Christopher Nolan’s long-awaited comeback behind the camera will make up for the mixed success of his previous film, Tenet, released three years ago. For his twelfth opus, the director looks at the life of physicist and father of the atomic bomb, Julius Robert Oppenheimer. Here are five good reasons to go and see the film.
For the XXL cast
With a budget of $100m and a five-star cast, Nolan has pulled out all the stops for this new film. It stars the excellent Cillian Murphy, best known for his role as Thomas Shelby in the Peaky Blinders series, who brilliantly takes on the role of the eponymous character. Robert Downey Jr, aka Iron Man, reveals the full extent of his acting talent in the role of politician Lewis Strauss.
Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Matt Damon (Jason Bourne), Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Gary Oldman and Tom Conti, to name but a few, complete the XXL cast.
For Ludwig Göransson’s music
The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar: every Nolan film has a musical approach that haunts the audience, and Oppenheime is no exception. For this biopic, however, Nolan called on Ludwig Göransson rather than his faithful right-hand man, Hans Zimmer.
A wise choice, since the soundtrack is as important, if not more important, than the characters in the film. The melody devised by the Swedish composer, mainly carried by the violins, sublimates the entirety of Nolan’s work, with the exception of one particular sequence (to understand this, you need to go to the cinema).
For its breathtaking script
The three-hour film--considered too long by some--can cause a few headaches. The numerous characters and rich dialogue complicate the plot. So there’s a risk of losing the thread of the story. But isn’t that the charm of Nolan’s cinema?
Oppenheimer is an opportunity for the director to impose his artistic touch. By skilfully manipulating time, Nolan has constructed a narrative that weaves together several periods, eventually merging into a single plot. From romance to trials, war, science and politics, this multi-faceted film, devoid of action scenes, keeps viewers on the edge of their seats right up to its denouement, which alone justifies the price of a ticket.
For the message it conveys
Nolan considers Julius Robert Oppenheimer to be “one of the most essential and paradoxical figures in our contemporary history.” The inspiration for this biopic came after reading “Robert Oppenheimer: Triumph and Tragedy of a Genius,” written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Shewin. And although the film contains a few historical inconsistencies, it depicts the underlying issues surrounding the birth of atomic weapons. It is clear that there is a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ to the atomic bomb, which makes it an intergenerational film.
It appeals to those who witnessed the devastation caused by the bombs dropped on Japan, as well as those who lived through the nuclear tensions between the two blocs during the Cold War. But given today’s rather worrying geopolitical context, it also manages to intrigue the new generation.
For the explosion without CGI
The film is based on the atomic explosion of the Trinity bomb. Generally opposed to the use of CGI (computer generated imagery) in his films, Nolan asked his team to reproduce the explosion without special effects in order to preserve its authenticity. But how do you recreate such an explosion in a credible way? To find out, go to the cinema.
Whether it’s captivating, intriguing, too complex or simply too long, it’s up to you to make up your own mind. Nolan fan or not, isn’t discovering the life of a man who changed the course of history worth a viewing?
This weekend, four screenings in the original version (with French and German subtitles) will take place on Saturday and Sunday at 1.30pm, 4.30pm, 7.45pm and 9.45pm at the Kinepolis in Kirchberg. Two screenings in the original version (with French and German subtitles) are at 4.30pm and 8.15pm at Kinepolis Belval. And three other screenings in the original version (with French and German subtitles) are at 1.45pm, 4.15pm and 7.15pm at Utopia. Book .
This article was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.