Christopher Nolan insists you're not meant to completely understand Tenet

Christopher Nolan says we're not meant to understand everything in Tenet.

The movie, released in 2020, was polarising to say the least and was one of Nolan's less-well-received projects.

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The official premise reads:

'When a few objects that can be manipulated and used as weapons in the future fall into the wrong hands, a CIA operative, known as the Protagonist, must save the world.'

The 'objects' mentioned above can move backwards and forward through time, and this premise was a bit much for some viewers to digest, but Nolan insists it was written in an ambiguous fashion.

In a conversation with Stephen Colbert, Nolan was asked:

“Some people say they don’t understand Tenet,” Colbert says. “Some people say they don’t understand everything in Tenet. Do you understand everything in Tenet?”

To which Nolan responds: “It’s not all comprehensible. It’s a bit like asking if I know what happens to the spinning top at the end of Inception.”

“Do you know what happens to the spinning top at the end of Inception?” Colbert interrupts. Nolan replies again, “I have to have my idea of it for it to be a valid, productive ambiguity. But the point of it is it’s an ambiguity.”

3.23 (1639)

Tenet (2020)

A secret agent is part of a team that must prevent a third world war. They must save the world from destruction, traveling through a twilight world of international espionage. An important part of the operation is the mysterious keyword Tenet.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki

Peloton instructor savages Tenet

Nolan previously revealed that he was forced to sit through a savage review of Tenet while involved in a Peloton class...from the instructor.

At the recent Film Critics Circle Awards, he revealed:

"I was on my Peloton - I'm dying. And the instructor started talking about one of my films and said, 'Did anyone see this? That's a couple hours of my life I'll never get back again!'

“When(film critic) Rex Reed takes a s*** on your film, he doesn’t ask you to work out!

“Directors have a complex emotional relationship with critics and criticism. A question we’re always asked is: Do we read reviews? Let’s start with the fact that I’m British. A typical family gathering will involve relatives saying to me, ‘You know, Christopher. You probably shouldn’t open The Guardian today.’"