Are you a fan of movies that give you a conclusive ending, or are you okay with those that leave you guessing? For those who enjoy an ending with a mystery, here are 3 that might pique your interest.

Inception (2010) – Directed by Christopher Nolan

This science fiction thriller is well known for its complicated plot and ambiguous ending. The movie’s conclusion leaves the audience questioning whether the main character’s experience could be a reality. The final scene has been widely criticized and taken in many different ways.

The movie’s main storyline centers around dreams within dreams. This makes it extremely difficult to tell the difference between illusion and reality. The movie’s final scene features a spinning top, an image used extensively throughout the film to attempt to differentiate between reality and dreams. Nolan purposely removes the scene before revealing whether the top has fallen over, resulting in the final scene being a dream or real, leaving the audience guessing.

The movie toys with the viewers’ perception thoughts instead of reality, leaving them to question their reality. Skilled thief Dom Cobb, skilled in extraction, steals valuable secrets from within the subconscious during a person’s dream state when the mind is most vulnerable. His rare skill has made him an expert in this dangerous world of corporate espionage. 

He subsequently became a wanted criminal, losing everything he had ever known. He is being offered a chance to clear his name. One more assignment may restore his life if he can accomplish the seemingly impossible inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team have to achieve the opposite. 

Their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If successful, it could be the perfect crime. But no careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

Mulholland Drive (2001) – Directed by David Lynch

Unblemished by the countless fake promises of the movie business, actress Betty arrives in Hollywood. Filled with dreams of fame and keen to prove her acting skills, Betty moves in with her Aunt Ruth in her plush apartment. She has no idea that fate has different plans for her, with life-changing experiences with the unexpected and the unknown.

Now, amid an elaborate tangle of half-truths, old memories, unrequited loves, and dangerous liaisons with Hollywood’s murky facade lies a strange key to a mysterious keyhole, an even stranger indigo-blue cube, the young director, Adam, and a woman, the amnesiac brunette and seductive car-crash survivor, Rita. But time flies, and Rita’s past life needs answers. Both women want the truth. What is the secret of the serpentine, dream-crushing Mulholland Drive?

Shutter Island (2010) – Directed by Martin Scorsese

Scorsese doubts the whole film’s plot with a mysterious and somewhat unexpected ending! The movie is psychologically complex and immerses the audience in the protagonist’s psychological investigation, Teddy Daniels, which becomes unreliable and distorted. 

As the movie approaches its final scene, there is a major twist in the plot, which throws everything that preceded it into doubt. This finale challenges the audience’s understanding of the protagonist’s reality. The ending poses a moral question regarding guilt, sanity, and basic human beliefs, leaving many unanswered questions.

Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule, US marshalls, are sent to an asylum on a remote island to investigate a person’s disappearance, where Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place.

Set in 1954, Teddy Daniels, a US marshal, investigates the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He has been very keen to have a job on the island for personal reasons. It’s not before long he thinks he has been sent there as part of a sinister plot by hospital doctors whose treatments range from unethical to illegal practices. Teddy’s investigating skills soon provide a clue, but the hospital does not allow him to access the records he believes will solve the case. 

More bad luck strikes as fierce hurricane winds hit the island-situated hospital, bringing down communication lines with the mainland. The storm also caused damage to the hospital grounds, leading to some of the dangerous criminals held in the institution escaping. 

The situation becomes confusing for Daniels as he discovers more clues that lead him to believe there is a conspiracy and that the institution is hiding secrets. He even mistrusts his partner. Ultimately, his sanity gets questioned, leaving a rather precarious ending. Many hoped for a sequel to the mystery, but Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Teddy Daniels, has moved on to other projects. You can find more DiCaprio movies here.