Note: This article covers a developing story. Stay tuned for more updates as we’ll continue covering the latest developments.
Christopher Nolan spent his press tour crediting one specific source for his take on Homer: Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of “The Odyssey,” and especially its opening line, “Tell me about a complicated man.” Wilson isn’t returning the compliment. In a review for the London Review of Books, the acclaimed translator delivered a scathing verdict on Nolan’s script, writing plainly that she would be ashamed to have written any part of it, according to ScreenRant.
A Compliment Not Returned
Nolan told Empire magazine during promotion for the film that Wilson’s opening line helped shape how he approached Matt Damon’s Odysseus, according to Variety. Wilson had previously sounded more measured about the project, telling the Sunday Times that the film’s release was still worth celebrating even before she’d laid out her full critique, per Variety.
That measured tone didn’t carry over to her LRB piece. Running roughly 4,000 words, the review methodically works through what Wilson sees as the film’s shortcomings before landing on its harshest line, according to AV Club. Her core complaint isn’t really about plot details but about character: she argues Nolan’s version reduces Odysseus from the morally complicated figure of Homer’s poem into something closer to a conventional action hero, according to World of Reel.
What She Actually Said
Wilson also took issue with specific creative choices, including what she described as the film glossing over Odysseus’ entanglement with Calypso, and raised objections to other content decisions made in adapting the material for a modern audience, according to ComicBasics. She wasn’t shy about taking the criticism beyond the review itself, either — World of Reel noted she continued airing complaints about the adaptation on social media after the piece published.
The review’s reach caught even the London Review of Books off guard. The publication’s website reportedly went down early this week as traffic to the piece spiked, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Success at the Box Office, Not on the Page
The criticism arrives at an odd moment for the film commercially. “The Odyssey” has been breaking box office records for Universal and drawing largely positive reviews elsewhere, positioning it as an awards-season contender even as its most credentialed literary critic tears into the script, according to Hollywood Reporter.
Wilson hasn’t been entirely negative, though. She’s acknowledged that the film is driving renewed interest in Homer’s work, pointing out that translations of “The Odyssey,” including her own, are selling briskly, and voicing hope that the movie’s success might discourage universities from cutting literature and classics programs, according to Hollywood Reporter. That kind of cultural ripple effect fits into a broader resurgence of interest in Homer’s epic that predates the film itself, from new stage adaptations to competing translations hitting shelves in recent years, according to the Harvard Gazette.
For now, Nolan hasn’t responded publicly to Wilson’s review.
