Juliette Binoche, Ralph Fiennes reunite for 'The Return' after 28 years

Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes finally reunited onscreen in The Return, which has its world premiere on Saturday, September 7 at the Toronto Film Festival.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, it is directed by Uberto Pasolini and the film is said to be a retelling of Homer’s Odyssey when Odysseus, who Fiennes portrays, after 20 years away at war, washes up on the shores of Ithaca, his old kingdom.

As per the publication, his wife Penelope, who Binoche is portraying, is a prisoner in her own home, fighting off suitors who want to marry her and become king.

Moreover, when Odysseus returns, he’s driven to reclaim his crown and take his revenge. Their son, Telemachus, played by Charlie Plummer of Lean on Pete, gets caught in the middle, under threat from the suitors who would rather see him dead and desperate to prove himself worthy of his father’s “heroic” legacy.

While speaking on a joint Zoom meeting with Ralph ahead of TIFF, Juliette stated, “We remained friends, throughout all those years, since The English Patient. So it was just joyful to be able to reconnect onscreen. Ralph is not lying down this time, but I think Penelope is a kind of nurse, for being so patient of this ‘new patient’ who comes back to Ithaca.”

Additionally, they weren’t looking for a project to do together as Ralph added, “friendship isn’t always about working together. It’s about talking together, sharing a meal together.”

As per the outlet, when the opportunity came for him to play Odysseus opposite Binoche’s Penelope, he said, “well it was, as you Americans say, a no-brainer. Juliette is like a compass for me, she has such an extraordinary, intuitive depth and understanding about what it is to act on film.”

Furthermore, The Return is a million miles from The English Patient. 

According to the publication's reports, "instead of a romantic epic, the film is pared back and raw."