What is your interpretation of the ending? SPOILERS AHEAD

Christopher Nolan's 2014 grand scale science-fiction story about time and space, and the things that transcend them.
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Rodney Johnson
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Joined: September 2014
UnknownVariation wrote:Another question:
How does Murph solve the gravity problem if Dr. Mann said Brand had already solved it before the Lazarus mission had even left? What exactly did Murph solve?
They solved it as much as was possible with the data they had available. To fully solve the equation and give them the ability to manipulate and control gravity, they needed the information from inside the black hole that Coop and the robot are able to send back to Murph.
GeniusNolan
Posts: 32
Joined: November 2014
UnknownVariation wrote:Another question:
How does Murph solve the gravity problem if Dr. Mann said Brand had already solved it before the Lazarus mission had even left? What exactly did Murph solve?
I don't remember the exact dialogues, but a different approach was needed to solve the problem. Brand ended up with one solution that didn't really help. He hit a roadblock and instead of trying a different approach, he was willing to let other astronauts go on a one way journey to this other planet by lying to them about Plan A. Essentially, from his perspective there was only one plan (plan B).
Further, at that point, he didn't have the required data to approach it from a different angle. Murph with the help of the data she receives from Cooper solves it completely. (I presume something to do with unifying quantum mechanics, relativity, string theory. I am no expert though)
leo
Posts: 18
Joined: October 2014
About Dr. Mann
I don't consider Dr. Mann evil, he was just desperate to go back to Earth after so many years of loneliness, he acted out of desperation rather than out of wanting to save his ass. He badly needed to see people again, and the crew of the Endurance wouldn't let him once they realized that he had faked the data.
Hustler wrote: On another note, and this is probably missing the point, but if anyone could answer this very fundamental question:
If there are truly evolved humans in the future living in a 5th dimensional universe, then the species has already survived and evolved, so why the need to communicate with past humans to ensure survival that already happens? And no, that thought doesn't ruin anything about the movie for me, I absolutely love it. It's amazing that it can be this thought-provoking. But it kind of reminds of Ebert's question regarding Memento, about how does Leonard recognize he has a condition (though actual cases of people with short-term memory loss realizing they have a condition can be cited).
My take on it is that there is a sense of predestination in the film. In order for the universe to be consistent, Cooper was predestined to go into the black hole at some point because otherwise Murph would have never received those messages from a 'ghost' in her room. And similary humans are predestined to build a tesseract at some point in the future, because otherwise Cooper wouldn't have found one inside the black hole. Cooper was meant to go into the black hole, and so the species was meant to survive and evolve in the future. On the one hand it makes sense, but on the other hand I don't think Nolan wanted to convey the message that whatever we do we are destined to survive and evolve. But then again in Interstellar we are only destined to survive because Cooper loves her daughter, so maybe Nolan's message is that humanity will survive if we love each other.
Last edited by leo on November 6th, 2014, 12:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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UnknownVariation
Posts: 295
Joined: May 2014
GeniusNolan wrote:
UnknownVariation wrote:Another question:
How does Murph solve the gravity problem if Dr. Mann said Brand had already solved it before the Lazarus mission had even left? What exactly did Murph solve?
I don't remember the exact dialogues, but a different approach was needed to solve the problem. Brand ended up with one solution that didn't really help. He hit a roadblock and instead of trying a different approach, he was willing to let other astronauts go on a one way journey to this other planet by lying to them about Plan A. Essentially, from his perspective there was only one plan (plan B).
Further, at that point, he didn't have the required data to approach it from a different angle. Murph with the help of the data she receives from Cooper solves it completely. (I presume something to do with unifying quantum mechanics, relativity, string theory. I am no expert though)
Then why did Dr. Mann say Brand had solved it years before?
willyjoel
Posts: 134
Joined: October 2010
UnknownVariation wrote:
GeniusNolan wrote:
UnknownVariation wrote:Another question:
How does Murph solve the gravity problem if Dr. Mann said Brand had already solved it before the Lazarus mission had even left? What exactly did Murph solve?
I don't remember the exact dialogues, but a different approach was needed to solve the problem. Brand ended up with one solution that didn't really help. He hit a roadblock and instead of trying a different approach, he was willing to let other astronauts go on a one way journey to this other planet by lying to them about Plan A. Essentially, from his perspective there was only one plan (plan B).
Further, at that point, he didn't have the required data to approach it from a different angle. Murph with the help of the data she receives from Cooper solves it completely. (I presume something to do with unifying quantum mechanics, relativity, string theory. I am no expert though)
Then why did Dr. Mann say Brand had solved it years before?
He didn't know, he thought he knew, but he didn't actually know that it was the correct solution to the problem. Brand was playing the role of every theoretical physicist in the world right now, none of them know how to successfully combine relativity with quantum physics, they always get an infinite error, that's why the data from the singularity is needed
Last edited by willyjoel on November 6th, 2014, 12:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sky007
Posts: 2061
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What happens to Cooper is a Nolan protagonists
Ultimate fear. To be locked in a room of memories and lost time to observe a decision and lie you made that you regret. That absolutely terrified me. Haunting images.
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UnknownVariation
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I guess what I'm trying to ask is if Dr. Mann believed that Brand had solved the gravity problem from Plan A before he had even left on his mission, why would he go along with Plan B? Wouldn't those involved with the Lazarus mission ask Brand why their mission was even necessary?
leo
Posts: 18
Joined: October 2014
UnknownVariation wrote:
GeniusNolan wrote:
UnknownVariation wrote:Another question:
How does Murph solve the gravity problem if Dr. Mann said Brand had already solved it before the Lazarus mission had even left? What exactly did Murph solve?
I don't remember the exact dialogues, but a different approach was needed to solve the problem. Brand ended up with one solution that didn't really help. He hit a roadblock and instead of trying a different approach, he was willing to let other astronauts go on a one way journey to this other planet by lying to them about Plan A. Essentially, from his perspective there was only one plan (plan B).
Further, at that point, he didn't have the required data to approach it from a different angle. Murph with the help of the data she receives from Cooper solves it completely. (I presume something to do with unifying quantum mechanics, relativity, string theory. I am no expert though)
Then why did Dr. Mann say Brand had solved it years before?
The way I understood it is that Brand (the father) had come to the conclusion that it was impossible to fully understand gravity with their current knowledge. He had solved some equation, but he realized the solution didn't allow them to manipulate gravity as he had hoped, and so he thought plan A was doomed to fail. But the knowledge of how gravity behaves in presence of quantum effects inside the black hole allowed Murph to solve a more general equation, which this time allowed to manipulate gravity and fulfill plan A.
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Miles
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Pretty much everything is sitting well with me except...
Why does Coop give himself and Murph the coordinates if he doesnt want himself to go? I get that he has to save the world but he seems pretty intent on stopping himself right after that. I realize this has been discussed a little but if anyone cares to offer their explanation Id love to hear it because its really the only problem I have with the film...
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Sky007
Posts: 2061
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Miles wrote:Pretty much everything is sitting well with me except...
Why does Coop give himself and Murph the coordinates if he doesnt want himself to go? I get that he has to save the world but he seems pretty intent on stopping himself right after that. I realize this has been discussed a little but if anyone cares to offer their explanation Id love to hear it because its really the only problem I have with the film…
If I remember
He first doesn't want himself to leave because he regrets his decision. His plan has failed and he's essentially doomed there. Then he realizes that "they" chose Murph and he knows that bc he's inside the black hole he can get her the info to solve the equation.
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