10 Movie Secrets They'll Never Tell You
6. Is Cobb Dreaming? - Inception
Few films have ended in more agonisingly ambiguous fashion than Christopher Nolan's sci-fi masterpiece Inception, which concludes with Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) seemingly being granted passage back to the United States and reunited with his children.
Except, the closing shot of a spinning top not quite toppling over leaves audiences to ponder whether we're witnessing objective reality or one of Cobb's dreams.
Interviewers hassle Nolan for a concrete answer every single time he joins the press circuit to promote a new film, yet he's remained impressively tight-lipped on the matter.
Though Inception star Michael Caine claims that Nolan told him any scene featuring his character - which would include the ending - are reality, Nolan hasn't ever revealed the truth himself.
Rather, Nolan has frequently repeated one simple explanation:
"I think it was [producer and wife Emma Thomas] who sort of pointed out the correct answer, really... The point of the shot is that [DiCaprio's] character doesn't care at that point."
Basically, Cobb has accepted whatever reality he has been presented with, whether "real" in a traditional sense or part of a dream. And given that Nolan has held this line for well over a decade, it's likely all we're ever going to get from him.