Odyssey translator writes scathing review of Nolan film adaptation

Sir Christopher Nolan’s latest film, The Odyssey, may have won rave reviews from critics and done storming business at the box office – but one person is definitely not happy.

Emily Wilson, the academic whose 2017 translation of Homer’s Odyssey was cited by the director as an influence on his adaptation of the poem, has written a scathing review of the movie.

Published in the London Review of Books, Wilson said she “would be ashamed to have written any of this script”, describing the film’s narrative structure as “gimmicky.”

“The writing is abysmal,” she said. “None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.”

“It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth,” Wilson wrote, while also acknowledging that Sir Christopher’s work had sparked renewed interest in Homer’s classic.

“The release of The Odyssey is still an event to celebrate,” Wilson noted.

“This epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas… translations of Odyssey, including mine, are flying off the shelves… [and] perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments.

“Nolan… is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful.”

But she was left largely disappointed by the three-hour epic

“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,” she wrote.

“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.”

Wilson added that her teenagers had “had a good time” seeing the blockbuster at the cinema.

“It’s a family-friendly audiovisual spectacle, like an elaborate Fourth of July fireworks display – and with about the same level of narrative and emotional depth,” she said.

“There are more female characters than in most Nolan movies, thanks to the source material. But none of them has much to say, in contrast to the characterisations in the poem.”

During his press tour for the film, Sir Christopher told Empire magazine that he used the opening line of Wilson’s translation (“Tell me about a complicated man”) as a guide for his Odysseus, played by Matt Damon.

In contrast to Wilson’s take, the latest adaptation has received rapturous reviews from film critics.

It is the director’s first movie since 2023’s Oppenheimer, which won the Academy Award for best picture.

The Telegraph declared The Odyssey the “film of the year”, while Metro added that the movie would “change cinema forever”.

The Times described it as “a masterpiece in every way”, and the Standard praised the film as a “colossal piece of cinema”.

The Odyssey, which was released earlier this month, stars Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong’o.

It follows Odysseus (Damon), the Greek king of Ithaca, on his long and perilous journey home from the Trojan War to rescue his wife and son (Hathaway and Holland).