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Interpreting the end of Inception


Sorry for the vague title--I don't want the title to be a spoiler.



I've seen the movie three times, and the last two times I looked specifically for clues to this question, but found none.


The final scene in Inception shows



Cobb's top spinning, as he goes off to be reunited with his children. The top continues to spin, then the movie ends, without telling us if the top topples--and therefore revealing whether he's in the "real world" or still in a dream. Do we know if he was in a dream at the end of the movie?



I'm assuming the answer is that we simply cannot know. But did I miss anything? Were there clues that I missed?



Answer



No, you didn't miss anything. Nolan intentionally left it ambiguous, but not for the reasons that endings in Hollywood are normally left ambiguous.


From an interview with Nolan on Screenrant, we get the following insight:




“There can’t be anything in the film that tells you one way or another because then the ambiguity at the end of the film would just be a mistake … It would represent a failure of the film to communicate something. But it’s not a mistake. I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me — it always felt like the appropriate ‘kick’ to me….The real point of the scene — and this is what I tell people — is that Cobb isn’t looking at the top. He’s looking at his kids. He’s left it behind. That’s the emotional significance of the thing.”



To me, it makes sense in that perspective. The entire article is really good, and recommended for further reading.


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