Oh Muse, Tell Me About a Complicated Man: The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan, Followed by the Ulysses of James Joyce and Teolinda Gersao

This paper examines the film Odyssey (2026) by British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, analyzing the role of adapting a classic literary work for high-resolution, technically complex cinema. It discusses the filmmaker's creative freedom to interpret the original work, adapting it to the social context of his time and his own unique vision of the classic text. The study also addresses the nature of the hero and his qualities, the much-debated Christianization of the Odyssey in Nolan's film, and the inclusion of themes characteristic of his cinema, such as remorse and guilt. Finally, it questions the relevance of this classic's reimagining in the novel Ulysses by Irish writer James Joyce and in A cidade do Ulisses (The City of Ulisses), by contemporary Portuguese writer Teolinda Gersao.