‘Odyssey’ Translator Delivers Scathing Critique of Christopher Nolan’s Screenplay: “I Would Be Ashamed to Have Written Any Part of This Script”
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, during his press tour for his latest blockbuster, Christopher Nolan frequently cited Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of Homer’s epic masterpiece as one of his primary sources of inspiration. However, Wilson far from returned the praise, launching a blistering attack on Nolan’s cinematic adaptation in a scathing review for the London Review of Books.
Emily Wilson, a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, noted in her review that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey lacks psychological, emotional, political, and ethical depth, leaving the film with nothing convincing to say.
In a harsh passage of her critique, Wilson writes: “I had hoped that Nolan’s affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. But The Odyssey features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality. The film’s vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas—although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants!”
She continues: “Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great. It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends, and neighbours. Its narrative structure is gimmicky, and the writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible!”
Throughout the film’s press tour, Nolan repeatedly praised Wilson, telling Empire magazine that the opening line of her translation (“Tell me about a complicated man”) served as his main North Star in bringing Odysseus (played by Matt Damon) to life on the silver screen. Nevertheless, Wilson concluded her review bluntly: “I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.”
Wilson had previously voiced criticism of the adaptation in an interview with The Sunday Times, though she acknowledged that the film’s release has had a positive impact on rekindling public interest in Homer’s works and the Odyssey as a whole. “The release of The Odyssey is still an event to celebrate,” she remarked. “This epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas, driving sales of Odyssey translations—including mine—off the shelves, and perhaps persuading college administrators not to cut their literature, language, and history departments.”
Despite Wilson’s critical stance, general moviegoers appear to have embraced Nolan’s newest effort. The film earned a stellar “A” rating from CinemaScore during its opening weekend and quickly emerged as one of the year’s biggest box-office blockbusters, raking in a massive $90 million in North America during its second week alone.
