2023 is almost over, but there is still plenty to see. There’s still at least one DC movie set to release and one Marvel movie. Those looking for awards-worthy movies may be looking forward to films likeNapoleonorKillers of the Flower Moon. However, not everyone has the time to go to the movies. Some people are forced to wait until everything hits streaming. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of great content that came out this year. One film among the pack isInsideby director Vasilis Katsoupis, who has made adifferent kind of lockdown moviethan most are used to.
The film follows Willem Dafoe in one of his best performances as an art thief after he becomes trapped in a mark’s penthouse. To his luck, no one has come to arrest him, but he soon wishes they had, as escaping the home is near impossible. For those who have already seen the movie, they know that his escape is not the core point.Insideboasts heavy themes and unique storytelling, making it a movie that forces viewers to think. That also means that it’s a movie with an ending open for interpretation. Others may read it differently, but here is one explanation for what happened. This is the ending ofInside,explained.
What Happens in Inside?
Insidefollows an art thief named Nemo, who breaks into a luxury penthouse in New York to steal valuable artwork, the key of which is a self-portrait worth seven figures. However, things quickly go awry when Nemo accidentally triggers the alarm,trapping him inside. Fearing capture, his two accomplices abandon him, forcing him to find his own escape. He doesn’t, but the police never show up. Nemo soon discovers himself trapped in the penthouse with no easy means of escape and limited resources. On top of that, the thermostat is faulty, repeatedly shifting the apartment temperature from unbearably hot to freezing cold. In this way, Nemo’s time in the penthouse is a grueling ordeal. One full of metaphor.
Nemo passes the time trying to escape, his main hope being a sconce on the ceiling, which he constructs a massive tower of furniture and various tools to remove the light source. He also watches the CCTV feed of various employees around the building, one of whom he becomes attached to after forming a story for her. He also makes various art projects, being a lover of art himself. An unclear amount of time passes, although the length can be deduced by the fullness of the bathtub and toilet he fills with his feces.
Over time, he begins to suffer the effects of his long isolation and starts to detach from realitythrough different hallucinations, with emphasis on a higher power, one of which causes him to wake with a newfound resolve to escape. Unfortunately, the sconce proves to be impenetrable. In a last-ditch effort, he uses broken glass to light a fire to cause the building’s sprinklers to go off. But this does not trigger the fire alarm, and it soon starts flooding the penthouse. The final scene ofInsidesees Nemo climbing his tower of furniture one last time. The scene then cuts to the sconce falling to the ground below. The viewer never sees Nemo exit the room through the sconce, leaving his survival ambiguous.
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God and Technology
Before exploring the ending ofInside, it is important to examine these two key themes prevalent throughout the film. Throughout, there are allusions to a higher power. Some controlling presence has trapped Nemo in this ordeal as punishment for his crimes. The large tower he builds can be interpreted as a sinner’s climb to heaven, and his endless prying at the sconce is his attempt to pass through their gates. Heaven’s presence is felt when he stares into the vents as the defective AC system has been bearing down on him with relentless heat, only to finally switch to cool air, which blows on his face.
And where there is God,there is the Devil, whom Nemo represents, as seen when he looks into a portrait that vaguely resembles him, this figure being the man downstairs himself. Those who understand these references, religious or not, can follow Katsoupis' artful storytelling, but is this higher power God, as most know Him to be, or the flawed engineering that’s trapped Nemo?
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Above anything else, the root cause of Nemo’s suffering is the failure of technology. The security systems of the penthouse are foolproof in theft prevention. There’s not even a 1% chance that someone like Nemo would succeed in escaping with the valuable art. But take into account what it has done: it has locked him within the confines of the penthouse, taken all manner of comfort, but never alerts the police. As advanced as it is, it’s only designed to confine. Perhaps it was supposed to alert the authorities, but this function clearly failed. Consider that, in the modern age, people put all their faith in technology for much of their day-to-day lives. When it fails, all hope is lost. In this sense it can be said that technology is God. When it does what it’s built for, it’s heaven on earth. When it fails, it’s suffering.
Inside Ending, Explained
With the themes in mind, consider the ending.Insideends with the sconce falling to the ground, but never reveals whether or not Nemo escaped. The likely answer is that he did, with the metaphorical gates of heaven finally opening for him to ascend and leave the penthouse. But why wouldn’t the movie show that? Well, perhaps it wasn’t the point. The overall message from this ambiguous ending is unclear, but the overarching theme is hard to ignore.
Throughout, Nemo is punished by the penthouse as it never allows him a moment of comfort, but in the end, he escapes his metaphorical hell by looking up above. Before he leaves, he says that to create, one must destroy. Nemo leaves behind his two greatest creations, theportraits he made, the broken remains of the penthouse, and his tower reaching to the sconce. For everything that comprises life today, something had to be destroyed. That goes for technology as well as art. Whatever happened to Nemo, he left behind his greatest creation. It is either a tower to salvation or a representation of his failed ordeal.
