This film is based upon the final portion of Homer’s Odyssey, wherein Odysseus finally returns home to Ithaca, where his faithful wife Penelope is staving off a horde of unworthy suitors.
I started to watch it because various sources said that it contains graphic nudity. Sorry, that turned out to be Ralph Fiennes’ dick. There is some female nudity, but it is incidental. Queen Penelope spied some couples making love as she wandered through the castle.
Video – Brief boobs from Magaajyia Silberfeld –
Unfortunately for me, I am a lit-nerd, so I got hooked on the story and lost a couple of precious hours that I should have been spending on the latest nude scenes. I was especially curious to see how the film would explain the fact that it took Odysseus ten years to sail from Troy to Ithaca, although he covered only some five hundred miles. Homer explains that by drawing upon the wrath of Poseidon
The film may have some gaps in logic, of which the ten-year sail is only one illustration of many I could bore you with, but it’s not without its triumphant moments. There is some excellent performing by Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, especially in their scenes together, and most particularly in the scene where Odysseus is pretending to be an anonymous old soldier.
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Footnote #1: Homer, if there was such a person, always explained the impossible by blaming divine intervention. The ancient scholars even had a term for this form of literary cheating: “ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός.” It was called “deus ex machina” in Latin, and that version of the expression has endured to this day in literary criticism. In the case of Homer’s yarns, I believe the need to use the gods as crutches is probably something that evolved over time as the stories were transmitted orally. I discussed this hypothesis in my review of Troy.
Christopher Nolan wanting another Oscar? Possibly. We’ll see if it will be another masterpiece. And it could be quite promising in terms of nudity too, we’ll see.
Directors do seem to get randier as they get older, I was pleasantly surprised by the Pugh sex scenes in Oppenheimer
Even the greatest directors in the history of cinema like nudity in their films from time to time. Remember Margot Robbie’s full-frontal nude debut in Martin Scorcese’s Wolf of Well Street. The beautiful Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut, by Stanley Kubrick. And Florence Pugh in Nolan’s Oppenheimer. And there were other great actresses nude in films by great directors
Thanks to the Simpsons, I can only picture this movie containing the line “Discus Stu has ouzo for two-zo”.
Thanks for the Fiennes-dick warning though. No one wants to see that except maybe Mrs. Fiennes.
Despite Dakota Johnson & even Tilda Swinton being naked, that one (can’t even remember the title) where Fiennes was dancing around naked like a dork was among the more disturbing watches of my life
Probably “A Bigger Splash” (2015)?
It makes you think, when you call a movie a classic, because people still watch it after 30-50 years, and the Homer epics are still discussed, retold, remade, after thousands of years have passed. The true definition of archetype.
Also, he’s such an everyman goofball.
Oh, sorry, wrong guy.
Yes. I for one wish more people watched movies from a thousand years ago.
I remember a lit Prof in college telling us when he started on the book, “Despite what you’ve heard, it was not written by Homer, but by another man who called himself Homer.”
On such subtle distinctions entire academic careers turn. That’s why I bailed on the liberal arts, went into science. There’s always one unambiguous answer in the back of the book. Well, through all of the easy classes, at least.
This is why we appreciate you so much, Scoop; it’s not all about the nude scenes. And despite the fact that the only significant nudity in this one was Voldemort’s wand, we still got a whole commentary on the movie and that footnote on Homer and the concept of deus ex machina. We’d never get that from Mr. Skin or anyone else.
You want the scene here:
Video – Brief boobs from Magaajyia Silberfeld – The Return (2024)