On Saturday, I hopped on a two-hour train to Dublin to catch Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in IMAX. It was massive in every sense of the word. There were big battles and big landscapes and, without giving away too much, some pretty big monsters too. I thought it was brilliant. I also thought it could probably have lost 20 minutes. But when I walked out of the cinema, there was only one thing rattling around in my head: Robert Pattinson’s pinkie ring.
This isn’t the first time the British actor’s done this to me. Earlier this year, it was the glasses he wore in The Drama. They looked like the sort of frames I’d normally scroll straight past. Then Pattinson put them on and, before I knew it, I was wondering whether I should buy a pair. Somehow, he has this incredible ability to take something that shouldn’t be particularly exciting and make it feel absolutely essential—now, he’s done the exact same thing with a tiny gold ring sitting on his little finger.
Pattinson plays Antinous, the cockiest of Penelope’s many suitors. He’s rich, entitled, smug and, in Pattinson’s own words, “a little sleazy.” Speaking to GQ before the film’s release, he revealed that he’d even pitched giving Antinous leopard-print underwear because he imagined him as exactly that sort of guy. Christopher Nolan, sadly, didn’t go for it. The pinkie ring, however, stayed, and I think it’s an even better piece of character-building.
It tells you everything before he even opens his mouth. This is a man who absolutely loves himself. The kinda dude who’d catch his reflection in a polished bronze shield and spend a second longer looking than he probably should. The ring isn’t loud by any means, but it doesn’t need to be. It whispers that Antinous thinks he’s the most important person in every room.
British GQ’s senior style editor Mahalia Chang has already made the definitive case for pinkie rings, calling them “the original, hottest piece of jewelry a man can wear.” She traced their journey from “kings and pharaohs and businessmen,” arguing that they’ve always belonged to “The Man.” As stylist Michael Fisher put it, they’re “meaningful and not too overpowering” and “suggest a certain type of gentleman.” Pattinson’s ring, though, doesn’t exactly suggest a gentleman.
It suggests someone who’d order the oldest bottle on the wine list before asking whether anyone else wanted a drink. Someone who’s convinced every conversation is about him. Someone who’s just a little bit greasy, but somehow still magnetic. So, in other words, Antinous.