Unravelling Penelope

Exploring the radically different portrayals of the wife of Odysseus, from Homer to Nolan In this talk, Homeric scholar and filmmaker Ben Ferris examines some of the most compelling portraits of Penelope across literature and film. Ferris argues that, from Homer onwards, gaps and ambiguities emerge in our understanding of the famously faithful and patient wife of Odysseus. It is within these very gaps that subsequent writers, from James Joyce to Margaret Atwood, and filmmakers, from Jean-Luc Godard to Christopher Nolan, have constructed their own formidable—and yet radically different—versions of Penelope. Along the way, Ferris will share his own interpretation of the character, screening excerpts from his 2009 feature film Penelope, set in Croatia during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s. About our speaker Dr Ben Ferris is a lecturer and tutor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. He is a film writer, director and producer with the AACTA-winning company Breathless Films. His forthcoming book, Cinematic Time in the Odyssey, is being published by Bloomsbury Academic in February 2027. Penelope is currently available on Amazon Prime. Cinematic Time in the Odyssey is now available for pre-order through Bloomsbury Press.