Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation of The Odyssey has been met with almost universal acclaim. This widespread positive reception has come largely from male film critics. The acclaimed nature of the film has prompted a central question: will women also love Nolan’s Odyssey?
The journey portrayed in the film raises further queries about whether women might find it less comfortable. This line of questioning reflects observations on the historical reception of the director’s work.
Past Criticisms and Fan Reactions
Experiences reviewing Christopher Nolan’s films have sometimes led to significant backlash. A film critic recounted being a film critic on the Sunday Telegraph in the mid-noughties, a period when male critics outnumbered female by about eight to one. She stated there wasn’t any sexism back then, noting it was "actually totally fine and everyone was really nice" in Soho.
However, farther afield, the situation was less agreeable, particularly with certain readers. This was especially true when it came to certain films made by directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Ken Loach, and Christopher Nolan. To question their genius was to "prepare for epic correction by a legion of self-appointed bouncers."
This experience was recalled in 2020 when the critic reviewed Nolan’s sci-fi drama Tenet, in Peter Bradshaw’s absence. Not liking the film led to admonishment, with much of the feedback received at the time later deleted. An old Reddit thread provides a flavour of the responses, including "silly cow," "bitter," and "probably a feminist." Other comments included "I can guarantee that bird was on the blob when she wrote that review lol" and "women make decisions based on emotion rather than logic."
It is acknowledged that it is not Nolan’s fault that some of his fans are so emotional they insult strangers online for reviewing a movie they want to see. It is also not his fault that his films, at least the ones after The Dark Knight, tend to go down better with men.
Gendered Reception and Representation
The question of audience reception along gender lines persists with The Odyssey. The point of art is to engage with material that isn’t a mirror, or for which one may not be exactly the target demographic. This principle, the source states, means women should not be stopped from reviewing Nolan’s films, be it Bridget Jones or The Football Factory or The Zone of Interest.
Despite this, the only review of The Odyssey so far read with which the critic broadly agreed was written by Stephanie Zacharek for Time. Stephanie Zacharek did not really like the film. Meanwhile, the vast majority of reviews have been raves, and the vast majority were written by men. The old eight-to-one ratio of male to female critics seems "a bit optimistic these days."
The central question remains: will women go and see The Odyssey? And if they do, will they enjoy it as much as men? Carrie Bradshaw, a journalist unlikely to be first in the queue on opening weekend, would understandably be transfixed by one unavoidable byproduct of high-resolution Imax: "everyone’s pores are absolutely enormous." Watching scenes with lots of closeups in them is like looking at oneself in one of those 12x magnification mirrors, which is described as upsetting.
A further concern is whether women will see their experiences represented with anything like the depth, accuracy or interest of their male counterparts. Even the most enthusiastic write-ups, and definitely those assessments by classicists, seem to agree on this point. They suggest that women get "a bit of a rough deal" in the film. This is noted as "not, historically, Nolan’s strong point."
The discussion around Christopher Nolan’s latest epic continues to highlight a perceived disparity in its critical and anticipated audience reception.