The Filmography That Launched a Thousand Ships

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S new adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey opens in the royal court of Ithaca. Surrounded by the numerous suitors of Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway), a bard (Travis Scott) is touting the feats of Odysseus, the local king who still has not returned home 10 years after the end of the Trojan War. Following the bard’s exposition, the film cuts to the shores of Troy, where a young man (Elliot Page) runs down a beach. He stands in front of a large wooden horse—the emblem of Odysseus’ famous cunning—and is brutally attacked by a Trojan patrol. The breakneck speed of this beginning, a trademark of Nolan’s style, sets up The Odyssey as the vision of an auteur.