How to Contemplate Other People's Choices That You Do Not Understand

I am not against nudity in films. Far from it.

There are, of course, movies where nudity is the entire point. Aside form those, there are some stories that can’t be told in a straight forward, or visceral manner without a certain amount of nudity. One obvious example is Boogie Nights.

Also, there are stories you wouldn’t think would require nudity, that very much do. There’s an episode of the miniseries Chernobyl that would have been awkward to get the point across without showing multiple people naked, and I think all the people who have seen it would agree that the episode in question, and the miniseries as a whole, is powerfully un-erotic. (But, it is also, possibly, the best thing I’ve ever seen on TV. It’s harrowing, haunting, and horrifying, but also excellent in pretty much every way. If you think you can handle it, I strongly suggest you give Chernobyl a try.)

All that said, I can’t stop puzzling over the nude scenes in Oppenheimer.

I think the thing that throws me the most is that it is the first time Christopher Nolan has had a nude scene in any of his films.

Tenet features a Russian mobster, but there were no sex workers running around.

Inception was about dreams. None of those dreams involved any nudity. They wouldn’t had to have been erotic dreams either. Nobody was shown giving a presentation at work or being asked to answer a math question on the chalkboard in the second grade and finding they are naked.

Nolan has made movies about criminals, wars, superheroes, and Victorian entertainers. He never felt any need for a love scene, let alone nudity. Then he looked at the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, and felt that it clearly called for nude scenes.

I hope you can see why I find it puzzling.

I think I understand some reasons why the actress might have agreed to do the nude scenes. I lay out several in the last panel, but I don’t understand why Nolan felt it necessary.

He might have wanted the film to be R-Rated. There are logical reasons to want that, and nudity is a good way to make that happen, but he also could have done it with cursing. I know, you don’t really picture J. Robert Oppenheimer swearing like a sailor, but I never looked at him and thought “I bet that guy was a sexual dynamo,” either.

Furthermore, I promise you, there was plenty of cursing at Los Alamos. Look up Louis Slotin and “the demon core.” I promise, that guy did some cursing!