Women Shaping the Character of Oppenheimer
I can safely say as a person who never cries in a Christopher Nolan film, ‘Oppenheimer’ might be Nolan’s magnum opus and his most emotionally-driven film yet. I couldn’t help myself but just bawl my eyes out looking into the depth of Cillian Murphy’s eyes which portrayed so much: Melancholy, Regret, Doubt, Sorrow, and much more.
I had a life before ‘Oppenheimer’ and now I have a life after it. As a person who prefers paintings and books to movies, I could not contain myself and felt emotionally overwhelmed, as if the weight of the world had been lifted off J. Robert Oppenheimer and kept on me instead.
While the film and the narrative were masterfully constructed around Murphy’s viewpoint, I could not help but wonder at the misplaced criticism about how it utilized its brilliant female actors: Emily Blunt (playing Kitty Oppenheimer), and Florence Pugh (playing Jean Tatlock). On the surface level, both the roles are short and might not arouse the same response as some of the other supporting characters and roles do. But this is where many critics go wrong.
Not going into the deeper levels and themes of the movie, people judge on the lack of female representation and substantial weight they held in the movie. Although, I would go as far as to say that these are the most pivotal characters in the psychological study of Oppenheimer.
Starting with his wife Kitty Oppenheimer, her presence in the first half of the movie seems almost unassuming and subtle, but this represents the act of taking for granted certain people in our daily lives, remarkably well. But we learn her importance in some of the most captivating scenes in the film. Her unwavering support for her husband, while being involved in his workings and being his confidante and comrade at the same time, was beautifully portrayed. My favourite scene in the movie actually involves Kitty (played by the remarkable Emily Blunt) standing up to the inappropriate prosecution counsel (played by Jason Clarke), while giving him bold answers and putting him in his place. If we do not ever see Oppenheimer crumble in real life or in the movie, it is because his rock was his wife.
Coming to the character of Jean Tatlock, she was an American psychiatrist with links to the Socialist Party in America. Jean and Robert developed a sexual and an emotional relationship over several months, after meeting and being mesmerized with each other. Jean’s character is not just there to underline the ‘womanizer’ attribute worn by the scientist. Her character is a far more compelling one, as shown by the movie’s sequences. Her simple acts of throwing away the flower bouquets brought by Oppenheimer were a nod to her non-materialistic nature and portrayed her intention of wanting nothing from Robert, but himself. Jean plays a bigger role in Oppenheimer’s life than one can imagine as when he begins to question the morality of the mission in Los Alamos, he gets the news of Jean’s suicide subsequent to a meeting where she explicitly told him she needed him.
The sorrow and anguish he feels for Jean’s death is the emotional core in the character study of J. Robert Oppenheimer. His personal tragedy and loss culminates into his detrimental feeling of having blood on his hands for what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We can successfully see the descent in the character’s mental health and realisation of the grave danger he put the world into, starting from the first point of his reaction to Jean Tatlock’s death and her leaving behind a note for him.
While Jean was the emotional core and source of grave anguish and despair for Oppenheimer, Kitty stood as a rock and source of support and stability to him in his life.
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