The Return

Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche are superb in this moody and poignant adaptation of the final sections of Homer's Odyssey.

The Return tells the story of the mythical hero, Odysseus who, after 20 years away, washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognisable. The king has returned from the Trojan War, but much has changed in his kingdom. His beloved wife Penelope is a prisoner in her own home, hounded by suitors vying to be king and planning the death of their son.

Shattered by his experience of war, Odysseus must rediscover his strength in order to win back all that he has lost. Uberto Pasolini's adaptation of the final section of Homer's Odyssey is, unusually, neither an effects-laden epic, nor a wordy theatrical piece, but instead an accessibly told, poignant drama about the human cost of war, anchored around two superb performances from Fiennes and Binoche.