Christopher Nolan‘s “The Odyssey” has become one of the year’s most talked-about releases, earning praise from audiences and some critics. However, not everyone has been impressed. After watching the film, classicist Emily Wilson wrote a lengthy review and delved into the different aspects of the movie, sharing why she thinks the elements that made Homer’s poem great were absent.
Emily Wilson is a classicist and translator who became the first woman to publish a complete English translation of “The Odyssey” in 2017. More than a week after the release of Christopher Nolan’s film, Wilson is sharing her blunt assessment of the movie that is currently dominating the box office.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker has said Wilson’s translation was one of the inspirations behind his decision to move forward with the project. “I think it’s the Emily Wilson translation that begins, ‘Tell me about a complicated man.’ The genius of the character, the cleverness, the inventiveness of him, that was a huge part of what interested me,” Nolan said, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Wilson wrote a 4,200-word review of “The Odyssey” for the London Review of Books, and as a whole, the classicist said, “Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words.” Moreover, Wilson criticized the missing sex scenes and the food, which in her opinion, looked “horrible.”
The Translator Said The Filmmaker Had ‘No Restraint’
The translator is admittedly a fan of Nolan’s, sharing that she enjoyed his early movies, citing “Following” and “Memento.” Wilson saw “The Odyssey” with her teen children and described it as a “big spectacle” and a “fun summer action movie.”
However, she also thinks the director is a “very good short story writer who’s always writing a 400-page novel,” citing the budget of his films, as she told Derek Thompson in an interview.
In her review of “The Odyssey,” Wilson noted that adaptations don’t need to strictly follow the original source. Nevertheless, she thought Nolan’s version had “no restraint.” “Every second is jam-packed with incident, lights and noise, and nothing is ever at a human scale,” she said, adding that the visual feast eclipsed the storyline.
Emily Wilson Said There Was ‘Nothing Progressive’ About The Film’s Casting
Beyond its ambitious scope, the movie’s casting was one of the online talking points months before “The Odyssey” premiere. Elon Musk was one of the most vocal critics, who said Nolan “lost his integrity” after learning that he cast Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy.
Wilson said there was “nothing progressive” about the “race-neutral casting” of “The Odyssey” and pointed out that the non-white actors and actresses were given roles that were only there to “provide aid to the white protagonist.”
She also discussed the number of female characters in the movie, saying that while there were more women in “The Odyssey” than in other Nolan films, they were not highlighted as much as they were in Homer’s poem.
The Translator Defended ‘The Odyssey’s Use Of American Speech
When the film’s trailer was released, many commented on the speech used in the movie. Nolan defended his choice, saying that he wanted to prioritize “language that has emotional, not intellectual meaning” to the audience.
On that aspect, Wilson agreed with the filmmaker, explaining that Homeric Greek wasn’t really a language that was spoken. Rather, it was mostly utilized for writing epic poems. “Despite the manufactured online outrage, there is nothing inherently wrong with the movie’s attempt to approximate contemporary American speech,” she wrote.
She did, however, have an issue with the dialogue, which she described as “humourless and flat.”
Emily Wilson Still Thinks Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Should Be Celebrated
Despite her brutally honest remarks, the classicist said Nolan’s film is “still an event to celebrate,” as it helped bring people back to watching movies in theaters. Moreover, copies of “The Odyssey” are selling out due to the renewed interest in the 2,800-year-old epic poem, thanks to Nolan’s adaptation.
Several editions of “The Odyssey” sold rapidly leading up to and after the release of the movie. According to Publishers Weekly, sales have gone up 76 percent. Moreover, Spotify audiobooks for “The Odyssey” have increased more than 300 percent.
“Nolan, who studied English at University College London – where students still study ‘The Odyssey’ as a first year ‘foundational text’ – is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful,” Wilson concluded.