Emily Wilson calls Nolan's Odyssey writing 'abysmal'
The Odyssey translator Emily Wilson has blasted Christopher Nolan's big-screen adaptation as "abysmal," writing in the London Review of Books that she "would be ashamed to have written any part of this script." The University of Pennsylvania classicist — the first woman to translate Homer's epic — published the review after Nolan praised her work on the film's press tour.
Key Takeaways
- Emily Wilson called Nolan's The Odyssey writing "abysmal" and said she would be ashamed to have written any part of the script.
- In the London Review of Books, she argued the film lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth.
- Wilson also told the Sunday Times the movie "didn't land emotionally" and is "not very well written."
- Nolan had previously praised Wilson's translation, citing her opening line as inspiration during the press tour.
- The Matt Damon-led film holds a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score and has grossed over $650 million globally in its first two weekends.
What did Emily Wilson say about Christopher Nolan's Odyssey?
Wilson's London Review of Books piece, published Monday and titled "I would be ashamed to have written any part of this," takes aim at Nolan's Hollywood take on Homer.
She wrote that Nolan's movie "has nothing convincing to say" and "lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth." She also said Nolan's Odyssey "lacks many of the elements that make the poem great," calling its narrative structure "gimmicky" and the writing "abysmal."
"None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words," Wilson wrote. "There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible." She added that the blockbuster "is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas," and concluded: "I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script."
Why does the translator's critique matter now?
Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the first woman to translate Homer's epic poem. Her rebuke stands out because it comes from a leading voice on the source text Nolan adapted — and it landed after he publicly praised her translation.
In a Sunday Times interview, she said the film "didn't land emotionally for me at all," blaming writing that, "unlike Homer," is "not very well written." She added that the characters lack Homeric depth and left her wondering whether she cared if Odysseus got back to his wife.
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Didn't Christopher Nolan praise Emily Wilson's translation?
Yes — and that contrast sharpens the story. During the press tour, Nolan told Empire magazine he used Wilson's opening line, "Tell me about a complicated man," as inspiration for his vision of the movie.
Wilson said she had hoped Nolan's "affinity" for Odysseus' story "might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters." Instead, she wrote, the adaptation "features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality."
The Odyssey, starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson and Elliot Page, has drawn rave reviews and a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating, while grossing over $650 million worldwide in its first two weekends. Page Six has reached out to Nolan's rep for comment. The film is in theaters now.