The Odyssey might be proving a hit at the box office, but one of the leading translators of Homer’s poem has panned the adaptation.
Emily Wilson has become widely praised throughout her career for her translation of the 2,800-year-old story The Odyssey, which she released in 2017, as well as The Iliad which hit shelves in 2023.
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Director Christopher Nolan even quoted her in interviews for the vast blockbuster, which finally dropped in cinemas earlier this month.
Unfortunately, the appreciation is not mutual, with Wilson calling the writing for the movie “abysmal”, “lacking depth” and removed from Homer’s central themes.
In a 4000-word review written for the London Review of Books, Wilson said: “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.
“But The Odyssey features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality.”
While she credits Nolan for hinting at “contemporary resonances” of the themes of the poems “albeit in interesting if scattered ways”, she ultimately declares the “film’s vision too confused [and] its characters too underdeveloped”.
“Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great,” Wilson declares.
“It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbours.
“It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.”
“I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script,” she adds.
The review was so scathing it has since gone viral on social media, adding to a continued debate about The Odyssey, which has been argued as Nolan’s best work to date.
However, there are notable tweaks to the source material, including elements of its ending, which has drawn some criticism from fans of the Greek epic.
That seems to have had little impact on the box office though, with the second weekend showing the film crashing through Nolan’s previously held record, earning $682million worldwide after just 10 days, and without it being released in major market China yet.
Despite her criticisms, Wilson acknowledges The Odyssey as “something to celebrate” for drawing interest to reading and boosting cinema, noting: “Some of those who buy the book or show up in cinemas to watch Tom Holland may go on to study ancient Greek. Perhaps the film will persuade a few college administrators not to cut their literature, language and history departments.”
She concludes: “Nolan […] is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful.”
The Odyssey is now showing in UK cinemas.
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