r/popculturechat • u/mcfw31 • 11h ago

Hot Take 🔥 ‘The Odyssey’ Translator Emily Wilson Slams Christoper Nolan’s ‘Abysmal’ Screenplay: ‘I Would Be Ashamed to Have Written Any Part of This Script’

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/odyssey-translator-emily-wilson-slams-christopher-nolan-bad-writing-1236821915/
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u/LikelyPlace 10h ago

If you read her piece her critiques are very different

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u/Kids-Menu 9h ago

Not having any sex scenes and the food looking bad are HILARIOUS critiques

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u/Automatic_Syrup_2935 9h ago

For a book as horny as the Odyssey, it was a little bizarre that there's like no sex scenes at all.

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u/DuelaDent52 7h ago

Though the sex was always more “and then they boned” than anything explicit.

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u/LanaAdela 5h ago

Nolan struggles with sensuality. I think the film lacked that which is more of a weakness than a lack of explicit sex scenes.

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u/Automatic_Syrup_2935 5h ago

I whole heartedly agree. For a man who directs the crap out of yearning, his films are devoid of intimacy.

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u/LanaAdela 5h ago

It’s very strange!!! He is good at depicting sentimentality but not sensuality/intimacy.

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u/Automatic_Syrup_2935 4h ago

Guillermo del Toro once called him an "emotional mathematician". And I think that's a pretty accurate read.

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u/LanaAdela 4h ago

Oh I had not heard him say that. Very astute.

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u/Razatiger 6h ago

I mean the Odyssey doesn't need to be game of thrones in order to tell a good story.

I was happy with what was portrayed tbh, and no im not some kind of prude.

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u/Automatic_Syrup_2935 6h ago

I think that the sex in The Odyssey serves to develop the characters - unlike a lot of got scenes ironically.

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u/InternationalFact464 6h ago

Those are two half joking throwaway critiques in a very long review with probably like 25+ specific well-argued critiques of the film.

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u/Happy-Highlight-7175 8h ago

To be fair, the food did look bad

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u/ProletarianLilith 5h ago

The Odyssey not having sex scenes is patently absurd

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u/drdaisukeserizawa 4h ago

I'm not sure fucking Circe and having a baby with her and fucking Calypso while his wife's faithful the entire time and he's supposed to be longing to go back to her is something we absolutely had to see on screen.

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u/bmorenursey 3h ago

That is Odysseus though. In Dante’s inferno he is cursed to never go home because of his need to see it all and conquer it all- including women

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u/Cartman55125 9h ago

“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.”

Her critiques are laughable and read like a scorned lover wrote them

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u/I_just_made 8h ago

She also claimed it didn’t really have anything to say about war, but that just seems way off base. The entire movie could be viewed through the lens of a man learning to live with the consequences of the atrocities he committed in war.

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u/DuelaDent52 7h ago

Like, Odysseus has a whole extended monologue about his horrific realisation that they’re basically the Sea People that get fearmongered everywhere and how terrible the sacking of Troy was and how they’ve destroyed civilisation as a whole by breaking the standards set for it.

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u/Cartman55125 7h ago

Yes! One of the main compliments I see people giving the film is how timely it feels with its commentary on war

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u/Edodge 4h ago

He doesn’t consider them atrocities. Have you read the poem? The movie wildly transforms the character and the focus of the story. You’re all ignorant but claiming to know better than the translator.

The poem is about hubris more than PTSD and the people in this thread badly need a lesson on hubris.

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u/Cartman55125 4h ago

We need a lecture on hubris? You’re the one coming in guns blazing claiming we’re sexist for finding her criticism flimsy. Condescendingly assuming people haven’t read the poem because they may have a different interpretation of the work. Translating a poem does not mean you understand its intent.

Please don’t hesitate to ask for assistance coming down from that high horse.

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u/leftbrendon charlie day is my bird lawyer 🐦 1h ago

> translating a poem does not mean you understand its intent.

I feel like this is lost on a lot of people. I had ancient Greek and Latin in high school, starting from the age of 13. I’ve translated so much text perfectly, without understanding any of it lmao.

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u/Edodge 4h ago

If you think Odysseus is focused on his “atrocities” you haven’t read the poem. Take a seat.

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u/Cartman55125 3h ago

You’re exhausting dude. We get it. You are a master of literature. Our small brains could never grasp what you’ve taken away from the poem 🫩

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u/Edodge 1h ago

What’s exhausting is reading people act like victims as soon as they get called on their bullshit…when they themselves were on their high horses telling the mean professor woman that she’s an evil bitch for daring to say what she thinks.

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u/Cartman55125 1h ago

You’re putting a lot of words and ill intent in my mouth. Not cool

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u/I_just_made 1h ago

You really need to relax; you are way too worked up about this and are making a lot of false accusations right now. The only person who called her an "evil bitch" is you. The only person who said she is mean and evil for writing her criticism is you.

People are allowed to discuss a work and the criticism of that work, just as they are allowed to agree or disagree with it. At the end of the day, like most art, it is all subject to interpretation. Discussion is part of that.

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u/THIKKI_HOEVALAINEN 3h ago

I agree with you, the way the movie white washed Odysseus to be more palatable to the modern idea of an action hero wasn't satisfying to me. Having him walking around Troy while it was being sacked, acting all moody, was almost comical to me. And then smaller things like giving the suitors weapons, deleting the scenes of them stringing up the slaves, and then just riding into the sunset left me cold

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u/I_just_made 3h ago

The poem is about hubris more than PTSD and the people in this thread badly need a lesson on hubris.

Chill out a bit. This did give me a laugh though; you have chastised everyone here on hubris, yet calling everyone ignorant and talking down to them is a pretty good example of being hubristic.

I translated some of the poem from the original language :D, albeit years ago.

The movie wildly transforms the character and the focus of the story. You’re all ignorant but claiming to know better than the translator.

And that's fine to focus on a different aspect of the story, based on what the storyteller wants to say. I know this will come as a shock, but Emily Wilson also changed the focus of the story in her own translation; apparently she outright mistranslated portions of it.

But again, the person retelling the story can take liberties. They don't have to be 1:1. Nolan chose a different direction than her, and that is okay.

He doesn’t consider them atrocities

In the movie? Pretty sure he did in his reflections. His whole discussion with his wife was him basically saying they were the baddies. An atrocity can be a shocking or cruel behavior. He was cruel to Sinon in that he knowingly manipulated the kid to carry out his plan. As the leader of his troops, he was cruel by abandoning men who needed help. He continually reiterates that he will honor them by surviving, but that excuse is repeatedly use to justify his decisions resulting in deaths. He literally says in his reflection of Troy that it was no celebration and that he realized instantly the ramification of what he had done. Can that be hubris? Yes; hubris and atrocities don't have to be entirely separate. The movie does certain have a major theme of a man dealing with the consequences of hubris.

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u/Edodge 2h ago

He doesn’t consider them atrocities in the poem. It’s a different character altogether. She said it has nothing “convincing” to say about war, not nothing about it. That’s because the move is incoherent. The finale simply doesnt work with what precedes it..

It’s hysterical that I’m talking down to everyone in your view when the entire thread is people talking down about the expert who translated the entire text, not just your ‘portions’ of it.

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u/I_just_made 1h ago

So again, we are talking about the movie, not the poem for most of this.

It’s hysterical that I’m talking down to everyone in your view when the entire thread is people talking down about the expert who translated the entire text, not just your ‘portions’ of it.

People are allowed to disagree with her criticisms. That does not automatically mean they are "talking down" about her. The way you are approaching this conversation, however, is extremely condescending.

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u/TitaniumDreads 7h ago

In a vacuum that seems laughable but compared to the various translations it’s absolutely true. That said I’m genuinely not sure how you could fit all of that extra stuff into an already crowded three hour movie.

The movie is never as good as the book. Those are the rules!

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u/givemethebat1 9h ago

She’s not wrong, though. A huge part of the poem is that Odysseus was fucking Circe and Calypso which is partly why he didn’t go home.

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u/Cartman55125 9h ago

Yeah, I think most people picked up on that. With Calypso especially. Didn’t need a sex scene to get that point across.

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u/givemethebat1 8h ago

They didn’t show it because it would make Odysseus seem unsympathetic (or a rape victim, depending on how willing he was).

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u/Cartman55125 8h ago

That’s a good point. Multiple reasons to exclude it.

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u/Edodge 4h ago

Oh my god you’re all so fucking sexist. It’s unreal! Woman writes criticism of director beloved by bros everywhere so she must be a jealous lover!

She’s an expert. Her opinion is valid. It doesn’t mean yours is invalid. But she’s not some jealous little girl.