Christopher Nolan is not a filmmaker who includes sex scenes in his films. It makes sense. His narratives are often so complicated and require so much exposition that slowing down for romance might wind up killing the momentum of the story. The general reluctance to have actors get steamy onscreen is what makes the controversy surrounding Oppenheimer so bizarre.
Nolan’s latest film is a biopic about the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, but the horrific consequences of the bomb have been overshadowed by a sex scene between Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and his mistress, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh). The scene in question, which depicts a nude Jean reading a sacred Hindu text, had sparked outrage from audiences in India. The outrage has subsequently led to a censored version of the film being released in select Indian theaters.
Uday Mahurkar, the Information Commissioner of India and Save Culture Save India Foundation founder, as well as member of the Hindu nationalist party, released a statement detailing what makes the scene so offensive. The statement was addressed to Nolan and Universal Studios, and chastised both parties for their “scathing attack on Hinduism.”
“As per social media reports, a scene in the movie shows a woman makes a man read Bhagwad Geeta aloud while getting over him and doing sexual intercourse,” Mahurkar wrote. “She is holding Bhagwad Geeta in one hand, and the other hands [sic] seems to be adjusting the position of their reproductive organs. The Bhagwad Geeta is one of the most revered scriptures of Hinduism.” You can read the full Twitter (or “X”) post below.
He went on to urge Nolan to remove the scene from Oppenheimer, or risk being boycotted by Hindu moviegoers. “Uphold [the] dignity of their revered book and remove this scene from your film across [the] world,” he added. Should you choose to ignore this appeal it would be deemed as a deliberate assault on Indian civilisation.”
The scene has not been removed, but another has been censored. According to Variety, a moment in which Pugh’s character is nude and sitting on a chair has been altered with CGI to make it look as though she is wearing a black nightgown. The application of CGI is somewhat ironic, given the lengths that Nolan goes to make sure that everything in his films is as practical and realistic as possible.
Fortunately for the director, the controversy has not hurt Oppenheimer’s box office. Despite clocking in at three hours and featuring very little action, the film managed to gross $82 million domestically and $180 million worldwide during its opening weekend. It was only predicted to earn $40 million domestically, according to Forbes, but positive word of mouth and the Barbenheimer phenomenon has allowed the film to crush these predictions and become one of the most successful dramas in recent years.
Oppenheimer is the third-highest opening weekend for a Nolan film ever, and the other two, The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), crossed the billion dollar mark eventually. Pretty good company.