Was It A Dream Or Was It Real? Michael Caine Finally Resolves Inception’s Confusing Ending!

Disclaimer: This movie released eight years ago. So if you’re still worried about spoilers because you haven’t seen this masterpiece, are you living in a dream or what?

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It ain’t a Christopher Nolan movie until it gives you major plot points to debate about! And one such film that has managed to unite and divide movie buffs with its cliffhanger ending for eight years is Inception.

This 2010 sci-fi thriller revolves around a bunch of professional con artists, who perform corporate espionage by stealing secrets from people’s subconscious. How do they do that? By sharing their dream world….

Leonardo DiCaprio played Dom Cobb, an ‘extractor’. The film also starred Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger and Michael Caine.

The ending of Inception remains one of the most debated cliffhangers of all time. People are divided as to whether DiCaprio’s character Dom returned home to his kid in reality, or was still in the dream world.

What confused movie buffs the most was the final shot, that of Dom’s totem spinning. You see, the totem is supposed to help the dreamers distinguish reality from the dream world.

Dom’s totem is a spinning top, which spins for a while and then topples off in reality. However, in the dream world, it spins indefinitely.

When the movie ends, we see Dom test whether he is dreaming or in reality by spinning his totem. However, we don’t see the end result as he runs along to be with his children.

So then what was it? Reality or the dream world? The question has been the bee in many fan bonnets for eight years! Until now, thanks to none other than Sir Michael Caine!

It’s actually quite surprising yet reassuring to know that Caine, who played Professor Stephen Miles, Dom’s mentor and father-in-law in the film, was equally confused as us fans about that ending!

At a recent screening of the film in London, Caine revealed how when he first received the script, he found it difficult to distinguish the reality and dream world scenes. He had to ask director Christopher Nolan about it!

“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’.”

And then, the genius Nolan revealed the crucial piece of information that helped Caine (and will now help us as we go watch the movie, again!) finally clear all his doubts!

If you recall the ending, Dom is shown to finally return to United States (which he couldn’t earlier because of a murder charge) and is received by his father-in-law (Caine) at the airport.

And if you take a look at the penultimate scene now, right after DiCaprio’s Dom spins the totem and rushes to meet his kids….

There he is! Michael Caine! THIS IS THE REAL WORLD! DOM MADE IT, Y’ALL!

Whoa! I feel like some major weight has just lifted off my brain! Don’t you?

Well, I know what I’m doing this weekend…. Rewatching Inception with this new detail in mind!