Christopher Nolan pushes the boundaries of IMAX with his grandiose "The Odyssey"

With "The Odyssey," Christopher Nolan takes his use of IMAX technology to a new level. The British-American director chose to shoot this adaptation of Homer's epic entirely with these large-format cameras, a first for a feature film. He asserts that this technological advancement allows for exceptionally sharp images, while offering an unprecedented immersion in Odysseus's mythological journey.

IMAX cameras adapted for the most intimate scenes

For several years, Christopher Nolan has considered IMAX to be much more than just a spectacular tool. Already used in "The Dark Knight," "Interstellar," "Dunkirk," "Tenet," and "Oppenheimer," this format has become a true visual signature of the filmmaker. But for "The Odyssey," he wanted to go further by retaining this technology even in dialogue scenes and the most intimate moments between characters.

Until now, IMAX film cameras presented a major obstacle: their operation was particularly noisy, making it difficult to directly record conversations between actors. In an interview with France Culture, Christopher Nolan explains that significant engineering work was required to design quieter equipment. Soundproofing systems were gradually developed to allow for filming the exchanges between Ulysses and Penelope in close-up, a first according to the director.

Thanks to these improvements, Nolan believes he has obtained "magnificent, extremely sharp images." For him, IMAX remains the format that most closely resembles human perception, particularly due to the exceptional size of its 70mm negative, which offers greater depth and detail than conventional formats.

A technology that has become Nolan's cinematic language

The filmmaker recounts discovering IMAX as a teenager, watching documentaries projected in that format. He wondered at the time why this technology wasn't used more extensively in major Hollywood productions. Several years later, he made it a central element of his directing.

The filming of "The Odyssey" thus represents the culmination of an evolution that began in 2008 with "The Dark Knight," some sequences of which were filmed in IMAX. Since then, Nolan has progressively expanded his use of the process: the space landscapes of "Interstellar," the aerial battles of "Dunkirk," and the explosions and close-ups of "Oppenheimer" have each exploited the immersive capabilities of this format.

For this new epic inspired by Homer, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus and featuring Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron, the director wanted viewers to feel like they were directly immersed in the adventure. He asserts that to truly experience the presence of Odysseus's ship and the vastness of the landscapes traversed by the Greek hero, IMAX is "the format to use."

While the film is being shown in traditional theaters in many cinemas, some venues are offering a glimpse of the experience Nolan intended, particularly 70mm film screenings in specially equipped theaters. The director thus continues to champion a vision of cinema where the grandeur of the image and the collective experience in a theater remain irreplaceable compared to home screens.