



Slow, deliberate, downbeat talkathon about Odysseus’ return from the siege of Troy to his home island of Ithaca. Director Paoslini’s deadening hand gives his actors no chance as they enunciate their lines to camera with laughably intense import. Ralph Fiennes has to emote, Juliette Binoche has to sulk. None of it is believable while the plot (such as it is) trundles along with endless court rivalries about who shall be the next king.
It’s more like a BBC heritage drama than a big-screen feature film (‘I Claudius‘ was far superior). According to the DVD Extras, Pasolini had been trying to get the script written for 30 years and the angle he chose to highlight was family dynamics. Yep, you heard right. No wonder it took so long to get the green light. One of the great sagas of ancient history reduced to the level of a stagey and inconsequential soap opera.