15 Most Confusing Movie Moments Nobody Understands

3. The Star Child - 2001: A Space Odyssey

The Scene: After encountering a monolith, Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea) is drawn into a stargate and shown himself at different increasing ages. Finally, he is an old man in bed as the iconic monolith appears before him and, as he reaches for it, transforms into the Star Child, a fetus encased in an orb of light who looks upon the Earth as the movie ends.

What It Probably Means: Kubrick himself has commented enough on the ending to give a pretty clear explanation of what really happens to Bowman. The monolith is, of course, an evolutionary tool for an advanced alien civilisation. So, where are the aliens? Well, they're advanced enough to have transcended matter entirely, and as for the Star Child, this is merely the monolith being used to advance the human Bowman into a superbeing.

2001 isn't so much a movie that needs to be fully understood as simply felt and experienced, but a halfway-concrete explanation certainly adds more joy to the film for a lot of people. And the beauty of the ending is that Kubrick leaves so much for viewers to ponder on and decide for themselves.