{"id":2519778,"date":"2026-07-27T23:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2519778"},"modified":"2026-07-27T23:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T23:20:09","slug":"nolans-odyssey-faces-backlash-from-classics-scholar-who-inspired-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/nolans-odyssey-faces-backlash-from-classics-scholar-who-inspired-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ Faces Backlash From Classics Scholar Who Inspired Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The classics professor whose translation of \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d<\/a> inspired Christopher Nolan\u2019s<\/a> film version apparently wasn\u2019t happy with the final result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Emily Wilson<\/a>, a classical studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote the 2017 translation<\/a> of the ancient Greek poem that inspired the 2026 blockbuster.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The film may have raised Wilson\u2019s profile and boosted sales<\/a> of her adaptation, but she still gave it a scathing review<\/a> in the London Review of Books<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite calling the film \u201can entertaining way to hide from the high temperatures for a few hours\u201d and noting that her teenagers \u201chad a good time,\u201d Wilson damned the film with faint praise, comparing it to \u201can elaborate Fourth of July fireworks display \u2013 and with about the same level of narrative and emotional depth.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And while conceding that adaptations \u201cneedn\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t follow the original with anything like the exactitude of a translation,\u201d Wilson called the film\u2019s vision \u201ctoo confused\u201d and its characters \u201ctoo 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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The film \u201clacks many of the elements that make the poem great,\u201d Wilson argued, and \u201chas 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 neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It also \u201clacks psychological, emotional, political, and ethical depth,\u201d she said, calling the narrative structure \u201cgimmicky\u201d and the script \u201cabysmal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wilson added: \u201cNone 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<\/div>\n

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She did say she was \u201chumbled\u201d that Nolan had cited her version of the first line of the poem, \u201cTell me about a complicated man,\u201d but admitted she would \u201cbe ashamed to have written any part of this script.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Yet despite the scathing critique, Wilson still called the film\u2019s release \u201can event to celebrate\u201d and praised Nolan for \u201cdoing his best to get the general public reading again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n