Emily Wilson, the translator whose English edition of Homer’s The Odyssey was cited by Christopher Nolan as a source of inspiration for the film The Odyssey (2026), is anything but positive about the film adaptation. In a review for the London Review of Books, she writes that the film is particularly lacking in the areas of characters and dialogue.
“Nothing convincing to say”
Wilson writes that she was honored when Nolan recommended her translation of The Odyssey to have used. Yet her assessment of the film is harsh.
I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.
Emily Wilson
According to Wilson, the blockbuster does provide an impressive spectacle, but it lacks emotional depth and the film fails to say anything convincing.
Source of inspiration
During the press tour for The Odyssey Nolan praised Wilson’s translation several times and stated that he used the opening line, “Tell me about a complicated man”, as a guideline for writing his version of Odysseus. This appreciation appears not to be mutual: Wilson had hoped that Nolan’s adaptation would lead to more convincing characters.
8.5
After the fall of Troy, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, begins a long and dangerous journey back home. During this journey he and his crew are confronted with various creatures such as the sirens, the cyclops Polyphemos and Circe, the daughter of the sun god.
Still a bright spot
Despite her fierce criticism, Wilson acknowledges that the film has had a positive effect on interest in both cinema and books about it The Odyssey.
Nolan is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful.
Emily Wilson
Image: ‘The Odyssey’ via Filmdepot
