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Christopher NolanrCOs rCLThe OdysseyrCY Leaves the Gods in the Outtakes
The directorrCOs Homer adaptation presents a modern, relatable Odysseus, rather than trying to understand the ancient world on its own terms.
By Richard Brody July 15, 2026
It is probably viewers who havenrCOt read Homer who are likeliest to
enjoy rCLThe Odyssey,rCY Christopher NolanrCOs new adaptation. This is not
for the obvious reason that much is left outrCoputting any extended
literary work onscreen inevitably involves omission and compressionrCobut because of a more pervasive absence: the gods. In the poem, the first
scene is of a council in ZeusrCO palace, on Mt. Olympus, at which the
gods argue over OdysseusrCO fate. In NolanrCOs film, people refer to the
gods, but there are no divine debates on Olympus, and, indeed, the only
member of the classical Greek pantheon who actually appears is Athena (Zendaya), watching over the action intermittently.
Instead, Nolan unfolds a purely human drama. As the film opens,
Odysseus (Matt Damon), a leader of Greek forces in the Trojan War, has
been away from his homeland of Ithaca for some twenty yearsrCoat war for
ten, wandering since. While he has been delayed by a series of
encounters and obstacles ranging from CalypsorCOs enticements to the man-eating CyclopsrCO rage, his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), has been fending off the attentions of scores of Ithacan noblemen, who are
demanding that she marry one of them and are living lavishly on the
royal householdrCOs store of food and wine as they wait. Her son,
Telemachus (Tom Holland), an infant when his father set off for war, is
now a young man intent on driving out the suitorsrCoa primordial
coming-of-age plot. And, when Odysseus finds his way home, father and
son join forces to battle the usurpers.
...
I had wondered how Nolan would handle some of the other archaic aspects
of the story, such as its violence and its ritualism: sacrificial
ceremonies with animals gushing blood; the supernatural fury of a
monster consuming men who scream in agony as theyrCOre eaten; the
chopping off of hands and genitals; the reliance on torture; the deep satisfaction taken in cruel vengeance. How would Nolan deal with the extravagant expressivity of the Homeric worldrCoas when people rend their clothing in anguish or when Odysseus (in Emily WilsonrCOs 2017
translation of the poem) is rCLsobbing and rolling round in griefrCY? Or
with the realm of picturesque fantasy, as when Athena, with Telemachus,
in Book I, rCLflew away like a bird, up through the smoke,rCY thus
revealing her divinity? But, rather than trying to take the audience
inside the ancient Greek mind-set, Nolan chooses a slimmed-down, almost naturalistic approach, tamed and tempered. Violence is rendered largely generic with quick-cut battle scenes merely hinting at gruesome deaths; sacrifice, seen only briefly, is surgically clean; vengeance is
bloodless and horror-free, meted out very sparingly; tears drop with
maudlin precision down a single cheek; and grief is expressed with the stiff-upper-lip silence of modern martial valor.
...
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/07/27/the-odyssey-christopher-nolan-movie-review
--
the lunatics are in my head ...
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