Christopher Nolan’s epic page-to-screen adaptation of The Odyssey has become one of the biggest talking points of the 2026 movie calendar. It has been tearing up the box office and earning lots of praise from critics. However, Emily Wilson, one of the best-known modern translators of Homer’s ancient work, made waves this week when she criticized the movie for its lack of sex scenes and food that looks “horrible,” among other things. Do not expect her to walk that opinion back, either, because she is now defending her take on this blockbuster.
Speaking on NPR’s Fresh Air, Wilson revisited the line from her sharply critical London Review of Books review that has gone viral. She admitted that her complaint about the food was quite literal, even if it also pointed toward a larger problem she had with Nolan’s version of Odysseus. She explained:
I would like some of the food to look delicious as if people would actually want to eat this.
Honestly, fair. While I can’t totally get behind all the nitpicks leveled at the film, food does matter throughout Homer’s poem. Meals can offer safety after a dangerous journey, reveal what sort of host has welcomed Odysseus, or show how badly someone has abused the rules of hospitality. The suitors practically eat their way through his home while he is gone. A feast in The Odyssey should probably look more appealing than something served during a layover.
Wilson also knew exactly why her sentence became the headline. She hoped readers would laugh, but she was using the missing sex and unappetizing meals to get at what she sees as the movie’s real problem. She continued:
So I wrote a review about Christopher Nolan's spectacular movie version of The Odyssey, and it turns out that one of the lines from that piece that everyone seems to be quoting is, 'There's no sex scenes and all the food looks horrible.' Which, of course, I hope is funny to some people. But I also wanted to try and make a somewhat serious point, which is that ideally, a protagonist, whether it's in a film or a written narrative, needs to have desires, needs to want things.
That explanation makes the complaint much harder to dismiss. Wilson is not simply demanding that Nolan add a love scene and shoot the roasted meat with better lighting. She thinks those missing appetites are symptoms of a less complicated Odysseus.
Homer’s hero wants to reach Penelope and Ithaca, but that is hardly his only desire. He wants glory, comfort, pleasure and recognition. Sometimes those wants push him home. Sometimes they help keep him away from it. That contradiction is part of what has made readers argue over Odysseus for thousands of years.
Wilson felt Matt Damon’s performance carried plenty of guilt without giving the character enough hunger. Finally, she added:
Homer's Odysseus wants honor, wants sex, wants food, wants a home, wants a community. There are clear and multiple desires that this protagonist has. In the film, I felt that Matt Damon didn't want enough. He feels bad about himself, and he has a lot of angst, but I'd like a little bit more desire.
That perspective makes a lot of sense. Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey famously begins, “Tell me about a complicated man, Muse.” Fair enough, then, that Damon’s Odysseus was not quite complicated enough for her. The scenes with Charlize Theron’s Calypso could have offered one way to deepen that conflict. In Homer’s poem, Calypso and Odysseus live together as lovers for years, but Nolan’s adaptation does not give their relationship that same level of romance or desire.
Of course, that may simply be a different complication than the one Nolan wanted to explore. Adding a deeper love story between Calypso and Odysseus might have muddied the version of the epic he was trying to tell. That is part of what has kept The Odyssey alive for roughly three millennia. The story can be pulled apart, rearranged and interpreted by generations of artists, writers and filmmakers without exhausting what it has to offer.
If you prefer a little more spice in your Odyssey, fret not. Look hard enough, and you are sure to find an adaptation that delivers it. It just will not be Nolan’s movie adaptation of the poem. For my money, the version with the most 'eros' is still Homer’s poem, in just about any translation, so maybe stop by your local bookstore, as The Odyssey castmember Zendaya did, and pick up a copy.
The Odyssey is still playing in theaters, so be sure to check your local listings for showtimes.
