Christopher Nolan reveals the “correct answer” to the ending of ‘Inception’
Several years have now passed since Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending, time-bending thriller movie Inception was released, but the director is still being peppered with questions about its ending.
When Nolan recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to promote his new movie Oppenheimer, he attempted to give some clues as to the “correct answer” of whether or not Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Cobb, is dreaming at the end of Inception.
“I went through a phase where I was asked that a lot,” Nolan said. “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. It’s not a question I comfortably answer.”
The director has also recently 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.”
It’s not just fans of the film that have been confused by the ending of Inception, though. Even some of its stars have not managed to get their heads around the question of whether Cobb is dreaming or not.
Michael Caine once said, “When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it. And I said to [Nolan], ‘I don’t understand where the dream is.’ I said, ‘When is it the dream, and when is it reality?’ He said, ‘Well when you’re in the scene, it’s reality.’ So get that — if I’m in it, it’s reality. If I’m not in it, it’s a dream.”
See Nolan talking about Inception with podcast host Josh Horowitz below.
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