The Return (2024)
April 11, 2025 2:39 PM - Subscribe
After 20 years Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca, where he finds his wife held prisoner by suitors vying to be king and his son facing death at their hands. To win back his family and all he has lost, Odysseus must rediscover his strength.
On the Guardian today: Epic win: why the Odyssey is having a moment
Part of the reason it is in the air right now, he thinks, is that it is “maybe not just postwar, but maybe post-ideological. It’s about a world in which all the old certainties have crumbled.” What he calls the “post-ness” of the Odyssey is, he says, “not just that the Trojan war is over, but that everything everyone counted on during the war, including the model of heroism that made the war possible, is now over”posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:01 AM on April 12
I want to believe the fact that this came out 20 years after Troy (2004) was intentional
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 6:10 PM on April 14 [2 favorites]
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 6:10 PM on April 14 [2 favorites]
"Odysseus, but a drama just around the part with suitors" would have sold me, "Penelope is played by Juliette Binoche" put it into how-have-I-not-already-seen-this territory. Well, I watched it last night.
I could go on a lot about how much I liked this and how it interacts with the original epic. I think Odysseus tends to often gets the roll of a snake in these re-imaginings, which is an easy spin (especially if you refuse to look at how the epic actually treats his years with Calypso, which is entirely "abused partner" and not at all "frolicking with a nymph"). So it was nice to see him taken seriously (if deeply damaged and flawed.)
There's apparently a reading of Odysseus' first meeting with Penelope on his return that has her knowing who he was all along, and both of them feeling each other out (which really isn't in the plain text). This is the reading the movie seems to have taken, and I just loved Juliette Binoche's almost whispered "Give your father his bow" to Telemachus ahead of that final confrontation, revealing what she knows and what she's decided in one quiet line.
posted by mark k at 9:26 PM on April 14 [2 favorites]
I could go on a lot about how much I liked this and how it interacts with the original epic. I think Odysseus tends to often gets the roll of a snake in these re-imaginings, which is an easy spin (especially if you refuse to look at how the epic actually treats his years with Calypso, which is entirely "abused partner" and not at all "frolicking with a nymph"). So it was nice to see him taken seriously (if deeply damaged and flawed.)
There's apparently a reading of Odysseus' first meeting with Penelope on his return that has her knowing who he was all along, and both of them feeling each other out (which really isn't in the plain text). This is the reading the movie seems to have taken, and I just loved Juliette Binoche's almost whispered "Give your father his bow" to Telemachus ahead of that final confrontation, revealing what she knows and what she's decided in one quiet line.
posted by mark k at 9:26 PM on April 14 [2 favorites]
I think in Homer, Odysseus' appearance is magically transformed. But without the supernatural elements, it's hard to believe that someone who knew Ralph Fiennes in his forties can't recognize him in his sixties. So while there is some ambiguity, I was guessing that she knew who he was from the start.
I listened to a podcast lately where a classicist made an interesting point. Euripides wrote two plays featuring Helen of Troy. In "Helen" she never actually goes to Troy and is replaced by a kind of hologram. In "The Trojan Women" though she's just physically in Troy. The ancient Greeks were fine with different interpretations of stories where different events happen to fit different dramatic purposes.
So while I've seen some complaints about this movie taking out the monsters and changing the orders of events, that's exactly the kind of thing a Greek dramatist would have done. Similarly I was fine with Odysseus being a terse, weary character instead of a motormouth with a thousand cunning plans.
There's always the Christopher Nolan / Matt Damon movie coming out in a year or so, be interesting to see what that take is like.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:47 AM on April 15 [2 favorites]
I listened to a podcast lately where a classicist made an interesting point. Euripides wrote two plays featuring Helen of Troy. In "Helen" she never actually goes to Troy and is replaced by a kind of hologram. In "The Trojan Women" though she's just physically in Troy. The ancient Greeks were fine with different interpretations of stories where different events happen to fit different dramatic purposes.
So while I've seen some complaints about this movie taking out the monsters and changing the orders of events, that's exactly the kind of thing a Greek dramatist would have done. Similarly I was fine with Odysseus being a terse, weary character instead of a motormouth with a thousand cunning plans.
There's always the Christopher Nolan / Matt Damon movie coming out in a year or so, be interesting to see what that take is like.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:47 AM on April 15 [2 favorites]
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The movie strips out both the supernatural elements of the story, and the most horrific parts of the revenge where the slaves are killed. It keeps it ambiguous whether the Trojan Horse was actually real or just a story as well. I think those decisions work well for the story they want to tell, as it gives the movie a realistic feel and keeps some sympathy for Telemachus and Odysseus.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:47 PM on April 11