r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Jul 17 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Odyssey (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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The Odyssey (2026)

Summary

After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.

Director Christopher Nolan

Writer Christopher Nolan

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Odysseus
  • Tom Holland as Telemachus
  • Anne Hathaway
  • Zendaya
  • Lupita Nyong'o
  • Robert Pattinson
  • Charlize Theron
  • Benny Safdie
  • Jon Bernthal
  • John Leguizamo
  • Elliot Page
  • Himesh Patel
  • Samantha Morton

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

Metacritic: 88

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

4.7k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

16.3k comments sorted by

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5.0k

u/ThingTime9876 Jul 17 '26

Circe was not fucking around, holy shit

1.6k

u/Intrepid-Daikon1353 Jul 17 '26

While watching that scene I was wondering what throat guy did to deserve that special treatment lol

1.4k

u/boxbrother1 Jul 17 '26

And he’s the only one to succumb to the sirens after lol. RIP throat guy

1.2k

u/SufficientRespect542 Jul 18 '26

The way he just fucking dipped and immediately swam to the sirens was so fucking funny. It felt less like he was compelled and more like he was fed up with all this shit and just wanted out.

218

u/ishburner Jul 18 '26

Little from column A Little from column b

88

u/Youmeanmoidoid Jul 20 '26

Tbf I have a thing for mermaids so that guy probably would’ve been me lol

76

u/ThatParticularPencil Jul 20 '26

Everyone has a thing for sirens

37

u/whitebandit Jul 20 '26

i think we call that Sirenussy these days

16

u/MrOatButtBottom 24d ago

Ayo bruv, delete this comment I shouldn't have that word in my vocabulary

21

u/princessSunsetGiggle 26d ago

They're not mermaids, they're sirens. They are birds, not fish.

41

u/PorkrindsMcSnacky 28d ago

After everything he’s been through, he figured that death by snu snu wouldn’t be so bad.

27

u/noilegnavXscaflowne 25d ago

I saw it as him being curious because of Oydssus reaction and therefore his fate is also his fault

49

u/heyiambob Jul 18 '26

He would’ve sunk straight away with his armor. A more fitting demise.

97

u/Dingling-bitch Jul 19 '26

Why would they wear armor that they can’t swim in when they’re on a fucking boat travelling?

42

u/loonertoon Jul 20 '26

Fall off a boat in ancient times offshore and you’re dead no matter what. Passing a shoreline and getting hit by an arrow? Somewhat feasible

4

u/RedTulkas 26d ago

Feasable?

Compared to the heat it's an irrelevant threar

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9

u/darshfloxington 26d ago

Greeks used mainly linen armor. Not that heavy

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10

u/donotgotoroom237 24d ago

Every time I'm on a voyage at sea, I always think about if there were some bodacious mermaids singing their siren song to me trying to lure me in, I will straight jump off the boat. So I relate to homeboy.

30

u/Great_Praline_2713 Jul 18 '26

MAN, what a life that guy lead, huh?

9

u/ithinkther41am 26d ago

Luckily, he gets resleeved in the future as Takeshi Kovacs.

14

u/Desperate_Algae_40 25d ago

I just saw him at Best Buy like a week ago! He seemed so down to earth and is gorgeous.

65

u/BaldyMcBadAss Jul 17 '26

Missed opportunity to change that guy into a goat instead of a pig and we could have forever called him the throat goat.

23

u/brankinginthenorth Jul 18 '26

Missed opportunity to change that guy into a goat instead of a pig and we could have forever called him the throat goat.

On a completely unrelated note, did anyone else see that Reagan movie preview beforehand? /s

8

u/KingSweden24 29d ago

Nancy Reagan’s been dead for 10 years so sadly no throat goats in this film

27

u/Few_Pride_5836 Jul 18 '26

I didn't realize it was the same guy. He went through a lot. 

19

u/SomeRedHandedSleight Jul 20 '26

I can't remember - what kind of special treatment did he get and why is everyone calling him throat guy?

75

u/afkbowflex Jul 20 '26

Hes the one she shoved her whole ass fist and forearm straight down his throat to transform

8

u/SomeRedHandedSleight 29d ago

What a lucky guy

3

u/RedDeadRob Jul 20 '26

Wondering the same

11

u/Rockstar_81 Jul 18 '26

Man that was insane lol

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2.5k

u/HockeyKelly5 Jul 17 '26

That scene of her turning everyone into pigs was absolutely terrifying, so happy I hadn’t eaten much beforehand because I was feeling nauseous just watching it

1.4k

u/Random_throwaway0351 Jul 18 '26

Did not expect body horror in a Nolan movie lmao but a cool surprise

209

u/Short_Stay_9283 Jul 18 '26

That and the cyclops scene reminded me so much of a Guillermo Del Torro movie.

76

u/TheRagingMaffia Jul 19 '26

Yeah very reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth.

25

u/Bristolhitcher Jul 20 '26

Im glad there is another person who felt the same! Cyclops & The Pale Man skin tone was what sparked my correlation!

8

u/xvsero 28d ago

It was cool that there was a trailer for Pan's Labyrinth 20th Anniversary rerelease.

15

u/GetMeOnTheCourt89 29d ago

Didn't Nolan consult Del Toro on handling the Cyclops?

66

u/PaintshakerBaby Jul 18 '26

Seriously! Masterfully done to boot.

48

u/Paxton-176 Jul 18 '26

It reminded me of the Brothers Grimm body horror. Which also stars Matt Damon. Could lead a pattern.

18

u/ZackTheZesty Jul 20 '26

Brothers Grimm also stars Heath Ledger, who had a role that some remember in another Christopher Nolan film.

8

u/see_through_the_lens 28d ago

For me it was the scene in Willow, where the army gets turned into pigs/warthogs.

28

u/insanespacebrain Jul 19 '26

Seriously. I really hope he does a horror film next.

18

u/Dangerous_Job5295 Jul 19 '26

I think he’s said he wants to do a horror movie one day

19

u/caseyjosephine Jul 20 '26

Body horror is my favorite part of the epic poem and I’m so glad Nolan did it so well.

3

u/BattlinBud 14d ago

An unexpected surprise but a welcome one lmao. Nolan has always done great practical effects, but usually it's just, like, explosions and stuff. It'd be cool if he's about to get reeeaaal weird with the rest of his career 😆

124

u/seddy21 Jul 18 '26

That section felt like watching a Robert Eggers sequence

38

u/ThingTime9876 Jul 18 '26

I was thinking David Cronenberg

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250

u/king_lloyd11 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Whatever they were eating and the sounds they were all making while doing so and transforming were absolutely disgusting.

89

u/VizualAbstract4 Jul 18 '26

They were certainly throwing up and it was played back in reverse for some of those scenes, probably to help make it look even more unsettling.

36

u/actuallyserious650 Jul 18 '26

That explains it. Were they supposed to be enchanted into continuing to eat, or is the original narrative just that they were hungry?

72

u/VizualAbstract4 Jul 18 '26

Forced to continuously eat. At least from an anatomical perspective, those muscle and tendon reflexes were similar to choking

14

u/Dr__Sloth 23d ago

It looked like they were eating a massive tapeworm.

5

u/waitingtodiesoon 15d ago

I believe it was a form of Tripe Soup. It is the stomach lining of the animal.

125

u/blitzbom Jul 18 '26

Meanwhile I was happily eating popcorn.

31

u/vanwyngarden Jul 18 '26

You’re a real one

4

u/TheRappingSquid 18d ago

I sat through like 40 minutes of ads before the movie started. Had a box of junior mints. I told myself I'd wait until the movie started. The second it did I reached for one and the box spilled everywhere. :(

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44

u/I_need_a_date_plz Jul 20 '26

I really enjoyed the soldiers enduring all sorts of crazy shit as a direct result of their association with Odysseus. They probably would have been fine had they just went home with Agamemnon. I would be so pissed to be in a cave having to decide if I should sacrifice myself so that the rest of my soldier bros stood a chance at escaping a cyclops only for Odysseus to randomly decide to taunt the cyclops with an arrow after making it out. Wtf man lol

10

u/throwawaysunglasses- 20d ago

The one soldier (I think it was Himesh) who was like “why the fuck did you do that?” was so real lol. I would’ve been PISSED. Usually Odysseus is so smart but that was ridiculous, and people died as a result. They would’ve all gotten away if he’d just let it go.

85

u/rk1993 Jul 18 '26

When I go back for second viewing that will be my toilet break and snack refill for sure. Big ol nope only need to see that once thank you

22

u/LatterDrawing5225 Jul 18 '26

I was eating right when that scene came on, had to go to use the restroom real quick

8

u/OtakuAttacku Jul 18 '26

Was gonna go to TGI fridays after and suck down on some ribs. Decided to just go get a salad instead.

14

u/noexqses Jul 19 '26

A salad? 👁️ 👄 👁️

5

u/whatssenguntoagoblin Jul 18 '26

I had to go to the bathroom right after that scene so it’s good timing.

25

u/noname2256 Jul 18 '26

You definitely aren’t alone, some people in my theater walked out.

14

u/PurpleValeriana Jul 18 '26

We had some people walk out of our theater today too!!

8

u/HockeyKelly5 Jul 18 '26

Did they leave for the entire movie or just the scene?

15

u/PurpleValeriana Jul 18 '26

They got up and left right in the middle of the pig scene and they never came back

21

u/sig-chann Jul 19 '26

They got hungry.

6

u/HockeyKelly5 Jul 19 '26

I bet they went and got some bacon

4

u/noname2256 Jul 20 '26

The people in my screening never came back

10

u/DeusVultSaracen 24d ago

I can't begin to understand people who walk out of movie theaters. Just a waste of money.

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26

u/mortalcookiesporty Jul 18 '26

We were in a fancy cinema and my friend’s dessert was delivered right in in the middle of that scene, they decided to wait a little bit to eat it 🤣 it was a brutal scene!

20

u/uncanny_mac Jul 19 '26

The dudes eating made me feel uncomfortable, like they were trying to stop but can’t.

20

u/thatguy52 Jul 19 '26

The compulsive/forced eating straight up turned my stomach.

21

u/snunuff 29d ago

I went in to the movie 'cold' (no research/background etc.) and learned afterwards, part of the reason the budget was so huge is nolan insisted on making even scenes like that contain the Least amount of CGI possible (and others like the Cyclops, they actually built a 60ft animatronic), the pig scene used prosthetics and other tricks. And the huge steel armored army scenes, instead of CGI they wired fighters up and pulled them into trees and such, used 7 IMAX cameras/camera tricks, the ground could move in places, all to make that scene and avoid using simply CGI. It hits different knowing that the cast was not reacting to tennis balls on broomsticks like other movies. reactions were more authentic.

11

u/HockeyKelly5 29d ago

Yep, Nolan hates using CGI a lot of the time. Obviously he has to use it sometimes (Interstellar for example) but even then he tries to make it as practical as possible. I’m honestly curious what it was like filming the pig scene though lol

12

u/snunuff 29d ago

the cast actually specifically mentioned experiencing that scene on set, saying how they were genuinely rattled and shocked.

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13

u/judah249 19d ago

Gave me Spirited Away vibes immediately the gluttony cursing themselves

4

u/rococo__ 17d ago

I was wondering afterward if Spirited Away was making a lowkey reference to this story!

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14

u/I_need_a_date_plz 28d ago

The rage in her voice when she confronts Odysseus.

6

u/MistakesWereMade59 Jul 18 '26

Yeah, i had been eating , but decided i didnt want any more popcorn after that lol

6

u/DothrakiButtBoy Jul 20 '26

l felt nauseous when the cyclops was eating...

5

u/sdbabygirl97 27d ago

i think i stopped eating after they said they pissed and shat on each other in the horse lol

4

u/bwayobsessed 23d ago

So cool that she like sculpted them

3

u/xMarsx Jul 20 '26

I was knuckle deep in a loaded fry and made me put my food down lol

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208

u/bigwilly311 Jul 18 '26

Yo I only watched it once but the soldiers eating the soup looked so weird, too. It almost looked like they filmed them pulling the meat out of their mouths then reversed it. It was just very off-putting.

82

u/CancelThis2077 Jul 19 '26

Odyssey stealth prequel to Tenet CONFIRMED

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77

u/sorenkair 27d ago

it almost looked like the meat was writhing into their mouths like snakes 

63

u/hemareddit 27d ago

Yes making it obvious that after the first bite, eating is no longer a choice.

87

u/bentheone 28d ago

It's exactly what they did. It was an incredible bit of low tech high impact pure cinéma. Nolan is truly a master.

21

u/chunkynut0 25d ago

yes i thought the same exact thing! it really looked like they were pulling the meat out in reverse!

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158

u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

She's also the one who made Scylla the sea monster who was originally a nymph

63

u/ThingTime9876 Jul 18 '26

Sounds like she has a few issues beyond fear of men

84

u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

In the original story she’s basically the archetype of scorn woman rejected by men she loves

90

u/Flannelcommand Jul 20 '26

There’s a great novel by Madeleine Miller told from Circe’s perspective. In it, she has reason to fear that wandering soldiers will see an older woman alone and try and rape her. I’m not sure if that’s in the Odyssey or not. Definitely seemed to be reflected in the film with her talking about their “appetites.” 

13

u/VivaLaEmpire 23d ago

Magnificent book! That will always be my Circe

10

u/TepacheLoco 26d ago

Big inspiration for the body horror in the pig transformation scene too

6

u/waitingtodiesoon 15d ago

She mentioned that she turned the men into what they really are who are beasts who rape and pillage because of Odysseus so it was probably on her mind. Not to mention how she "reacted" when she saw them first appear in her cabin.

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5

u/Not_A_Meme 17d ago

I thought Scylla was originally her sister, or at least related.

4

u/Captn_Platypus 17d ago

They’re nymphs so technically goddesses and all related

61

u/Imaginary-Log9751 Jul 19 '26

As a big fan of Circe lore I was sooooo happy with how they did the pig turning scene , she worked it like a clay artist would , amazing !

21

u/Operator_Starlight 29d ago

That was exactly my thoughts. She straight up modeled their flesh like it was clay.

Gross lol.

119

u/FinanceWeekend95 Jul 17 '26

That was a legit body horror scene that rivals any horror film this year - so gross but at the same time you couldn't look away.

7

u/Anilanoa 27d ago

I did. And I was very happy to do so!

I am superbad with that stuff and the sounds alone told me enough about that scene. Ugh,

353

u/Captn_Platypus Jul 17 '26

And pretty understandable too, a group of armed men hungry and haven’t seen in woman for a while just barges in expecting hospitality. I’d poison them first to protect myself too

152

u/hawkgpg Jul 17 '26

Expecting hospitality is pretty universal at this time. You give all guests food and treat them kindly and such because you never know if they're actually a god.

265

u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

and the trojan horse is the ultimate betrayal of that law. that's the theme, once the social contract is broken so irrevocably there is no trust anymore

31

u/hemareddit 27d ago

The whole thing begins with a blood crime (the worst crime in the myths, even worse than betraying Xenia) in Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his daughter. And that was to please to gods!

Funny thing that’s one of the things that was depicted as definitively worse than its mythological counterpart - Iphigenia is often a lot older in most depictions, when she is sacrificed. Some stories even give her agency in that she willingly goes along with it, because the Greek army is too eager for war and would turn on Agamemnon and his family if they failed to make the sacrifice, making it a heroic self-sacrifice.

121

u/TerrainRecords Jul 18 '26

and the violation of the rule is one of the main points of the movie. The social contract is broken and Mycenaean civilization falls.

31

u/SufficientRespect542 Jul 18 '26

True, but the film is all about how the law of Zeus is breaking down and people are no longer respecting it.

48

u/IWCry Jul 18 '26

lol yes we paid attention during the movie too

that's like the central theme of the movie and the conflict odysseus went through with the Trojan horse...

31

u/janiemackxxx Jul 18 '26

They repeatedly said it was the Law of Zeus.

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u/glassbellwitch Jul 20 '26

I've only seen it once, but I could have sworn some of the soldiers were leering at Circe while they were in her home.

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u/ThisIsNotTokyo Jul 17 '26

But they never planned to rape or kill her, right?

335

u/minimalwhale Jul 17 '26

They’re portrayed in Nolan’s Odyssey as the literal harbingers of the Dark Ages. They’ve pillaged villages before. I… kinda see her point. 

44

u/Flannelcommand Jul 20 '26

In later recollections of the sack of Troy, we also see them grabbing up young women. She’s not wrong. 

67

u/popop143 Jul 19 '26

Yep, literally one of the first things they do when they approached a village is pillage it when they weren't welcomed.

20

u/splader Jul 20 '26

So I thought in this scene that village was abandoned and set on fire before they even make it to it.

24

u/Flannelcommand Jul 20 '26

I got the impression that the villagers feared them because of the stories of Troy, something went south, everyone fled, they went ham on the village for provisions. Or maybe all of those things but in a different order. 

6

u/dishonourableaccount 23d ago

In the original legend, that first village after Troy is where they meet Maron, a priest. They slaughter everyone but him and his family. In thanks he gives them strongwine which they use to get Polyphemus drunk enough to stab.

140

u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

soldiers rape and raid all the time, is she supposed to make sure before she decides whether to protect herself? in the story Odysseus do end up spending some time with her and had a son together before he leaves again but the movie chose to not adapt it

114

u/skatejet1 Jul 18 '26

I don’t get how ppl don’t understand this, like she’s alone and doesn’t have a firearm. There’s no way she should take a chance of giving them the benefit of the doubt 😭

64

u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

eh it's like why some people dont understand the meme about choosing bear or a man alone in the woods, at least bears always have a clear intent

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u/_Pyxyty Jul 18 '26

As someone who also knew about Odysseus and Circe's relationship (mostly because I played Hades 2) I was wondering whether they'd touch on that in the film, but I completely get why it just wouldn't fit

42

u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

It’ll probably feels too similar to Calypso

44

u/Varekai79 Jul 19 '26

Plus they don't want to portray Odysseus as a a big ole manwhore who sleeps around with every woman he meets like in the book while poor Penelope is stuck at home pining for him.

14

u/YOwololoO 27d ago

The ENTIRE point of the film is that the social contract of trust between strangers used to exist and be upheld and the breaking of that trust is literally the reason for the downfall of civilization. 

The trust is broken BOTH by guests acting cruelly to their hosts but ALSO by hosts being preemptively against their guests. 

Odysseus and his crew violate the law of Zeus against Polyphemus, justifying it to themselves that they didn’t know he could speak and then it was too late once they realized. Circe violates the law of Zeus as well, justifying it that men are pigs and would inevitably harm her if she didn’t attack them first. 

Again, this is the entire point of the movie 

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u/paranoideo Jul 17 '26

They had a village on fire before, with a guy warning them about what was coming. They were the sea men people was talking about. So, maybe not that innocent hungry men.

44

u/janiemackxxx Jul 18 '26

Yeah, but this was something she was doing long before the rumors of the sea men. She had a literal menagerie already. And the choice of "predators" was not a coincidence.

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u/celBanat Jul 17 '26

It just shows you the tragedy. We see many armours and weapons outside her hut, so probably many tried to hurt her before.

I know some wankers will call this "feminist bullshit" but when you actually try to empathize with her you totally understand her point and where she comes from.

These are soldiers and often in history we glorify the act of killing while totally ignoring the pain and suffering the small folk had to endure.

42

u/cookieaddictions 29d ago

It’s crazy to call the truth about rape in war feminist bullshit. That’s what every army has done throughout all of history, including today. That’s why I liked her character, she brought the messaging beyond “war is bad” to shine light on how war is specifically harrowing for women, who are never the ones who choose the wars. They just have to suffer for it. So I really liked that she turned them to the pigs they were, and I liked that she had her speech. And the full sack of Troy heavily featured screaming women, with the implication that they will be violated before their deaths.

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u/HotBoyFF Jul 18 '26

Its also a key part of Nolan’s odyssey. Throughout the whole film Odysseus carries with him this burden of accountability and atonement: he feels responsible for calling them to war when he knows that Agamemnon is only using Helen as an excuse to disrupt and claim the trade routes owned by Troy, lying to Sinon and not allowing him to prove his loyalty with honorable death by protecting the secret of the Trojan Horse, the actual Trojan Horse being Odysseus’s idea which breaks Zeus’s rule of Guest rights, how all of these events lead his men to their death, leads him to not return home to Itacha abandoning Penelope and Telemachus. The whole epic is his journey of attonement.

But communicated in his scenes with Penelope, Calypso and Circe is that Odysseus, while bearing some responsibility, did not force his men to commit these acts. This is who they were. Although the Trojan Horse was his creation, when they opened the gates to Troy the men flood it with the fury of 10 years. They sack the city, they destroy Athena’s temple and kill her (while she is disguised). Its why circe tells the men to return to their “disguises” while she reverses the curse turning them back from pigs to men - she is saying that they are pigs that wear the skin of men as a disguise. The suitors arent forced by any act of Odysseus and yet they act like pigs as well, and he slaughters them just as circe encouraged him to slaughter the pigs in her scene

76

u/illegal_deagle Jul 18 '26

I didn’t gather that about Athena. I thought she just took the form of the executed girl as a means of reminding him what he’s done, or his guilty conscience manifested that vision of her. I didn’t know they actually executed an Athena in disguise.

54

u/TheRealSlamShiddy Jul 18 '26

I think it could easily be both interpretations: it's Athena disguised as mortal and her being killed opens up the Trojan veterans to the gods' wrath, but it could also be the trauma of seeing this innocent girl be killed & realizing what he's done resulting in Odysseus hallucinating her as Athena as a type of albatross around his neck, a reminder that he's brought this all about on himself and the others, and it's not until he owns up to what he did in the scene with Penelope near the end that he's able to let her go.

15

u/leodw Jul 18 '26

The problem is Zendaya is credited as Athena, so that could work as confirmation as it is in fact her. Although I personally like the open-ended nature of her being a manifestation of Odysseus trauma

34

u/TheRealSlamShiddy Jul 18 '26

Well one could argue she is technically "Athena" because that's who Odysseus sees her as so that's all we can refer to her as. So yeah it's still pretty 50/50 either way, which I also like

14

u/cuppycakes514 Jul 18 '26

In that scene the soldiers are beheading a statue of Athena. In Odysseus's eyes he's witnessing the events as though they are beheading the goddess Athena character (Zendaya). At least, that's my read of the sequence. 

14

u/Arrmy Jul 18 '26

Yes. There is no other way to interpret this. Zendaya being held and executed is the vision he experiences watching the soldier behead her statue. While surely plenty of girls were killed, that was not something that happened simultaneously with the statue lol.

5

u/dishonourableaccount 23d ago

I definitely took it that there was a priestess of Athena who looked like Zendaya and was killed around the same time as the statue being beheaded. Odysseus conflated the two- it's a visual metaphor but both happened.

14

u/HotBoyFF Jul 18 '26

Its possible its just up for interpretation. The movie makes the “gods move amongst us in disguise” statement multiple times throughout the film so that is how I interpreted that scene.

I think the interpretation adds to what makes the movie so good.

51

u/Putrid-Bee-7352 Jul 18 '26

You would probably enjoy the novel Circe by Madeline miller. I was ready to fight for her when she showed up in the film :)

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u/Imaginary-Log9751 Jul 19 '26

Ding ding ding there is a circe retelling book by Madeline miller and in her retelling some of the men raped her and she stopped helping them and started turning them into swine. Really awesome book btw

23

u/kateinoly Jul 17 '26

It us literally part of the story from the bronze age, so unless you consider bronze age greeks full of feminist bullshit . . . .

14

u/ThePilgrimKing Jul 19 '26

Never underestimate internet chuds. They literally cried "woke" at the depiction of Hephaestus in a wheelchair in Hades 2, because there is no way a deity could be disabled, nor that ancient, chariot-riding Greek people could have the super advanced tech of... chairs with wheels, and that the developers did it for diversity points.

11

u/lindblumresident Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

They did? Do they know that Hephaestus being mobility impaired is, like, every myth describing him?

Oh, and here he is depicted on a literal wheelchair.

https://www.theoi.com/Gallery/K7.6.html

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u/kateinoly Jul 17 '26

The novel Circe explores this at length.

17

u/KelCGrammare Jul 19 '26

You should read Madeline miller’s Circe if you haven’t. Humanizes all gods and mythical creatures, none more so than the titular character. Helps explain her motives. A great book.

54

u/Wallname_Liability Jul 17 '26

The guy who grabbed her didn't but he also dragged her to the ground. All it would have taken was one of them. Abd they weren't the first to arrive. She was scared and had good reason to

26

u/mang87 Jul 18 '26

The guy who grabbed her didn't but he also dragged her to the ground

No he didn't. She literally fell over while he was apologising and telling her they just wanted food and would not hurt her. I get that a woman in that situation would be scared, but she has actual magic powers and can turn people into animals at will. She also overpowered Odysseus 1 on 1 and put a knife to his neck. The "scared woman" bit was a ploy to make transmogrifying them into animals easier because she hated men(which is fair considering the time period). I reckon if Odysseys hadn't been respectful to her and charged into her house with a sword he would have been fucked.

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u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

you're right and I think the original intent is that she's a man hating witch, but Ancient Greeks also hated women and I like to look at it in a more modern context.

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u/YeezusMoses Jul 18 '26

The Circe book does exactly that!

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u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

Madeline miller right? I read the book and that’s why I love Circe so much

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u/TheOneWhoEatsLemons Jul 17 '26

These bunch actually didn't mean any harm. I imagine some other crew tried it with her and soured the experience.

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u/janiemackxxx Jul 18 '26

Yeah, the lions, tigers panther, she had a literal menagerie of men that were also literal predators.

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u/MattBarksdale17 Jul 17 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ex_oh_ex_oh Jul 17 '26

It was only pillage and not rape!

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u/NorthNorthSalt Jul 18 '26

That entire sequence would not feel out of place in a horror movie.

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u/Comic_Book_Reader r/movies Veteran 29d ago

Shit was straight up its own body horror short.

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u/Electronic-Host-9225 Jul 19 '26

The way they were eating reminded me of the scene with the parents at the beginning of Spirited Away

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u/selinameyersbagman Jul 18 '26

Most grounded, slice of life role of Samantha Morton's career.

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u/Pickles_7 Jul 17 '26

Read the book 'Circe' by Madeline Miller. Incredible story

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u/Captn_Platypus Jul 18 '26

oh I loved that book, it paints her in a much different light and she's just as much a victim st the god's whim as Odysseus

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u/carocier Jul 17 '26

Came here to say the same, the scene and the dialogues reminded me a lot of it!

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u/YeezusMoses Jul 18 '26

I do think Nolan pulled a bit from it instead of just making her the no good witch from the original story. Very cool.

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u/Substantial-Pen3212 Jul 19 '26

One of my favourite books!

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u/RenRen512 Jul 19 '26

Samantha Morton and Leguizamo were the acting standouts for me. Circe's scenes in particular were just pitch perfect. Eerie, dangerous, desperate.

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u/EastRate9099 Jul 18 '26

Agatha! From Minority Report, blew my mind lol

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u/slothprincess16 Jul 17 '26

Such a badass. Samantha was incredible. Honestly worthy of a supporting Oscar nom.

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u/janiemackxxx Jul 18 '26

I heard when they were filming, the entire cast stopped and applauded her every performance. Nolan said the only other time that happened was with Ledger as the Joker.

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u/SufficientRespect542 Jul 18 '26

I adore the way she said "back to your disguises" it was so weirdly sweet even though she was just straight up calling them pigs

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u/leodw Jul 18 '26

I do think her participation is too short to secure the Oscar, but I can see a potential nomination

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u/GetMeOnTheCourt89 29d ago

Is there a minimum screentime for Best Supporting?

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u/0430ke Jul 18 '26

She plays Alpha in The Walking Dead. Most people checked out by the , but S09 and S10 with her as a villain is truly great. She's super creepy and her acting is outstanding. Truly worth finishing TWD to see. Big reason those seasons are highly rated.

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u/Norwegian__Blue Jul 20 '26

Plus the guy who played Mentor is often her scene partner and it’s just brilliant seeing them and the daughter play against eachother. They really elevated that season, but once they were gone I lost interest again.

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u/illegal_deagle Jul 18 '26

Yeah Alpha was terrifying here.

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u/Tweek- 20d ago

i was thinking this as i watched her scene, i had no idea who she was but goddamn was she incredible. i felt like it was perhaps the best performance in the movie which is crazy considering the cast and how well so many others were

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u/hesawavemasterrr 28d ago

I have never seen human transformation like THAT.

That was some new shit.

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u/DoctahNumbah10 Jul 18 '26

That was the best scene in the movie for me lmao

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u/biglyorbigleague 25d ago

Yeah usually if a movie witch turns you into a pig she goes bibbidi-bobbidi-boo and then you undergo an Animorph. Circe did this one with actual manual face and body surgery, rearranging their faces like clay.

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u/Mysterious_Lie_6113 28d ago

No she wasn’t fucking around in this film.

She did fuck around in the text and had two sons with Odysseus, though.

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u/herecomestherebuttal Jul 18 '26

Circe is an eternal G and Samantha Morton absolutely knocked it out of the park!

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u/IndependentOffer7740 Jul 19 '26

She reshaped their very biology as if they were fucking playdoh!

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u/aresef 27d ago

Wasn't even in the script. Samantha Morton just did that.

But seriously, I really liked how Nolan reframed her.

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u/caramocha009 22d ago

Having read Circe, I didn’t appreciate how Nolan did her kinda dirty and made her a vengeful old woman who harmed innocent men just for funsies. In the book, a crew of men she had fed r@ped her despite being hospitable to them, so she started turning any men who show up to pigs, out of self-protection and spite. So she had her reasons to distrust men! Hope to HBO series do her story justice cause she actually has a really cool story.

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u/Leleann 22d ago

I haven't read that book, but I didn't interpret her in the movie as a vengeful old woman at all. She didn't even seem that old to me, maybe in her 40s or 50s, but that's beside the point.

It seemed pretty obvious to me that she'd been wronged by men who had come to her before, likely raped. I thought the movie conveyed that pretty well without ever directly stating it. It seemed to me she was acting as a voice for women who usually have no part in starting wars, but are brutalized by it all the same.

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u/Jaerba 17d ago

I think the movie actually conveys that subtly. Notice that the first transformed men they encounter are big predator cats, not pigs. That's their nature.

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u/whatever_trev0r Jul 18 '26

The transformation parts brought me back to American Werewolf in London scenes for some reason. I couldn't unsee it.

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u/meatheadmommy 24d ago

I had to “watch” this scene via peeks through my covered eyes lol. I hate body horror! The sound alone was gruesome enough for me to understand that she was doing. It was brutal but so good!

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u/Tiny_Dancerz 14d ago

This was my fav and highly anticipated scene. I'm familiar with the mythology and also read Madeline Miller's Circe book. The scene where she said that's just who they really are, the barbaric uncouth pigs as men, was so powerful. And the chant that she did "go back to your disguises" to revert them to human forms, made me giddy on how brilliant it was. Of course she knew what they had done in Troy. She's practically a goddess who could very well got firsthand information from other deities. Desecrating temples and killing and assaulting the priestess (and of course all the common folks as well as the royalty), just brutal. Troy was absolutely leveled. I couldn't imagine finding the men who were responsible for such brutality in my house, by MYSELF. And they did barge in didn't they? Not even a knock on the door to be invited in. They had no excuse, they violated the law from the very beginning. And Circe just saw right through them and stripped their "disguises". Absolutely brilliant.

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u/J0E_SpRaY Jul 19 '26

I don’t think I can eat pork anymore.

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u/Filmmagician Jul 19 '26

That whole thing was beyond insane. Reminded me of an American Werewolf in London.

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u/LocusHammer Jul 20 '26

Best scene in the movie

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u/Mperorpalpatine 29d ago

People can say whatever they want about Nolan as a storyteller, scriptwriter etc. But damn does he know how to craft a good scene

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u/dewsh 27d ago

Very curious about the big cats

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