The Odyssey, by Christopher Nolan: Our Take on the Movie of the Summer

Emily and Cam take on Christopher Nolan’s film, “The Odyssey.” Everyone has an opinion on this movie, and Emily and Cam are no different. Sheep, and Cyclops, and Circe, oh my!

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Useful Links:

• Listen to our overview of Homer’s Odyssey.
• Listen to our episode about the “The Return”, Uberto Passolini’s splendid 2024 adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey.

Cover image: adapted from “The Wine-Dark Sea,” a photo by Alan Hughes, Wikimedia Commons.

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00:11 - Introduction

• 01:06 - The bottom line (good and bad)
• 02:39 - The film as a reflecting pool (or theater set)

03:52 - Synopsis

06:45 - What we loved

• 06:49 - Practical effects and a textured world (featuring the sheep!)
• 10:10 - The film’s visual language: costumes, colors, props, palaces (historical accuracy is NOT the goal here)
• 14:04 - A deep and talented bench of actors (with a shoutout to Himesh Patel and John Leguizamo)
• 17:31 - Some choice storytelling moments
• 20:02 - The adventure stories: Polyphemus’ cave; the sirens; the underworld; Circe
• 27:23 - Athena and the other gods

29:14 - Approaching Nolan's Odyssey

• 29:21 - How we evaluate movies like this: give us a smart adaptation that does something interesting!
• 30:32 - The story Nolan wants to tell: war damages both individuals and societies, causing trauma and social collapse
• 33:52 - The main problem: too much telling, not enough showing

36:25 - Odysseus breaks the world?

• 36:38 - The setup: Zeus’ Law, the Trojan Horse, and the Sea Peoples
• 37:09 - The horse: a gift for Athena, or a gift for Zeus?
• 38:37 - Odysseus and his crew as the “Sea Peoples”: an unconvincing yarn
• 44:14 - The Sea Peoples as a hollow threat?

47:17 - Odysseus traumatized?

• 47:36 - The nature of Odysseus’ suffering
• 48:11 - Odysseus and his (lack of?) relationships with his crew
• 49:29 - Odysseus and Sinon
• 52:11 - Odysseus miraculously recovers (but doesn’t seem to learn anything?)

53:58 - Violence in Nolan’s film

• 54:39 - Christopher Nolan’s take on depicting violence and alienating audiences
• 55:52 - The horrors witnessed by Odysseus at Troy
• 57:29 - Odysseus takes on the suitors

59:49 - Unsatisfying Endings

• 60:08 - The problems with Penelope (and her treehouse bed!)
• 63:02 - Rushed endings and dangling resolutions
• 65:02 - Words of wisdom spoken at the bar

66:18 - Final takeaways: our thoughts on why this film looks the way it does

• 66:30 - The Adventure Stories (a.k.a. the Odyssey Trap)
• 67:49 - Unsatisfying stakes?
• 68:59 - Odysseus the hero

71:16 - Wrap-up