Christopher Nolan has responded to criticism surrounding The Odyssey, arguing that some amateur reviewers misunderstand how storytelling techniques work.
During the film’s promotional tour, Nolan spoke to podcaster Zhong Shu about what he described as a fundamental weakness in certain forms of film criticism.
The director said critics often complain that filmmakers manipulate a character or story to make the audience feel sympathy. However, he argued that simply recognising a storytelling technique does not automatically make it ineffective or invalid.
According to Nolan, some amateur critics believe that once they identify the mechanism being used by a filmmaker, they have exposed a flaw in the movie.
He acknowledged that familiar cinematic tropes may eventually lose their impact and need to evolve. At the same time, he said filmmakers naturally rely on a shared visual and narrative language that audiences have developed after watching many films.
Nolan explained that directors build on the audience’s understanding of established film grammar rather than creating every storytelling device from the beginning.
His comments come amid widespread online discussion about The Odyssey. The film has reportedly earned nearly $1 billion worldwide after three weekends in cinemas and holds a 94 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, not everyone was impressed by Nolan’s adaptation of the Greek epic.
Emily Wilson, a noted translator of The Odyssey whom Nolan had credited as one of the inspirations for the film, strongly criticised the adaptation in a review for the London Review of Books. She argued that the film lacked psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth.
Author Joyce Carol Oates later defended Nolan on social media and criticised the harsh language used in Wilson’s review.
With The Odyssey continuing to dominate the box office, Nolan’s remarks have now added another layer to the debate surrounding the film and the role of online criticism.
