Nolan explains the most shocking twist of ‘Interstellar’ and leaves its ending to interpretation

Many science fiction enthusiasts have a very special affection for ‘Interstellar’. It is enough to go through the comments that many readers left at the time in our review of this film, or through those of our sister publication Espinof, to realize that Christopher Nolan got us very deep with this story. They have just broadcast it once again on television, and, in addition, it is available on various platforms of streamingsuch as HBO Max or Movistar Plus +, so it seems like a good time to revisit it.

However, we suggest you do it in a very special way: recovering some statements in which Nolan explains how and why he devised the most unpredictable plot twist that this film offers us: the one starring Dr. Mann, the character played by Matt Damon. During the promotion of the film, all those involved in making it known hid that this actor was working on it, and they did so with the precise purpose of not spoiling the surprising twist in which we are about to investigate.

Nolan is very much in favor of allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

It’s been almost nine years since this movie was released, but still, here’s an important notice for those who haven’t seen it yet: in this article we’ll talk about some parts of the plot, so it contains spoilers. Once this declaration of intent has been made, we can get down to business. During his space journey, astronaut Joseph Cooper, the character played by Matthew McConaughey; Amelia Brand, the scientist played by Anne Hathaway; and astronaut Doyle, played by Wes Bentley, visit a planet to which years before an expedition led by Dr. Miller had headed.

This strange aquatic world orbits very close to a huge black hole that is called Gargantua in the movie, so the space-time continuum in its vicinity has been curved in such a way that on the surface of this planet time passes at a much faster rate. slower than on Earth. This time dilation is completely accurate and clearly reflects how respectful this film is of the laws of physics. In fact, the recreation of the black hole is also extraordinarily plausible thanks to the advice of theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who three years later received the Nobel Prize in physics for his part in discovering gravitational waves.

After the incident that ends the life of astronaut Doyle, the intrepid Cooper, Brand and Romilly (the latter is played by David Gyasi) head to a second planet where they find Dr. Mann, the scientist played by Matt Damon, alive. Shortly after finding him, the latter rebels against them and unexpectedly tries to kill Joseph Cooper, precipitating the film’s protagonists into an uncertain future. This twist is surprising because initially Mann’s motivation is unclear. This is what Nolan explains to us:

“He’s selfish and cowardly. This behavior is very human, and I love what Matt [Damon] did with him. She made it believable. This is the kind of sequence where viewers hate the character because he does something they might do themselves if they were in a similar situation. It makes sense, and it’s interesting how he’s able to rationalize his own cowardice into something positive. Loneliness and despair can cause us to do crazy things.”

In this explanation, Nolan gives us the keys that explain the behavior of Dr. Mann. The planet he is on does not meet the conditions that humans need to live because its atmosphere contains a high amount of ammonia. Even so, the fear of dying in complete solitude on a strange planet leads him to send a signal into space so that other human beings believe that this planet can be habitable and rescue it. As is logical, the fear of being discovered leads him to attack the protagonists of the film. It is surprising to see how Nolan manages to manipulate emotions of the spectators and put us in the position in which he wants us to be. At the center of the conflict.

However, when we see ‘Interstellar’, viewers don’t just stumble upon this interesting plot twist; once Cooper passes the event horizon of Gargantua we gaze in awe at a series of bizarre events that are somehow intended to describe the physical phenomena unleashed by the black hole’s gravitational pull as it rips through the space-time continuum. In fact, this phenomenon somehow allows Cooper to revisit some moments from his past, and even interact with Murph, his own daughter, when she was a child to give her valuable information about the nature of the gravity.

Unlike everything we’ve seen so far in this movie, this part isn’t backed by science. At least not in a solid way. It is quite evident that in this plot there are only a few scraps of science and a lot, a lot of fiction. Everything that happens from this moment until the end of the film admits several interpretations, so it seems like a good idea to turn to Nolan to explain what he intends to tell us. However, this filmmaker refuses to give us a closed ending:

“All you have to do is watch it again. It’s there for you to draw your own conclusions. Viewers always come up with radically different interpretations of the one I have in mind, but I know what I’m trying to do and I don’t like my vision imposing itself on others.” the experience you have when you see the movie.

It is evident that Nolan prefers to give us an open ending to free interpretation to the detriment of a completely corseted plot that does not give viewers the opportunity to reflect and draw your own conclusions. It is your decision, and, of course, it is as respectable as that of the filmmakers who opt for proposing a closed plot. In fact, we can find this same philosophy in other films of his filmography, such as ‘Origin’ or ‘Tenet’, which, despite having some scientific footholds, do not hesitate to leave credibility behind to invite the viewer to immerse themselves in their own reflections.