Instagram video transcript

There's a scene in the Odyssey that no one is talking about, but it has one of the most important shots in the entire movie. One of the more unique character dynamics in the Odyssey was between Penelope and Intinous, and this dude has been slotted into her DMs for way too long. He needs to pack it up and go home.

So Intinous is basically the number one suitor trying to win her hand in marriage, not because he loves her, but because he wants the kingdom to himself. So when Intinous notices that she's trying to buy herself more time by unraveling the weaving, he starts to pressure her a little more. He goes up to Penelope and has this really heartfelt conversation about how much she loves her

and how she just needs to let go of Odysseus. Here's where the cinematography starts doing all the storytelling. I actually have two interpretations for this shot that go hand in hand, so let me cook. I also made a quick 3D render to show you what I'm talking about. Okay, so the entire scene of him pouring his heart out to her is shot through the string of the unraveled loom.

So there's a literal barrier between us and them. The threat is clouding the shot, making it really hard for us to see, and that is the visual representation of his deception. There's a literal barrier between what he's saying and the truth, so it's clouded because our perception of him in this moment is meant to be clouded.

And how fitting is it that the thing that Penelope uses to stall her remarriage and keep her guard up is what he's using to speed up the remarriage and lower her guard. Which actually leads me to my second interpretation for the shot, being that it's symbolic of Penelope having this emotional barrier up and Tenu is slowly breaking through.