Typical Hollywood no brainer: Adapt an enduring Greek myth with worldwide appeal into a flashy blockbuster, taking advantage of characters with whom storytellers have been well acquainted for literally thousands for years. Not quite so common alternative: Adapt the least known part of a famous myth, focusing almost entirely on human drama rather than fantastical elements. And yet that’s the choice that the team behind the upcoming The Return made, taking Homer’s Odyssey and narrowing the scope entirely to the final chapter, when fabled hero Odysseus finally makes his way back home to his kingdom of Ithaca, only to find things in shambles. It’s a curious choice, one that is steeped in potential drama, but obviously limits the commercial appeal of a well-known story. To use a Lord of the Rings analogy, it’s a bit like if someone chose to adapt Tolkien’s most famous work by skipping the entire quest to Mount Doom and then picking up with the Hobbits returned to their own country to fight some ruffians in “the scouring of The Shire.” That’s how the below trailer for The Return makes us feel.
The wonderful Ralph Fiennes is playing the wily Odysseus here, a Greek hero known for his quick wit and ability to think and scheme his way out of trouble, even having been credited with the deployment of the famed Trojan Horse during the war. This, however, is years later–Odysseus has been traveling home for decades, frequently lost and battling monsters, gods and supernatural calamities … none of which will be depicted in The Return. Rather, this story picks up with the now depleted hero finally arriving in Ithaca and finding that his wife and son are caught in a dangerous game of usurpation. As the official synopsis puts it:
Odysseus (Fiennes) washes up on the shores of his home island Ithaca after twenty years fighting in and returning from the Trojan War. Scarred by his experiences he is unrecognisable from the mighty warrior king that left, 20 years before. His wife Penelope (Binoche) is now a prisoner in her own home, hounded by many suitors to choose a new husband that would take the throne. Odysseus and Penelope’s son Telemachus (Plummer) is facing death at the hands of those who see him as a threat to their ambitions. Odysseus is forced to face his past in order to save his family and win back that which he has lost.
The Return is a British and Italian co-production directed by Uberto Pasolini, and its positioning in the heart of awards season (Dec. 6, 2024 release date) raises some eyebrows. One can’t help but wonder who producers see as the heart of the target demographic here: We have two romantic leads of more than 60 years old in the form of Fiennes and Juliette Binoche as Queen Penelope, in a story that could easily be adapted as a big-budget spectacle, instead seemingly told as more of an intimate character piece on a washed-up hero contending with his various failures. At the same time, the trailer is also trying to sell a certain level of action and visceral violence that might be a bit hard to accept from a 61-year-old Fiennes, undoubtedly ripped and wiry though he no doubt is. Still, it’s a little difficult to see this odd fusion of elements captivating the multiplex crowd–it feels decidedly more like a play for film geeks and senior audiences. Regardless, you can check out the first trailer for The Return below.
