Christopher Nolan’s Peloton Instructor Responds to NYFCC Speech: I Loved ‘Oppenheimer’ Despite Slamming ‘Tenet’

Turns out, Christopher Nolan’s Peloton instructor is indeed an “Oppenheimer” fan, despite not enjoying “Tenet.”

Just two days after Nolan joked during the New York Film Critics Circle awards that his Peloton cycling instructor slammed “Tenet” in 2020, teacher Jenn Sherman officially responded in an Instagram video.

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“I may not have understood a minute of what was going on in ‘Tenet,'” Sherman said. “That shit went right over my head. But I have seen ‘Oppenheimer’ twice and that’s six hours of my life I don’t ever want to give back.”

Sherman noted that her “Tenet” critique was said in a “dark time” of 2020 lockdown, and invited director Nolan to attend one of her classes now.

“Oppenheimer” auteur Nolan said while onstage at the 2024 New York Film Critics Circle awards that his Peloton instructor (without naming Sherman) “shit” on “Tenet.”

“I was on my Peloton. I’m dying,” Nolan recalled. “And the instructor started talking about one of my films and said, ‘Did anyone see this? That’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back again!'”

Nolan continued, “When [film critic] Rex Reed takes a shit on your film, he doesn’t ask you to work out. In today’s world, where opinions are everywhere, there is a sort of idea that film criticism is being democratized, but I, for one, think the critical appreciation of films shouldn’t be an instinct, but it should be a profession.”

In a now-recirculated video, Sherman plays Travis Scott’s song “The Plan” from the “Tenet” soundtrack, prompting her comments about the film.

“Anybody see this shit? Did anybody see this besides me? ‘Cause I need a manual,” Sherman said. “Someone’s gotta explain this, I’m not kidding. What the fuck was going on in that movie? Seriously, you need to be a neuroscientist to understand. And that’s two and a half hours of my life that I want back.”

See Sherman’s response below.

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