Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Nolan's 'Odyssey' Draws Audiences, Critics Say It Lacks Homer's Eros
A famous movie director named Christopher Nolan made a big new movie called 'The Odyssey.'
The movie tells the story of a Greek hero named Odysseus who is trying to sail home after a war.
The story comes from a very old poem called 'The Odyssey,' written by a poet named Homer thousands of years ago.
Lots of people went to see the movie, and many people started buying the old poem to read.
But some experts who study old stories say the movie left out important parts of the poem.
In the poem, there are gods, magic, and some grown-up romance, but the movie took most of that out.
The hero in the movie feels sad and guilty about the war, while the hero in the poem was mostly proud of his adventures.
A famous expert named Mary Beard said the movie doesn't have the poem's special magic or 'sexiness.'
Another expert, Emily Wilson, said the movie's Odysseus is like an action hero who feels bad about being an action hero.
Some people love the movie, while others wish it stayed truer to the original story.
Christopher Nolan's nearly three-hour adaptation of Homer's 'The Odyssey,' starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, lured audiences back to theatres and spiked book sales of the ancient poem.
The film removes the poem's sex scenes, cutting the flirtation with Nausicaa and neutering Odysseus's encounters with Circe and Calypso.
Classicist Mary Beard said Nolan's film lacks Homer's 'elusive sexiness,' and New York Magazine asked, 'Is No One Horny in The Odyssey?'
Translator Emily Wilson, whose modern translation inspired the film, said Nolan turned Odysseus into a guilt-ridden 'traumatized Jason Bourne' and an 'all-American hero.'
Critics say Nolan drained the epic's moral ambiguity, skipping the meddling gods and the hanging of the 12 servant women, and ending with Odysseus giving up the crown to go into exile with Penelope.
- Who
- Christopher Nolan (director), with Matt Damon as Odysseus, Zendaya as Athena, Samantha Morton as Circe and Charlize Theron as Calypso; critics include classicist Mary Beard and translator Emily Wilson.
- What
- A nearly three-hour Hollywood adaptation of Homer's epic that drew audiences to theatres and spiked book sales, but which critics say stripped the poem of its sex, gods and moral ambiguity.
- When
- Not stated in the article.
- Where
- The film evokes the Mediterranean; the story spans the world of ancient Greece, including Troy and Odysseus's journey home.
- Why
- Nolan aimed to bring a foundational work of Western literature to a modern audience as an entertaining adventure saga, though critics argue he sanitised the epic and lost its depth and force.
Critics of Nolan's adaptation
Supporters of the modern retelling
Fidelity to Homer's epic
Critics of Nolan's adaptation
Nolan drained the story's moral ambiguity, removed the gods and the sex, and left 'just a guy finding his way home,' losing what made the epic important.
Supporters of the modern retelling
Nolan turned one of the foundational works of Western literature into an entertaining adventure saga that lured audiences back to theatres and spiked book sales of the poem.
Portrayal of Odysseus
Critics of Nolan's adaptation
Homer's Odysseus is complicated and proud of his war exploits; Nolan's version is a remorseful 'all-American hero' — 'traumatized Jason Bourne' — who is 'not that complicated.'
Supporters of the modern retelling
Nolan imbued his Odysseus with shame and haunted guilt over the Trojan Horse, giving the character a darker, more modern conscience.
Removal of sexual content
Critics of Nolan's adaptation
Cutting the poem's famous sex scenes with Circe, Calypso and Nausicaa saps the erotic power from the female characters and reflects Generation Z's waning interest in sex.
Supporters of the modern retelling
Nolan did not want his Odysseus betraying Penelope, so he excised the infidelity and romance to keep the hero faithful to his wife.
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Lead actor
- Matt Damon as Odysseus
- Main cast
- Zendaya (Athena), Samantha Morton (Circe), Charlize Theron (Calypso)
- Source material
- Homer's The Odyssey, an epic poem of over 12,000 lines
- Poem's origin
- Composed in the seventh or eighth century BCE
- Runtime
- Nearly three hours
- Translation inspiration
- Emily Wilson's modern translation of The Odyssey
- Director's previous film
- Oppenheimer