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‘The Odyssey’: Christopher Nolan’s Cinematic Rebirth of an Ancient Epic

‘The Odyssey’: Christopher Nolan’s Cinematic Rebirth of an Ancient Epic

C2🇨🇳 中文 → 🇺🇸 English

July 16th, 2026

‘The Odyssey’: Christopher Nolan’s Cinematic Rebirth of an Ancient Epic

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Please note: This article has been simplified for language learning purposes. Some context and nuance from the original text may have been modified or removed.

🇺🇸 English

The perennial motif of homecoming and temporal reversion has long underpinned Christopher Nolan’s oeuvre.

归乡与时间回溯这一永恒母题,长久以来始终是克里斯托弗·诺兰作品体系的基石。

The astronauts of “Interstellar” meticulously forfeit twenty-three years to interstellar travel, a duration commensurate with Odysseus’s absence from Ithaca in “The Odyssey”: a decade waging the Trojan War, and another decade endeavoring to return.

《星际穿越》中的宇航员们为星际航行审慎地付出了二十三年光阴,这一时长恰与《奥德赛》中奥德修斯离开伊萨卡的岁月相当:十年投身特洛伊战争,又十年竭力归返。

To a remarkable degree, Nolan’s “The Odyssey” — despite its fidelity to Homer’s epic poem — feels, down to its nonlinear DNA, unequivocally like a Nolan film.

在相当程度上,诺兰的《奥德赛》——尽管忠实于荷马的史诗——从其非线性叙事基因来看,无疑更像一部诺兰电影。

The authorship of the epic poem, dated to the 7th or 8th century BC, is complex.

这部可追溯至公元前7或8世纪的史诗的作者身份颇为复杂。

Yet no one could question the maker of this “Odyssey,” an earthy, existential epic that ravishingly melds the storytelling of antiquity with contemporary IMAX-sized bravado.

然而,无人能质疑这部《奥德赛》的创作者——一部质朴而存在主义的史诗,它将古代叙事与当代IMAX式的豪迈壮丽迷人地融为一体。

As a narrative concerning a man whose cunning incurs the wrath of the gods, “The Odyssey” presents itself as a natural counterpart, if not an outright successor, to “Oppenheimer.”

作为一部关于一个因狡黠而招致神祇震怒之人的叙事,《奥德赛》自视为《奥本海默》的自然对应物,若非其直系后继之作。

Odysseus (Matt Damon, in the performance of a lifetime) is progressively consumed by remorse for the violence and mortality he has inflicted, following the deployment of his ingenuity that culminated in the sacking of Troy.

奥德修斯(马特·达蒙奉献了毕生最佳表演)在运用其智谋导致特洛伊城陷落后,逐渐被对自己所施加的暴力与死亡的悔恨所吞噬。

The advent of any new Nolan spectacle invariably precipitates its own form of onslaught, accompanied by an avalanche of proclamations hailing it as a "masterpiece."

每一部诺兰新作的问世,都不可避免地引发一场舆论风暴,伴随着铺天盖地的赞誉,将其奉为“杰作”。

(I am not exempt from this.)

(我亦未能免俗。)

Yet, while "The Odyssey," Nolan's inaugural feature shot entirely with IMAX cameras, does not eschew grandiosity, it functions with surprising efficacy as a more restrained, human-scale narrative.

然而,尽管《奥德赛》——诺兰首部完全使用IMAX摄影机拍摄的长片——并未摒弃宏大叙事,它却出人意料地以更克制、更具人性尺度的叙事方式,发挥了惊人的效力。

The journey — you may have heard, it is about the journey — is occasionally somewhat cumbersome, and the sheer Nolan-esque quality of the production, not to mention the historical significance of the narrative, inevitably divests it of a degree of novelty.

旅程——你或许听说过,它关乎旅程——偶尔略显冗赘,而制作中纯粹的诺兰式特质,更遑论叙事的历史分量,不可避免地剥夺了它一定程度的新颖性。

One could plausibly argue that Nolan has already crafted a film concerning a man endeavoring to reunite with his family through successive layers of mind-bending illusion, and that film is titled “Inception.”

人们有理由认为,诺兰早已创作了一部关于一个男人试图通过层层令人费解的幻象与家人团聚的电影,那部电影名为《盗梦空间》。

Such is the predicament inherent to urtexts.

这便是原始文本固有的困境。

While "The Odyssey" seldom fails to captivate, it also functions as a riveting adventure narrative.

尽管《奥德赛》鲜有失手,总能引人入胜,但它同样是一部扣人心弦的冒险叙事。

At a minimum, it constitutes the definitive cinematic adaptation of one of antiquity's most venerable literary works—a commendable achievement for a filmmaker of unrelenting ambition.

至少,它构成了对古代最受尊崇的文学作品之一的权威电影改编——对于一位野心勃勃的电影人而言,这堪称一项值得称道的成就。

It is not until Book 5 that Odysseus makes his entrance into Homer’s epic, and Nolan, who also authored the screenplay, similarly commences his narrative on Ithaca.

直到第五卷,奥德修斯才在荷马的史诗中登场,而同样执笔剧本的诺兰,也以伊萨卡作为其叙事的起点。

There, Odysseus’s household is besieged by a host of suitors feasting in pursuit of his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway).

在那里,奥德修斯的家宅被一群追求其妻佩涅洛佩(安妮·海瑟薇饰)的求婚者围困,他们终日宴饮不休。

Preeminent among them is Antinous, portrayed with impeccably sleazy finesse by Robert Pattinson.

其中最为突出的是安提诺俄斯,由罗伯特·帕丁森以无可挑剔的猥琐风范演绎。

For an actor who is often, and pleasingly, at variance with the cinematic milieu surrounding him, Pattinson has never insinuated himself into a role with such seamless alacrity.

对于一位常常——且令人愉悦地——与其周遭电影环境格格不入的演员而言,帕丁森从未如此天衣无缝、敏捷自如地融入过一个角色。

Telemachus (Tom Holland, also impeccably cast), the youthful progeny of Penelope and Odysseus, resolves to embark upon a quest for his father.

忒勒马科斯(由汤姆·霍兰德饰演,同样选角精妙),作为佩涅洛佩与奥德修斯之子,决意踏上寻父之旅。

Concurrently, we reacquaint ourselves with Odysseus, weather-beaten and white-bearded, in the aftermath of Troy's fall.

与此同时,我们再次见到奥德修斯——饱经风霜、须发皆白,正值特洛伊陷落之后。

His forced conscription by Agamemnon is rendered in flashbacks.

他被阿伽门农强行征召的情节,以闪回方式呈现。

Agamemnon is portrayed with an imposing, Darth Vader-like presence and enacted by Benny Safdie, yet the true standout is his colossal, mohawked helmet.

阿伽门农被赋予达斯·维达般威严的气场,由本尼·萨夫迪饰演,但真正引人注目的,是他那顶巨大的莫西干式头盔。

Such vivid details proliferate throughout Nolan’s richly textured film.

此类生动细节在诺兰这部质感丰厚的影片中俯拾皆是。

The gentle undulation of Odysseus’ longship off the Mediterranean coast is nothing short of sublime.

奥德修斯的长船在地中海沿岸的轻柔起伏,堪称超凡入圣。

Some of Nolan’s and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema’s most formidable work has emerged when they contend with the elements, as in “Dunkirk.”

诺兰与摄影师霍伊特·范·霍伊特玛最令人叹为观止的创作,往往诞生于他们与自然元素搏斗之时,正如《敦刻尔克》中所展现的那样。

And “The Odyssey” is replete with tempestuous seas and enchanted isles.

而《奥德赛》中则充斥着波涛汹涌的海洋与充满魔力的岛屿。

If anything, the film could have ventured further; I was promised rosy-fingered dawns.

若论不足,影片本可更进一步;我曾被许诺会见到玫瑰色手指的黎明。

The opening line of Homer’s epic, as rendered by Emily Wilson in the translation upon which Nolan relied, characterizes Odysseus as “a complicated man.”

荷马史诗的开篇,经诺兰所倚重的艾米莉·威尔逊译本呈现,将奥德修斯刻画为“一个复杂的人”。

James Joyce, whose “Ulysses” draws its structural foundation from “The Odyssey,” once observed that whereas Hamlet is merely a son, Ulysses—or Odysseus—embodies the roles of father, husband, lover, and warrior.

詹姆斯·乔伊斯,其《尤利西斯》的结构根基源自《奥德赛》,曾指出哈姆雷特仅为子嗣,而尤利西斯——即奥德修斯——则集父亲、丈夫、情人与战士于一身。

In essence, he constitutes an Everyman, albeit one of exceptional intellect.

本质上,他构成了一个凡人典范,尽管才智超群。

And Damon, the most congenial of Everymen, proves particularly attuned to the multifarious dimensions of this archetypal hero.

而达蒙,作为最平易近人的凡人代表,尤其契合这位原型英雄的多元维度。

Our initial encounter with him is as a soldier, commanding a modest flotilla that has broken away from Agamemnon’s armada, charting a southerly trajectory alongside his lieutenant Eurylochus (a superb Himesh Patel).

我们初次与他相遇时,他是一名士兵,指挥着一支从阿伽门农舰队中分离出来的小型船队,与他的副官欧律洛科斯(由出色的希米什·帕特尔饰演)一同规划着向南的航线。

Their voyage unfolds as a sequence of discrete, episodic ordeals: a confrontation with the Cyclops Polyphemus within his cavernous lair; an assault in a pine forest by the anthropophagous Laestrygonian giants; a repast with the enchantress Circe (Samantha Morton); and Odysseus’ seven-year sojourn with the sea nymph Calypso (a disarming and sincere Charlize Theron).

他们的航行展开为一系列离散的、片段式的磨难:在独眼巨人波吕斐摩斯的洞穴巢穴中与之对峙;在松树林中遭受食人的莱斯特律戈涅斯巨人的袭击;与女巫喀耳刻(萨曼莎·莫顿饰演)共进一餐;以及奥德修斯与海仙女卡吕普索(由迷人而真诚的查理兹·塞隆饰演)共度的七年时光。

One could contend that the film occasionally resembles a series of loosely concatenated set pieces, yet what set pieces they are!

有人或许会辩称,该片偶尔宛若一系列松散串联的场面,然而这些场面何其壮观!

Among them is the episode of the Trojan horse—a mere fleeting allusion in the epic poem, yet here elevated to a central spectacle.

其中便有特洛伊木马的情节——在史诗中仅为一笔带过的暗示,在此却被提升为核心奇观。

It is evident that Nolan, who nearly helmed a production of "Troy" over two decades ago, has long harboured this sequence—commencing with the Trojan horse half-buried in the sand and culminating in the conflagration of Troy—in his mind for years.

显而易见,诺兰——二十余年前几乎执导过一部《特洛伊》的制作——早已将这一序列(始于半埋沙中的特洛伊木马,终于特洛伊的烈焰焚城)在脑海中酝酿多年。

Each stage of Odysseus’s peregrination affords Nolan a mythopoeic arena in which to explore imagery verging on the macabre.

奥德修斯漂泊的每一阶段,都为诺兰提供了一个神话诗意的场域,用以探索近乎怪诞的意象。

I found myself most captivated by “The Odyssey” during its most surreal passages: the apparition of a colossal hand emerging from the penumbra, the encounter with the “shades” of Odysseus’s deceased army, rising from the obsidian earth of Hades.

我最为《奥德赛》中那些超现实的段落所着迷:一只巨手从半明半暗中显现的幻象,以及奥德修斯阵亡军队的“阴魂”从哈迪斯的黑曜石大地上升起时的遭遇。

The film is introduced as “a time of apparent magic,” and Nolan has judiciously elected to relegate the deities to the periphery.

影片以“一个看似魔法的时代”开篇,诺兰明智地选择将诸神置于边缘地带。

Though their powers are undeniably authentic, the gods themselves remain conspicuously off-screen, with the sole exception of Zendaya’s Athena, who materializes as a confidante to Odysseus.

尽管其神力毋庸置疑,但众神本身却始终显著地缺席于银幕,唯一的例外是赞达亚饰演的雅典娜,她以奥德修斯知己的身份现身。

That choice draws Nolan’s “Odyssey,” and its themes of sacrifice, fidelity and honor, closer to reality.

这一选择将诺兰的《奥德赛》及其关于牺牲、忠诚与荣誉的主题拉近现实。

And it renders Nolan’s decision to cast his film broadly all the more indispensable.

这使得诺兰广泛选角的决定愈发不可或缺。

This is a narrative, transmitted across millennia by bards and raconteurs, that belongs to all of humanity.

这是一部由吟游诗人和说书人跨越千年传承的叙事,属于全人类。

Casting the film with a heterogeneous ensemble of actors, including Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, is not merely permissible for a purely mythological tale but imbues the film with a contemporary vitality.

以多元化的演员阵容(包括露皮塔·尼永奥饰演海伦)来选角,对于纯粹的神话故事而言不仅无可厚非,更赋予影片一种当代活力。

Witnessing actors such as Elliot Page (indelible as a fallen soldier), John Leguizamo (as the loyal servant Eumaeus), and Damon in this archaic context constitutes a compelling reason to view “The Odyssey,” and why Homer’s oft-recounted epic warrants revisiting at all.

目睹埃利奥特·佩奇(饰演阵亡士兵,令人难忘)、约翰·雷吉扎莫(饰演忠仆欧迈俄斯)以及达蒙等演员置身于这一古老语境中,构成了观看《奥德赛》的充分理由,也解释了为何荷马这部屡被重述的史诗值得再次审视。

If the present holds no relevance, what is the purpose?

若当下毫无关联,其意义何在?

They possessed no cameras in 700 B.C., either.

公元前700年,他们同样没有相机。

Nolan’s “Odyssey,” despite its nearly three-hour runtime, never languishes.

诺兰的《奥德赛》,尽管片长近三小时,却从未显得冗长乏味。

The film is propelled as much by the friction between past and present as by Odysseus’s meandering trajectory.

影片的推进力既源于过去与当下之间的张力,也来自奥德修斯蜿蜒曲折的历程。

Gender roles are interrogated even as traditional masculinity is reaffirmed.

性别角色受到审视,即便传统男性气质同时被再度确认。

The poem’s denouement, problematic for its depiction of mass slaughter, is rendered as a more palatable action-movie melee.

史诗的结局因描绘大规模屠杀而备受争议,在此被演绎为一场更易接受的打斗场面。

Yet the essence of “The Odyssey” remains intact, and Odysseus’s quest to atone for his transgressions while adhering to his principles feels resurgently vital.

然而《奥德赛》的精髓依然完整,奥德修斯在坚守原则的同时寻求赎罪之旅,焕发出重获新生的活力。

Nolan, one might say, is entirely in his element.

可以说,诺兰完全处于得心应手之境。

"The Odyssey," a Universal Pictures release arriving in theaters on Thursday, has been classified R by the Motion Picture Association due to its depiction of violence and some language.

《奥德赛》这部由环球影业发行、将于周四登陆院线的影片,因涉及暴力场面及部分粗俗语言,已被美国电影协会评定为R级。

The film's runtime is 172 minutes.

该片片长为172分钟。

It has been awarded three and a half stars out of four.

该片获得了四星评级中的三星半。

July 16th, 2026

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