Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has become a global box-office hit, pulling in more than $300 million since its release. But alongside the praise for its scale and star power, a different conversation has started: what did the film leave out compared to Homer’s original poem
One of the sharpest voices in that debate is Emily Wilson, the classicist who published a widely acclaimed English translation of The Odyssey in 2017. Wilson, the first woman to translate the epic into English, said in early publicity that she was one of Nolan’s inspirations. Days before publishing her own scathing review of the film, she spoke to FRANCE 24 about what she believes is missing.
Nolan’s The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Lupita Nyong’o, Anne Hathaway and others in key roles. Marketed as a faithful, big-budget return to the ancient story, the film has drawn huge audiences and renewed interest in Homer.
For many viewers, it was their first encounter with the 3,000-year-old poem. For others, it was a chance to compare a modern cinematic version to a text they already knew.
That’s where Wilson comes in. Her 2017 translation was praised for its clarity, rhythm, and for making Odysseus, Penelope, and the gods feel human and immediate. It also highlighted aspects of the poem that are often downplayed: the role of women, the violence of war, and the moral complexity of Odysseus himself.
In her review, Wilson argued that while Nolan captures the adventure and spectacle of The Odyssey, he strips away much of the poem’s nuance.
The first thing she points to is tone. Homer’s epic is not just a story of monsters and sea voyages. It’s also ironic, funny, and deeply concerned with home, hospitality, and power.
“Odysseus in Homer is clever, but he’s also boastful, self-justifying, and often cruel,” Wilson said. “The film smooths that out. We get a hero who is more straightforward, more noble, and less troubling.”
That matters, she argues, because the tension in the poem comes from not always trusting Odysseus. Is he a survivor or a liar? A devoted husband or a man who enjoys war a little too much? The film, she says, chooses one answer.
Wilson’s translation was noted for giving voice to female characters who are often treated as background in other versions. In her conversation with FRANCE 24, she said that’s another area where Nolan’s film falls short.
Penelope, for example, is central to Homer’s poem. She waits 20 years, outwits suitors, and is Odysseus’s equal in cunning. In the film, Anne Hathaway’s Penelope has strong moments, but Wilson says the screenplay doesn’t give her the same political and psychological weight.
The same goes for Circe, Calypso, and the maidservants. In the poem, their stories raise questions about agency, slavery, and how war impacts women. On screen, many of them become plot devices to move Odysseus from one island to the next.
“The poem asks: what happens to people when a king goes to war and takes 10 years to come home?” Wilson said. “The film is more interested in what happens to the king.”
Another gap, according to Wilson, is how the film handles violence. Homer does not shy away from brutality — the blinding of Polyphemus, the slaughter of the suitors, the hanging of the maidservants.
But in the poem, those moments are followed by reflection. Characters question them. The gods comment on them. There’s a sense of cost.
In Nolan’s version, Wilson argues, the violence is spectacular but less reflective. “It’s thrilling,” she said. “But it doesn’t ask you to sit with what it means.”
That ties into a larger point: Homer’s Odyssey is not just an adventure story. It’s a story about what war does to a person, and what it takes to come home and rebuild a life.
Despite her criticisms, Wilson does not dismiss the film. She acknowledges that any adaptation must make choices, and that Nolan has introduced Homer to a new generation.
“Movies can’t do everything a poem does,” she said. “They work in images, music, and 2.5 hours. Poems work in language, repetition, and 12,000 lines.”
She also said she was glad Nolan cited her translation as an influence. It shows, she believes, that there is an appetite for versions of classics that take women’s perspectives and moral ambiguity seriously — even if the final film doesn’t fully deliver on that.
The debate around The Odyssey reflects a broader trend: as studios turn to ancient myths for blockbusters, audiences and scholars are asking how faithful they need to be.
For Wilson, the answer is the questions. Homer’s poem has survived for millennia because it doesn’t give easy answers about heroism, loyalty, or homecoming.
“If you watch the film and then pick up the poem, you’ll see what I mean,” she said. “You’ll meet a more complicated Odysseus. A sharper Penelope. A world that is stranger and more human.”in the end, Wilson’s message is simple: Nolan gave us one version of The Odyssey. Homer gave us another. And the space between them is where the conversation is happening now
