If you’ve seen the 2010 film, Inception, you’ll know that the outcome of the last scene is quite a point of contention amongst fans. Speaking at a Film 4 Summer Screen viewing of the movie, Sir Michael Caine may have just cleared up the debate once and for all.
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In the scene (spoilers ahead, folks), main character Dom Cobb, who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, has finally made it back to see his children. He spins his totem on a table and walks outside to greet them as the camera closes in on the spinning top. The totem is used throughout the movie to signify whether Dom is in a dream or reality – if the top falls over, it’s real, but if it keeps spinning forever, it’s a dream. Of course, the film ends before we see the totem fall, leaving the ending open to interpretation.
During Caine’s speech, he spoke about how director, Christopher Nolan, gave him a bit of insight into what was a dream and what was reality in the film.
“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’,” Caine said. “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.”
Caine plays Dom’s father-in-law and, of course, he was present in the final scene of the film, which would make it real. So there you have it, folks, it looks like Dom made it home after all, making it the happy ending we all yearned for. It’s not a complete explanation of the events, so I don’t think it’s fair to call this an absolute answer, but I think it’s pretty damn close.
The speech also included some heartfelt words about the friendship between Caine and Nolan and how they were both each other’s lucky charms.
“I regard him as my lucky charm because when I got to an age of about 70 and the world started closing in on me, he came to me with one Batman Begins and he restarted my acting life,” Caine said. “Because from then on when I thought you get to 70, 75, and you think it’s all over I then made seven of the best movies I was ever in.”
Beautiful stuff. There’s a video of the event over at The Independent if you’re keen to hear Caine’s words for yourself.
