In 'Oppenheimer,' Jean Tatlock Remains a Mystery

As esteemed a director as Christopher Nolan is, he's not one to give us an abundance of female characters. There is—if we're lucky—one main female role per Nolan film. In Oppenheimer, we're introduced to the two great loves of the nuclear physicist's life: psychiatrist Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) and later, his wife Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt). Though Tatlock reportedly committed suicide in 1944—just one year before the Trinity test established the first-ever nuclear bomb—she had an influential role in Oppenheimer's life during the Manhattan Project.

Born in Michigan in 1914, Tatlock eventually went to Stanford Medical School. At one point, she allegedly wrote for a Communist Party of America newspaper titled The Western Worker. She became a psychiatrist and started a relationship with J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy in the film) in 1936. They allegedly met through their landlady, who was also a member of the Communist Party. In the Nolan-directed film, Tatlock partakes in a now-controversial sex scene with Oppenheimer, where he quotes the Bhagavad Gita. Throughout Oppenheimer's security hearing in the '50s, Tatlock's politics at the time were discussed.

"In the spring of 1936, I had been introduced by friends to Jean Tatlock, the daughter of a noted professor of English at the university; and in the autumn, I began to court her, and we grew close to each other," Oppenheimer reportedly stated at the hearing. "We were at least twice close enough to marriage to think of ourselves as engaged. Between 1939 and her death in 1944 I saw her very rarely. She told me about her Communist Party memberships; they were on again, off again affairs, and never seemed to provide for her what she was seeking. I do not believe that her interests were really political. She loved this country and its people and its life."

There is speculation throughout history as to whether Tatlock's death was truly by suicide. Some conspiracy theorists believe that she was murdered by intelligence agents working for the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer makes note of these claims, Nolan briefly depicts a hand pushing Tatlock's head underwater. A doctor quoted in American Prometheus—the book that Oppenheimer is based on—observed at the time, "If you were clever and wanted to kill someone, this is the way to do it."

You Might Also Like

• Kid Cudi Is All Right

• 16 Best Shoe Organizers For Storing and Displaying Your Kicks