cinematography is scrumptious. The film is a slow burn with a satisfying scene of Odysseus slaying the suitors, although I actually wish it had been a bit more intense.
It's good and I would see it again, but this won't be everyone's goblet of wine.
Streamed on Kanopy, via the Pierce County Library System.
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