Translator Emily Wilson condemns Nolan’s Odyssey as ‘abysmal’ despite box office success

Emily Wilson, the classicist whose 2017 translation of Homer’s Odyssey was cited in early promotional materials for Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation, has issued a scathing public critique of the blockbuster. In an essay for the London Review of Books and an interview with the Sunday Times, Wilson characterised the film as grandiose and superficial, arguing it lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. She described the script as abysmal and the narrative structure as gimmicky, stating she would be ashamed to have contributed to it.

Wilson, who serves as department chair and professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, noted that Nolan had previously praised the opening line of her translation, “Tell me about a complicated man,” in early publicity. Despite this initial alignment, she argued that the final product failed to deliver on its promise. She wrote that the film’s vision was too confused and its characters too underdeveloped to convey the big ideas it half-promised, adding that it was merely “very good at conveying big bangs and big giants.”

The critic pointed to specific omissions and stylistic choices that she felt undermined the source material. Wilson observed that the film lacked convincing motivations for its characters, contained no sex scenes, and depicted food as horrible. She told the Sunday Times that the film did not land emotionally, stating, “You haven’t given me any reason to care if this guy gets back to his wife,” and contrasting the film’s writing with the depth found in Homer’s original text.

Despite her artistic disapproval, Wilson acknowledged the film’s commercial success and its potential to boost sales of her translation. She noted that copies of her Odyssey are flying off the shelves and suggested that the movie might encourage public interest in reading. She also speculated that the film’s scale could persuade college administrators not to cut literature, language and history departments, thereby supporting the preservation of university humanities programmes.

Wilson concluded by recognising the film’s broader cultural impact. She described the release as an event to celebrate for bringing audiences back to cinemas and noted that Nolan was doing his best to get the general public reading again. While maintaining that the script was flawed and the characters lacked the depth of the Homeric originals, she expressed gratitude for the renewed engagement with ancient Greek literature driven by the blockbuster.