Classicist slams Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, calls it gimmicky

Emily Wilson is a renowned British-American classicist and translator and she was not happy with Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. While the world is showering praise on the epic movie, the translator wrote a harsh review for the film in the London Review of Books.

Translator Emily Wilson unhappy with Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

Emily Wilson famously translated The Odyssey which was published in 2017 and Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan cited the book as a notable influence on his eponymous film. However, Emily was not particularly pleased with how the story was presented on the big screen.

In her review of the film, Emily is ruthlessly honest. She writes, "Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great. 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."

The classicist and translator adds, "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."

Emily Wilson goes against the stream to criticise The Odyssey

However, despite her dislike, Emily Wilson did not find the film boring and was not particularly impressed with the casting of coloured actors Lupita Nyong’o and Zendaya as Helen and Athena, who she thought only gave "aid to the white protagonist".

Commenting on the Americanised speech that many viewers have disliked, Emily said, "Despite the manufactured online outrage, there is nothing inherently wrong with the movie’s attempt to approximate contemporary American speech. But writing dialogue is not one of Nolan’s talents. The language is relentlessly expository, humourless, and flat."

Christopher Nolan had praised the opening line of Emily's translation where she had called the Greek hero complicated. However, she did not think Matt Damon's Odysseus was complicated in the least. "I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script", she wrote brutally.

Emily Wilson's take goes against what most critics and audiences feel. The Odyssey has been widely praised and appreciated and is also doing extremely well at the box office.

Emily also feels that the film needs to be celebrated given that the "epic is bringing audiences back to cinemas". She feels the film might encourage students and literature departments to read and teach Greek literature.

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