Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation of The Odyssey features a stellar cast that includes A-listers such as Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland and Ellen Page. Page was best known, at least initially, for her breakout role as a pregnant teenager in 2007’s “Juno.” More recently, Page is known for rejecting her identity as a female, portraying as a male, and adopting the name “Elliot.”
In the movie The Odyssey, Page’s personal gender conflict is on display. She plays a manipulative Greek soldier named Sinon who, according to Greek mythology, tricked the Trojans and was instrumental in the downfall of Troy. Notably, Sinon does not appear in Homer’s original poem, but is one of many “creative” adaptations by Nolan. Page was an odd selection to play a Greek soldier. After all, she stands just over five feet tall, short even by comparison to the other women in the cast who are playing women.
Page has undergone multiple surgeries and treatments to portray herself as a man. She talks about it constantly. But it’s not convincing. Nor are her repeated assurances to the world that she is now able to “be who I truly am.”
Recently, The Babylon Bee posted this fake quote with Page’s picture, “‘I’m happier than I’ve ever been,’ says gender-nonconforming celebrity who looks like her soul has been sucked out of her eyeballs.” What made the post so harsh was how true it was. So many photos and interviews of Page are simply heartbreaking. Instead of the joy and peace that are part of achieving and embracing one’s identity, her eyes reveal the desperate emptiness of one trying to convince all of us, and especially herself, of something obviously not true.
When Chloe Cole, whose story of detransition and salvation was featured in the documentary Truth Rising and at the recent Colson Center National Conference, saw photos from The Odyssey premier, she said,
"One of the many million things that led to my detransition was realizing that, once I entered the real world, I would be nothing but a tiny, infertile simulacrum of a male. This is the reality of transitioning, even for the women who remotely "pass.""
In fact, the contrast between Ellen Page’s despair and Chloe Cole’s hope could not be more dramatic. And you can see it in their eyes. At the conference, Cole described that she once believed she would have peace when the puberty blockers, male hormones and surgery made her look like a boy. Her mastectomy was, she said, like a baptism into the “faith” of transgenderism.
"[A]t first, I thought I was happy, because everything that they were telling me would happen, happened. I started to look like a young man. I started to have all these effects on my body and my appearance that made it so that the people around me recognized me as a young man. I was finally being paid attention to."
But she said, “The peace I was promised never came. The suicidality and anguish I was told would be prevented by this treatment came because of it.”
Today, Chloe is a fighter committed to ending the lie of transgender ideology. And she has this smile that absolutely steals the show. Her eyes light up the room, and her smile beams joy and peace.
It is often said that eyes are a window to the soul. The book of Proverbs includes similar observations about countenance and what it reveals about us. “A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed;” “The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones;” “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” And Jesus said, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light . . . ”
There is no clearer portrayal of these truths than the contrast between the eyes of Ellen Page and the eyes of Chloe Cole. In their countenance, the truth of Holy Scripture is confirmed. To embrace the Creator and how He has made us is to find purpose and meaning, peace and joy. To reject the truth about ourselves is, ultimately, to reject the Creator, and that path ends only in despair.
You can learn more about Chloe Cole and see her undeniable smile in Truth Rising, a free film on YouTube and X from Focus on the Family and the Colson Center. And learn how to receive a complimentary version of her talk at colsoncenter.org/July.
Photo Credit: ©Pexels/Tim Mossholder
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
