It’s one of the most divisive and ambiguous endings in cinematic history.
In the final scene of Inception, when Leonardo DiCaprio’s Dominic Cobb returned home to his children, was it reality or a dream?
After all, the spinning top used by the character to determine if he’s sleeping or not is left twirling as the screen cuts to black.
Now Caine, who played Professor Stephen Miles in the film, has revealed what director Nolan told him about the ending.
According to NME, Caine appeared at a recent screening of the 2010 sci-fi classic.
The 85-year-old said: “When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it.
“And I said to him, ‘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.”
He said: “The way the end of that film worked, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Cobb — he was off with his kids, he was in his own subjective reality.
“He didn’t really care any more, and that makes a statement: perhaps all levels of reality are valid.
“The camera moves over the spinning top just before it appears to be wobbling, it was cut to black.”
Nolan appears to be saying that reality is what we perceive it to be.