Ever since Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” was released in 2010, fans have been vehemently speculating about the film’s ending. Because what actually happens after the image fades to black? The director, who is currently in cinemas with the critically acclaimed “Oppenheimer”, has finally given us an answer to that… in a way.
First, a short recap (WITH SPOILERS!) for those of you who haven’t seen the film in 13 years;
Thief Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) specializes in stealing valuable secrets from people’s subconscious. The last task he has to solve, however, is not to steal, but to plant an idea in someone else.
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The mission succeeds and in the final scene Cobb returns home to his children. Before the credits appear, we get to see him for the last time spin the spinning bass that tells whether he is in a dream or reality. The only problem is that we never get an answer as to whether it falls over, which means he is in reality, or whether it continues to spin – which means he is dreaming.
Dream? Reality? We’ve been tearing our hair out over less…
And Nolan, he’s kept his mouth shut about what he really meant by this for 13 long years. Right up until he recently guested on the popular podcast Happy Sad Confused, where the blockbuster’s frustratingly open ending became a topic.
- At one point I got this question very often, says Nolan in the podcast.
- I think it was Emma Thomas (the producer) who guessed the correct answer, which is that Leo’s character… the point of the scene is that the character is indifferent at this point.
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A few weeks ago, the director also spoke to Wired about the scene, where he elaborated:
- There is something nihilistic about that ending, isn’t there? But he has also moved on and is with his children.
- The ambiguity is not an emotional one. It is an intellectual one for the audience.
So Cobb DOESN’T CARE(!!!) if he is in a dream or reality…
If you are among those who think “Aaahaaa” now, there is no reason to despair. Even stars from the film have, like us mortals, lived in ignorance. In an interview with Time in 2018, actor Michael Caine revealed that he did not understand at all which parts of the script represented dream/reality.
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Caine explained that, in a conversation with Nolan, he was told that all the scenes he was a part of took place in reality. The actor, who is present at the end, thus assumed that the spinning bass overturned shortly after the film’s last shot…