‘The Return’ (2024) Movie Review - Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche in an Inert Drama

Here's the opening text: After ten years of carnage, the city of Troy has fallen, and the victorious Greeks set sail for home. Years pass. On the island of Ithaca, Queen Penelope still longs for the return of her husband Odysseus. Her son Telemachus waits for the father he never knew. While restless suitors lay waste the land and press the Queen to choose a new king.

Uberto Pasolini's The Return provides this context and refuses to develop further. It presents Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) as a tortured warrior, Penelope (Juliette Binoche) as a grieving wife, and Telemachus (Charlie Plummer) as a spoiled, bullied child (he calls his mother a whore). The suitors behave like cartoonish thugs, and one of them, Antinous (Marwan Kenzari), really loves Penelope, but these feelings don't give any complex shades to this character. When the movie begins, Odysseus is found naked on the shores of Ithaca. Eumaeus (Claudio Santamaria) comes across the psychologically scarred ruler and offers him shelter. The rest of the film is about whether Odysseus will reveal his identity (no one recognizes him), return to his palace, and save his kingdom.

This description suggests intrigue and drama; however, both elements are noticeably absent in The Return. We immediately recognize Odysseus and have little doubt about his eventual return to the palace (I mean, read the title). Since the characters are merely provided with one-line descriptions, they look dull and fail to add suspense. Penelope often comes across people having sex. These scenes, however, are neither charged with an erotic spark nor do they suggest whether she purposefully seeks out these people to satisfy her desires or simply stumbles upon them. And why would anybody want to be the king of this wasteland? The so-called palace, like the land it's built on, appears barren. The citizens seem to mostly consist of goons and a few - very few - good men. Most of them, we are told, have already deserted the island. Good for them. The actors, though, are trapped, and their boredom is palpable. Binoche looks sad, and her sadness seems to be originating from the fact that she said yes to this material. Fiennes' Odysseus is haunted by his past - he has endured many nightmares. This tragedy, though, simply exists on the surface as a line, as an expression. We hear about it but don't feel its effect. Odysseus looks like a miserable beggar - a loser. You want to slap him so he can quickly come to his senses, accept his royal role, and save the audience from more tedium.

Pasolini isn't able to generate a tone or an atmosphere, leaving the film painfully inert and lifeless. The Return appears comatose, and it shakes a little when Odysseus picks up his bow and kills the suitors. This violence offers a feeble indication of life; otherwise, the movie languishes in a state of stagnation. There is a subtext suggesting that a woman needs a man to have influence, but this point gets lost somewhere. The staid visuals, along with nearly blank characters, do nothing to engage our senses. When a dog smells his master after many years, it lies down quietly instead of jumping with joy. At first, I thought he was dead. Then, I realized that dogs are intelligent creatures. The animal must have sensed the film's nature and recognized it as something dry, sober, and lifeless. The dog's performance aligns with Pasolini's vision; by embracing the film's style, he proves himself to be a good boy.

Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times