Over 89 million people have viewed the trailers for Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of “The Odyssey,” which premieres on July 17. Students in my classes are buzzing about it. Elon Musk is posting about casting rumors. It looks like another blockbuster from the director of hits like “Inception,” “Interstellar” and the “Batman” trilogy.
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I am also looking forward to the film, but I am hoping to see something different from most.
Instead of epic adventures or special effects, I will be watching to see if Nolan captures the deep lessons about the family from the original book.
I teach a class titled “Great Books of the World” at Brigham Young University-Idaho. I choose five books each semester that represent the classics of world literature. My goal is to help students follow the Lord’s command to “seek ye out of the best books, words of wisdom” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:118).
Last semester, as we read “The Odyssey”together, I was struck by the powerful pro-family message of this epic poem from 2,800 years ago.
Most people know something about the story of “The Odyssey” even if they have never read it. Pictures of wily Odysseus outfoxing the Cyclops, escaping sea monsters and surviving shipwrecks come to mind. But few remember the powerful lines that show the importance of family to the epic story.
Odysseus’ choice and 2 hearts that work as 1
When we first meet Odysseus, he is weeping on the shore of the island of Ogygia, longing to go home. He is being held as a captive by the goddess Calypso. She offers to marry Odysseus and give him immortality. He could live the blissful life of the Olympian gods.
“Stay right here, preside in our house with me / and be immortal,” Calypso offers, according to Robert Fagles’ translation of “The Odyssey.”
Odysseus’ answer shows that he understands what he is giving up to go home to his wife Penelope.
“All that you say is true, how well I know.
Look at my wise Penelope. She falls far short of you,
your beauty, stature. She is mortal after all,
and you, you never age or die …
Nevertheless I long — I pine, all my days —
to travel home and see the dawn of my return.”
Odysseus is willing to trade the joys of life with a goddess for the companionship of his aging, mortal wife. His love for “wise Penelope” isn’t based on her beauty alone. Instead, he wants to be with her because he cares for her and wants to work with her to build their family together.
Odysseus describes his idea of marriage later in the poem in this way when speaking to a young princess:
“No finer, greater gift in the world than …
when man and woman possess their home, two minds,
two hearts that work as one. Despair to their enemies,
joy to all their friends. Their own best claim to glory.”
My students were surprised by these lines. In this ancient poem, we find higher praise for unity in marriage than we see in much of modern storytelling. Most contemporary novels, movies and TV shows make marriage out to be drudgery or conflict.
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But here is a story, almost 3,000 years old, that glorifies a marriage where both spouses are working together in unity.
Scholars of marriage like Brad Wilcox have found that this unity of purpose, this shared enterprise is the key to a lasting, joyful marriage. In his 2025 book, “Get Married,” he devotes a chapter to the ethos of “We before me,” and argues that “Looking out for number one is a recipe for marital failure.”Even as society trends toward selfish marriages, companionships where “two minds / two hearts … work as one” are still the gold standard.
Secrets and deep roots
After choosing to leave Calypso, Odysseus finally arrives back home in Ithaca all alone. To protect himself from his enemies, he hides his identity. After days of testing, plotting and preparation, Odysseus kills his wife’s suitors with the help of his son, Telemachus.
Only then does he reveal his identity to his wife, Penelope.
The scenes of their reunion are some of the most touching in the poem.
Odysseus shows his true form to Penelope, but she cannot believe that it is really him. She says, “if he is truly / Odysseus, home at last, make no mistake: / we two will know each other, even better— / we two have secret signs, / known to us both but hidden from the world.”
Penelope asks a maid to move the bed out of her room for Odysseus to sleep on. This seemingly innocent remark is her way to test his knowledge of their hidden marital secret.
Odysseus knows no one can move that bed. One of the bedposts is the trunk of an olive tree that is still deeply rooted in the soil.
He says:
“There’s our secret sign, I tell you, our life story!
Does the bed, my lady, still stand planted firm? —
I don’t know — or has someone chopped away
that olive-trunk and hauled our bedstead off?”
Penelope now knows that this man is her husband and they finally embrace after 20 years of separation.
I love that this is the key sign between them because of what the tree trunk symbolizes. The heart of their marriage is something connected to the earth with deep roots. It is immovable, like the loyalty of both Odysseus and Penelope. Just as Odysseus rejected marriage with a goddess, Penelope fended off dozens of suitors for years as she waited for her husband’s return.
Much more could be said about the family-centered messages in Homer’s epic, but these examples dramatize how powerfully this ancient story values the family. It is the great goal of all life’s adventures.
I have read that Christopher Nolan’s film is rated R for “violence and some language.” So, it may not be a family-friendly viewing experience.
Still, I hope that it captures the essence of the pro-family message in the original text. And I hope that the film and all the publicity and controversy that swirls around it will inspire more people to read the book. After all, the book is always better!
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