"The Return" manages to make a familiar story emotional and tense. It's a dystopian tale where crime and corruption are rampant and Queen Penelope is constantly under threat. It's entirely understandable that men from all over the world would rush to get their hands on a woman like Binoche, but the film makes it clear that their choice doesn't depend on who the suitors are. No, she must choose a suitor or deal with violent, rape-hungry men. If the film has a flaw, it's that it sets Penelope's daily walk at night. In such an atmosphere, a woman would not go out at night. Browse film on Afdah Live.
The scene is constructed to serve two purposes: the infidelity of the supposed suitors and their servants, and her longing for her husband. At the end, the dual purpose of her loom is cleverly revealed: it is not just a story she is telling to delay the rose ceremony. The plot twist also gives Odysseus the opportunity to prove that he is simply built differently from the other men. She's a clever woman, but she can't stop them forever. Binoche plays Penelope with understandable anger, even after Odysseus turns up. After all, he put Penelope in danger and spent precious time trying to save her. No spoilers for a story told before Christ. Sorry, no sorry.
Plus, Penelope is a single mother trying to protect her donkey son. Are the suitors sure that Telemachus is annoying and doesn't want to kill him? In the book, he comes across as more noble and down to earth, but here he seems like a moody twenty-something, so his translation is not so good. When Eurycleia (Angela Molina), Odysseus's childhood nurse and Odysseus' most loyal servant, also known as the translator of Penelope's anger, starts beating Odysseus, it's hard not to cheer. Eurycleia is not a woman who abhors violence. Molina actually hums "Ohhhhh, I know," and has a lot of fun playing a character who can't wait for someone to open a can of ass-kicking on an uninvited guest, and who spends more time fooling around with Fiennes than Binoche ever has. Odysseus then carries out his threat: "Wait until your father comes home." But there's also a certain tension, as if Odysseus misjudged his movements or his strength, he could easily snap the boy in half. Plummer plays a sympathetic beast in All the Money in the World (2017), but the blame must go to Italian director and co-writer Uberto Pasolini and screenwriters Edward Bond (deceased) and John Corry. 20s of the 21st century.