Oppenheimer: Christopher Nolan’s apology to Florence Pugh sums up the whole problem of his cinema

Christopher Nolan found it necessary to apologize to Florence Pugh for the size of his role in Oppenheimer.

In an interview for MTVUK, the British actress revealed that the director insisted on letting her know the role was extremely secondary AND he apologized for itas reported IndieWire. While this apology may seem thoughtful and rather comical, it appears in a different light when we put Florence Pugh’s role in perspective with all the other female characters in the director’s filmography. That the director has to apologize for the ridiculous size of a role is just a symptom of a structuring defect of his cinema that no one – not even him – can pretend to ignore.

Pugh’s character is yet another example of Nolan’s inability to write female characters.

In front of Oppenheimer, you must have wondered about the role of Florence Pugh. Not only is the actress featured in one issue incredibly narrow of scenes – often short, these apparitions can be counted on the fingers of one hand. But beyond his presence time ridiculous on the screen the actress appears practically only in sex scenes (the actress is naked less than three minutes after her first screen appearance) or in sequences that represent it as a sick and emotionally dependent person, without giving him enough time to fully understand the source of his discomfort. Almost nothing is known about this character. except Oppenheimer wants it. In other words, on Nolan’s camera, she’s much more a object – Oppenheimer’s object of desire, which a subject. Who is this woman ? What do you think? How does she feel? What are her political beliefs? For what ? She’s not insideOppenheimerfilm lasting 3 hours anyway, that you will find the answer.

Such staging choices are even more questionable when one considers that Florence Pugh embodies, in this biopic, the doctor, psychiatrist and leftist activist Jean Tatlock. If he had wanted, Christopher Nolan would have had a boulevard explore this character further. But throughout the productions, the filmmaker does nothing but confirm his difficulties (or his disinterest?) In writing female characters as worthy of interest as their male colleagues.

Therefore, the other female character in the film, Oppenheimer’s wife, played by Emily Blunt, receives the same treatment as Florence Pugh: she appears on the screen only very rarely or is relegated to the background. , the latter is represented as an alcoholic and violent womanwithout that we have the slightest explanation to understand the origin of his condition.

Surely this is the biggest place paradox (and the worst defect) of the cinema of Christopher Nolan. So rich, innovative and avant-garde, his filmography nevertheless maintains what Hollywood more retrograde, simplistic and uninteresting in the representation of women. If the director checks the box “put women in his films”it might be time to give them more than just the role of token male characters. Spectators, actresses and even Nolan movie : they would all be better off.

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