Nostos: The Return

Odysseus is on a ship with his weary crew, his body and eyes tired. He experiences flashbacks to his childhood and brutal memories from the Trojan War that emphasize civilian suffering. These visions set a grim, dreamlike mood as the sea rolls beneath them.

The ship docks and Odysseus goes ashore alone to explore a cave. He hears strange singing and calls out for his mother, drawn toward the mystery. The moment blends curiosity with a haunting, otherworldly atmosphere.

Returning from the cave, Odysseus finds his crew missing and the ship empty. He ventures inland to search for his comrades, moving through unfamiliar terrain. The absence of his men heightens the sense of isolation.

He enters a rocky dwelling filled with nude men and women who seem unable to move. A silent woman opens a large seashell and allows him to embrace her, deepening the surreal, dreamlike tone. The encounter hints at the limits of his agency in this strange world.

He wakes up in a cave where several people, including his crew, are sleeping. He rouses his crew and the group sets off again together. The scene reorients the journey toward the open sea.

During the voyage the sea is calm for a period and singing is heard. A female figure briefly appears in the water, heightening the dreamlike mood. A sudden storm then hits and wrecks the ship.

Odysseus wakes on a beach alone as clothes and helmets wash ashore and he cries out in torment. He wanders the lush landscape and meets a woman who lets him seduce her, and he stays with her for a time. Memories of his childhood and homeland haunt him throughout.

He sets off alone on a simple raft that soon falls apart. While swimming at night, he has auditory hallucinations of warfare; the sounds fade as he fixes his gaze on the moon.

In a somber vision, he walks through a ruin-filled landscape and reaches a palace that is a dark underground passage filled with human skulls. He runs toward the light at the end of the passage and appears to fall back into the sea.

Waking again on a beach, he traverses land full of animals and greenery and arrives at his palace. In the atrium, a girl rolls a hoop, echoing a childhood memory, while a shadow of a woman places flowers in a vase. He whispers the name Penelope as the final image shows a woman folding fabric into a chest.