Christopher Nolan explains what the ending of Inception officially means
Topics: Celebrity, Christopher Nolan, Entertainment, Film and TV, Leonardo DiCaprio, Social Media, Twitter
Poppy Bilderbeck
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros
Topics: Celebrity, Christopher Nolan, Entertainment, Film and TV, Leonardo DiCaprio, Social Media, Twitter
Director Christopher Nolan has finally revealed why Inception ends like it does.
Inception may've come out in July 2010, but there's one question which has been haunting fans of the movie for over 10 years. Catch the trailer here:
For those of you who've yet to see the sci-fi action movie or simply haven't watched it since it was released a whopping 14 years ago - feel old yet? - the film features an all-star cast including the likes of Killers of the Flower Moon's Leonardo DiCaprio, Oppenheimer's Cillian Murphy and The Dark Knight Rises' Joseph Gordon Levitt.
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The film follows Dom Cobb (DiCaprio), a thief who has the not-so-common ability to enter people's dreams and steal secrets from their subconscious.
When given the 'chance of redemption', Cobbs and his team instead find themselves against a dangerous enemy who 'anticipates his every move'.
Inception was a box office hit and remains a much-loved classic of Nolan's, however, there's one part of it which has continued to anger and frustrate viewers even nearly 14 years on.
Just earlier this month on 25 January, an X - formerly known as Twitter - user wrote: "What is the greatest unsolved mystery of all time?"
"The ending to the movie Inception," another commented.
On 28 January, a third said: "Rewatching inception and added it into my top 4 movies like the ending keeps me up at night."
At the end of the film, Cobb returns home to his kids after having completed his mission. He sits down and spins a totem top.
However, the film ends before we see whether it topples over or keeps spinning - if it keeps spinning, that means Cobb is still in a dream.
Thankfully, in a podcast interview with Josh Horowitz on his podcast Happy Sad Confused, Nolan has since explained his logic behind Inception's ending.
He reveals: "I went through a phase where I was asked that a lot, I think it was [producer] Emma Thomas who pointed out the correct answer, which is Leo’s character…
"The point of the shot is the character doesn’t care at that point."
The director adds: "It’s not a question I comfortably answer."
The revelation adds onto a previous interview in which he told Wired: "There is a nihilistic view of that ending, right?
"But also, he’s moved on and is with his kids. The ambiguity is not an emotional ambiguity. It’s an intellectual one for the audience."
Well, there you have it, with Cobb's emotional story arc complete, you're just going to have to let go your desire to know the fate of the spinning top.