This is the most confusing film ending, according to the public

Warning: Spoilers ahead 

A new study has revealed the films which have left British viewers the most confused by their endings, with one director’s output dominating the list.

Conducted by the group BonusFinder, the list has been compiled by aggregating the total number of UK-based Google searches related to explaining the endings of films, with Martin Scorsese’s 2010 psychological thriller Shutter Island coming out on top.

In the film, Leonardo DiCaprio plays the US Marshall Teddy Daniels, who travels to a hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient. However, as the film progresses, it is revealed that Daniels is in fact a hallucinatory persona and that “Teddy” is in fact Andrew Laeddis, another US Marshall who had been imprisoned at the facility for murdering his wife after she had killed their three children.

The film ends on a philosophical note, as DiCaprio’s character appears to simulate another psychological relapse in order to bring about a lobotomy procedure, as living with the knowledge of his reality has become too much to bear.

Not taking the top spot, but with four different entries in the top ten are the films of Christopher Nolan. The British director, who this week picked up a BAFTA for his work helming Oppenheimer, dominates the list, with Inception coming in at fourth, Oppenheimer itself at fifth, Interstellar at sixth and Memento in eighth.

The inclusion of Oppenheimer, as well as Barbie, which comes in at number seven, may simply point to their all-pervasive presence in the zeitgeist over the past 12 months, but it is no surprise to see Inception claiming such a high placement.

The 2010 sci-fi action drama also stars DiCaprio as a professional heist thief who infiltrates the subconscious of his targets to steal or plant information. In the notoriously multi-layered narrative, the film ends on a moment of uncertainty, as DiCaprio’s Cobb character returns home after spending an extended time in limbo. He has the opportunity to use a spinning top to test whether he is in fact back in his ‘reality’, but the film ends before the top has a chance to land.

Also appearing high in the list are the Coen Brothers’ 2007 neo-Western thriller No Country For Old Men and Mary Harron’s 2000 psychological horror American Psycho.

See the full list below: 

1) Shutter Island (2010)
2) No Country For Old Men (2007)
3) American Psycho (2000)
4) Inception (2010)
5) Oppenheimer (2023)
6) Interstellar (2014)
7) Barbie (2023)
8) Memento (2000)
9) Fight Club (1999)
=10) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
=10) The Shining (1980) 

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