Christopher Nolan defends the ambiguity and confusing nature of some of his films, particularly Tenet and Inception. Responsible for movies like The Dark Knight, Dunkirk, and Interstellar, Nolan is widely regarded as one of the most gifted filmmakers currently working in Hollywood. The director released his Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer last summer to rave reviews, and the historical biopic deviated from some of his more mind-bending projects in the past, especially 2021’s Tenet.
In a recent interview on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Nolan is asked specifically about the confusion surrounding Tenet, and he uses the opportunity to speak more broadly about his approach to filmmaking.
According to the filmmaker, it’s not about understanding every last detail in his films, it’s about the larger experience he is attempting to give viewers. Check out his full explanation below:
“If you experience my film you are getting it. I feel very strongly about that. I think where people encounter frustration with my narratives in the past, sometimes I think that they’re slightly missing the point. It’s not a puzzle to be unpacked. It’s an experience to be had, preferably in a movie theater but also at home, hopefully in an unbroken period.
“It’s an experience to be had, that is the point of it, that’s the feeling of it. Everything else, if people are interested to talk about it or debate it more, if ideas resonate, that’s a huge bonus.
“You’re not meant to understand everything in Tenet. It’s not all comprehensible. It’s a bit like asking if I know what happens with the spinning top at the end of Inception. I have to have my idea of it for it to be a valid, productive ambiguity, but the point of it is that it’s an ambiguity. As Emerald likes to say, the point is that the character doesn’t care if it falls or not.”
Tenet Criticism Explained
Is The Christopher Nolan Movie Too Clever For Its Own Good?
While the ambiguous Inception ending has helped give the film longevity, with the film as a whole earning mostly positive reviews, Tenet was far more divisive. The 2020 sci-fi film follows John David Washington’s Protagonist as he joins a mysterious organization known as Tenet and begins using reverse entropy to experience events both forwards and backwards in time, sometimes simultaneously, as he faces off against a Russian arms dealer.
Tenet was met with many complaints for being too challenging to follow, with the time travel mechanics complicating the narrative to the point where understanding exactly what was going on became nearly impossible. It didn’t help that some audiences were also having trouble making out seemingly important lines of dialogue. Although understanding the mechanics of the plot was indeed a challenge, the movie features a handful of truly stunning sequences, including one in which a passenger aircraft crashes into an airport during a heist. The entire movie is thrilling despite not always making sense, and this is clearly the point.
For Nolan, it would seem that Tenet is best experienced as just that – an experience. As Clémence Poésy’s character even says in the film, “Don’t try to understand it, feel it,“ and this is seemingly Nolan speaking to the audience. Tenet arguably wasn’t given a fair shake due to its release during the height of the pandemic, but it’s sure to remain a somewhat divisive entry in Nolan’s larger filmography.
Tenet
Armed with only one word—Tenet—and fighting for the survival of the entire world, a nameless Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
- Release Date
- September 3, 2020
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast
- Kenneth Branagh , John David Washington , Michael Caine , Robert Pattinson , Elizabeth Debicki , Dimple Kapadia , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Clemence Poesy
- Runtime
- 150 minutes
- Writers
- Christopher Nolan
- Budget
- $200 million
- Studio(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Franchise(s)
- Tenet
-Featured.jpg)
