The soundtrack to Nolan’s Odyssey is as well-crafted – and unmemorably bloodless – as the film itself | The Odyssey

A A few weeks ago I came across a video by Professor Armand D’Angour, assistant professor of higher education at the University of Oxford. He explained how, through the unceasing research of pieces of music and rhythm found on papyrus and stone and the reconstruction of ancient instruments, it is now possible to hear for the first time in 2,000 years what ancient Greek music would have sounded like.

Given Ludwig Göransson’s beautiful theme of classes (an ancient two-bar flute) in Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster, The Odyssey, with its history of dedicated research on its subject, it seems possible that he too has heard this tune from a long time ago.

In time, a successful film becomes the same as his film, but before it is made, his ability to direct is infinite. “There is nothing better than the wrong music,” said Alfred Hitchcock. In The White Ribbon Michael Haneke does not choose anything except for the music from the material (action within the film).

But this is difficult and rare. Oftentimes music is preferred, a choice must be made and a strategy established.

According to a 2026 article in Vanity Fair, Nolan asked Ludwig Göransson not to use actors. He wanted a world familiar to the audience, but not one he had experienced before. Göransson had to develop his style and work with words he had never used before.

Copper cables were used, metal tools of all shapes and sizes were hammered. The sound world should be earthy, raw, without darkness and in addition to this mix, the instruments of the time were used. Like Professor D’Angour, Göransson rebuilt the past classes and original music, adding synths and voices – not a lot of voices, but small, intimate groups.

I am a contemporary classical music composer, who also writes the occasional film. There are two reasons why I am happy to explain what Göransson did.

First, I am writing an opera The Odysseyto premiere in Athens in 2027, directed by Isabella Bywater and based on Emily Wilson’s interpretation that inspired Nolan. Secondly, my most recent film was Jonathan Nossiter’s Last Words, set in a post-apocalyptic world not unlike the brutal environment of The Odyssey, where the brief was very similar to Nolan’s Göransson’s: “The orchestra must have stone, wind and steel.”

So I understand. And personally, I love Göransson’s arrangement: a natural earthy sound combined with vintage instruments and layers of synth and vocals. But the result was not as clear as it could have been.

Many felt that there was a lack of emotional power, a lack of recognizable music. Some said they didn’t recognize the music. This in itself does not have to be a bad thing. The purpose of this film is to enhance the film, not to make it memorable.

If it can achieve its goal and be memorable, then that’s good news for all concerned. Indeed, sometimes the music is so memorable that the film has no choice but to gracefully and gratefully accept the fact – I think of the main theme in Schindler’s List, or the bathroom scene in Psycho.

But being memorable shouldn’t be the primary goal of a film. And Göransson’s score for The Odyssey is unforgettable. But does it add to the film?

All the ingredients were there, but I have to agree with the critics that the last song, and the different moments, were not very satisfying.

Part of the blame for this should be placed at the entrance to the mix. Advanced sound design was added and most of the time the music was difficult to understand. This is obviously not the composer’s fault.

But listening to the music alone, I found that the inspiration I was hoping for was rarely found. With a few exceptions – especially the Sirens and one of those Calypso plays where the singing was so lively and melodious – the soundtrack I found to be very Hollywood. The heavy use of big drums is also of a world that I think Göransson is trying to avoid. Indeed, most of the big ones sound like traditional music, with synth instead of orchestra.

There were even moments when I felt the music was fighting the film. Sometimes, of course, this is a message to the audience that everything is not as it seems. But in these moments it just feels wrong. The combination of the old world sound and elements of a more traditional approach, for me, was not successful.

Odysseus, in Wilson’s translation, is a famous, and to some controversial, “difficult man”. Nolan’s epic, in my opinion, does not focus enough on this complex nature, flaws, diametrically opposed to his character. Yes there is a loss, but mostly this has to do with her husband and her memory. But there is more. Here is a man who had power and glory, a kingdom, fame, a house, a wife, a son – and he has lost everything. He lives alone on the beach of Calypso, no one is looking at the “fruitless sea”.

The lack of emotional turmoil in Odysseus himself, so important to Homer’s story, was reflected in the music. It seems that, for all of Göransson’s laudable attempts to recreate old world sounds and marry them with familiar elements, they too have been lost in a fruitless sea.

Göransson is a professional composer. He has won three Oscars and is loved by moviegoers. In The Odyssey he, in my opinion, has done a good job of serving the film, but I don’t think he has added much.