{"id":830111,"date":"2026-07-27T22:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830111\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T22:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:36:09","slug":"the-odyssey-translator-emily-wilson-slams-christopher-nolan-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830111\/","title":{"rendered":"The Odyssey Translator Emily Wilson Slams Christopher Nolan Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tChristopher Nolan<\/a> cited Emily Wilson\u2019s 2017 translation of \u201cThe Odyssey<\/a>\u201d as an influence on his own interpretation of Homer\u2019s epic poem while on the press tour for his latest blockbuster. Wilson is not returning the favor. In a negative review of Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d for the London Review of Books (via The Guardian<\/a>), Wilson criticized Nolan\u2019s adaptation for lacking \u201cpsychological, emotional, political and ethical depth.\u201d The author, who is also a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, added that Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d has \u201cnothing convincing to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI had hoped that Nolan\u2019s affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. But\u00a0\u2018The Odyssey\u2019\u00a0features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality \u2026 the film\u2019s vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas \u2013 although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants,\u201d Wilson\u2019s scathing review reads.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe adds: \u201cNolan\u2019s \u2018Odyssey\u2019 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\u2019s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbors. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNolan sung Wilson\u2019s praises during his press tour for \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d telling Empire magazine<\/a> that he used the opening line of her translation (\u201cTell me about a complicated man\u201d) as a guide for bringing his Odysseus (Matt Damon) to life on the big screen. But Wilson concluded of Nolan\u2019s film: \u201cI would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWilson previously spoke about her criticisms of Nolan\u2019s movie in a Sunday Times interview<\/a>, although she did admit the movie was having a positive effect on the culture\u2019s interest in Homer and \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d at large. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe release of \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 is still an event to celebrate,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThis epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas \u2026 translations of \u2018Odyssey,\u2019 including mine, are flying off the shelves \u2026 [and] perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAudiences don\u2019t appear to be sharing Wilson\u2019s dissatisfaction with Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey.\u201d The movie received an \u201cA\u201d CinemaScore during its opening weekend and has turned into one of the year\u2019s biggest blockbusters at the box office. The film earned a massive $90 million in its second weekend domestically.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Odyssey\u201d is now playing in theaters nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christopher Nolan cited Emily Wilson\u2019s 2017 translation of \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d as an influence on his own interpretation of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,101938,75,29185],"class_list":["post-830111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-entertainment","tag-the-odyssey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}