Life of Pi follows a boy stranded on a boat with a tiger. In the end, he manages to make it to shore, where he recounts his story to a fictional Yann Martel.
Although he first tells Martel the story we saw in the film, he then recounts a bloodier tale where he had to kill and eat the ship’s cook to stay alive. When asked which story is real, the young man only gives a vague answer. But the ending itself is about forcing you to question your own reality rather than worrying about the trials of the characters.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Put most simply, 2001 tracks humanity’s evolution. It starts with primitive peoples who resemble apes creating tools and ends with Bowman transforming into a super being and being sent back to Earth.
Director Stanley Kubrick explained the ending of the film with more finesse, stating that Bowman was studied by a team of super-beings and sent back to Earth after he made his final evolution. As for what happens when he returns to Earth with his new powers, viewers can only guess.
The Dark Knight Rises
The controversial ending scene in The Dark Knight Rises features Albert seeing Bruce Wayne across a crowded cafe in Florence. However, Bruce supposedly died when he flew a nuclear bomb out of Gotham City. Because of that, fans started to speculate that the Bruce in the ending is simply a figment of Albert’s imagination.
You have to notice, however, that Lucius Fox learns in the ending scenes that Bruce Wayne fixed the autopilot in the Bat-plane. Knowing that it’s safe to assume that Bruce exited the aircraft and went on to live a quiet life with Selina (aka Catwoman).
Enemy
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this psychological thriller as a college history professor who switches places with his doppelgänger. While the two men weave a tangled web, the ending of the film provides more questions than answers.
While Gyllenhaal is living his doppelgänger’s life, he suddenly finds his wife transformed into a tarantula. The movie’s director, Denis Villeneuve, described the film as a “puzzle,” stating that it was supposed to provide more questions than answers. If that was the goal, he certainly accomplished it.
Shutter Island
Shutter Island follows U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels as he investigates a disappearance at an eerie mental hospital. The film first suggests that the doctors on the island are the real villains, only to reveal that Teddy himself is a patient who struggles with delusions to block out the memory of killing his wife.
While the movie leaves you scratching your head as to whether or not Teddy is really unstable, the logical conclusion is that he indeed killed his wife, but he chooses to go through with the lobotomy because he can no longer live with the memory.