It’s that spinning top, right? Totems like the metal top let characters in Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending modern classic know if they’re awake or deep within their own subconscious. In the final moments, Leo DiCaprio’s Dom Cobb spins the top (if it spins and stops, it means one thing, if it spins indefinitely, another), but opts not to stick around to see the result—as the audience, we’re not privy to the answer, either.
Viewers have debated the character’s fate ever since, but that binary choice is, in many ways beside the point: as the movie suggests, and as Christopher Nolan has himself stated (more or less), reality can look different to different people, and outside observers aren’t best suited to judge anyone’s subjective reality. So while the debate over totem is interesting, the movie’s ending doesn’t turn on whether or not the top falls. Ultimately, the fact that it doesn’t matter is the point.
Where to stream: HBO Max, Netflix
