Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche in Homer Odyssey

In The Return, a soldier comes home after being away for many years at war, looking haggard and exhausted. His friends don’t recognize him, he has a difficult time readjusting to society and even his wife doesn’t seem to know who he is. It seems a fairly familiar story, except that the main characters’ names are Odysseus and Penelope, the setting is the island of Ithaca and the war took place in Troy. Yes, this film — receiving its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before a theatrical release later this year — is an adaptation of a section of Homer’s The Odyssey.

But don’t expect appearances by gods or goddesses or mythological creatures created by the likes of Ray Harryhausen. Rather, director/co-screenwriter Uberto Pasolini (Still Life, Nowhere Special) strips the tale to its bare essentials, resulting in a stark, solemnly paced experience that viewers will find either enervating or thrilling.

The story begins with Odysseus washed up on the shoreline, the waves lapping at his naked body (Ralph Fiennes has transformed himself into a sinewy muscularity, and the impressive results are fully displayed). He is befriended by a swineherd, Eumaeus (Claudio Santamaria), who apparently doesn’t recognize him. He tells Odysseus that Queen Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is still alive, and so is her son Telemachus (Charlie Plummer, Lean on Pete), who has devoted himself to protecting his mother from the many men who long to be her new husband. She fends them off by weaving a shroud in the daylight hours and announcing that she’ll take a new husband when it’s completed, but she secretly undoes her work every night.

“No man by her side?” Odysseus asks, his voice quavering, revealing his insecurity upon returning home after a 20-year absence. He’s subsequently treated derisively by the men in the village, who respond to his plaintive plea, “Something for an old soldier?” with taunts and insults. But when he’s prodded into a brawl, Odysseus reveals his fighting skills, managing to kill his much larger and younger opponent.

Odysseus’ loyal hunting dog, aged and infirm, clearly recognizes him, dying peacefully just moments later. But when Odysseus finally encounters Penelope, she fails to realize who he is, peppering him with questions in the hope of learning something of her husband’s fate. The scene, performed mostly in darkness, is beautifully played by Fiennes and Binoche, their expressive faces speaking volumes more than their mostly silent characters.

The film is a long slow burn as Odysseus begins to reemerge both literally and metaphorically from the shadows, contending with such figures as Penelope’s unscrupulous suitor Antinous (Marwan Kenzari, Aladdin) and his devoted former housekeeper Eurycleia (a very moving Ángela Molina, Live Flesh), who immediately identifies him from his scars. Eventually, things come to a head with an archery contest in which the winner is to become Penelope’s husband and the new king, which Odysseus enters and immediately turns into a bloodbath.

Reminiscent of another Pasolini, Pier Paolo, in its minimalist take on a classic story, the film relies mainly on the elemental power of Fiennes and Binoche, both suitably haunting as the long-separated lovers who have lapsed into emotional despair. The storyline involving Plummer’s Telemachus proves less convincing, with the younger actor struggling to come to grips with his role and seeming far too contemporary. Director Pasolini, working from a screenplay co-written with John Collee (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) and the late Edward Bond (Blow-Up), employs a stark visual style, with the simple costumes and scenery providing little distraction. The approach works up to a point, but with its nearly two-hour running time The Return eventually taxes patience with its austerity.