essay about interstellar movie

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Interstellar: An Analysis of the Film

Introduction, a brief plot of the film, the idea of a father-daughter relationship, correction of perception, uncertainty of the anomaly, perception adjustment, the unresolved question of cooper station, works cited.

A deeper study of literary works, based not so much on superficial reading as on searching for hidden meanings and interpreting details, is an essential part of informed criticism. In fact, no work in the world, be it a book, a movie, or even a TV show, is created for the sole purpose of comfort; instead, authors build a line of narrative and overall plot on a multitude of micro-themes, each of which can convey a specific message to the reader, listener, or viewer. The more such subthemes there are in a work — and the more harmoniously they are connected to each other — the more likely it is that the work will be complete and attractive to the audience because it will be able to touch some of its deepest thoughts. In this interpretation, it is well established that criticism of works can be accomplished through the paradigm of the reader’s experience. This school of aesthetics defines Reader-Response Criticism, in which the audience and its experience with the work act as the central filter. This essay uses the paradigm of this form of criticism to analyze in depth Christopher Nolan’s internationally acclaimed 2014 film Interstellar. The fundamental thesis is that Interstellar is perfectly described through the receptive theory of criticism in view of the depth of the story.

The primary point is to briefly describe the film’s overall plot so that further discussion makes sense to readers who have not been familiar with the motion picture before. The plot is based on the idea of exploring the horizons of the universe with a search for a planet that is optimal for the continuation of the human race. This is the not-too-distant future, 2067, when severe natural disasters, hunger, and poverty occur on Earth: in fact, these are the factors that are the reason for the active search for a planet to colonize. Former NASA pilot Joseph Cooper is forced to leave his family behind to pursue a human-scale goal, and as a result of this breakup, Cooper’s relationship with his son and younger daughter is damaged. During their space journey, Cooper’s team visits several exoplanets and encounters severe threats in the form of mile-long tsunamis and lifeless frost, but they eventually find a candidate planet. This is just a general storyline, showing the movement of the characters from the starting point to the ending point. However, the film is much deeper than it might seem at first glance and contains multiple uncertainties and understatements.

One of the major themes of the film, besides the idea of intergalactic civilization, is that of relationships with one’s family and love. There are many hidden meanings and rhetorical tools in Interstellar, which Nolan has used to create a fascinating and engaging motion picture. Tyson teaches that reader-response criticism is based on the reader’s perception of uncertainty in the text and how that uncertainty is turned into meaning — not necessarily true — for the reader through the lens of individual experience (Tyson 189). In this sense, one of the most critical scenes in the film, a fragment of which is shown in Figure 1, reflects the depth of the relationship between father and daughter, between whom there must probably be a permanent separation. It is worth saying that the relationship with the protagonist’s son is significantly colder and more restrained: their goodbye takes less than a minute. The nature of the bond with his daughter has not been fully revealed in the film before, and it is not entirely clear how strong the love between them is; however, this is something that each viewer learns through their own experience. Through the screen, one can see that the news of the departure breaks Cooper’s daughter, but the veracity of her emotions and the pain she feels is perceived uniquely by each viewer. It is only natural that for some, such a scene may have seemed ordinary or even superfluous, while others found in it the experience and pain of remembering the relationship with their own parents.

In the 40th minute of the film, in which the encounter described takes place, it is not yet clear what exactly Murphy means to her father. As the plot progresses, however, it becomes clear that the daughter is the center of Cooper’s life, and without her, he is broken and shattered. The perception of their bond is particularly adjusted in the most emotional scenes when Cooper leaves home and when he watches a video message from his grown daughter (Figure 2). These shots most fully fill in the gaps that existed earlier through the demonstration of the pain Cooper feels when he loses his daughter. Thus, the reticence regarding the loving relationship between father and daughter may be perceived ambiguously by the audience until Nolan introduces additional shots to convey specific information.

Another crucial point, which can also be described through the paradigm of receptive criticism, is expressed in the analysis of the literal ambiguity of the picture. At the beginning of the film, when Cooper had not yet left the children, an anomaly was occurring in his daughter’s room: books were falling off the bookshelf by themselves, and sand was forming a pile. The movie did not give a specific answer to this question but instead said that the possible cause lay in the peculiarities of the magnetic field. This seems like an odd solution since the connection between the falling books, and the magnetic anomaly does not seem transparent, but Nolan did not devote much time to the problem. The presence of such uncertainty has led to many theories that the viewer’s mind could construct. For example, it could be a poltergeist or a ghost, as well as Murphy’s desire for attention: until this point was revealed at the very end of Interstellar, the magnetic phenomenon remained an unresolved problem that created new associations as the plot progressed. The situation became more complicated when Murphy, already an adult, realized that the books were falling for a reason, but there was some code encrypted in them. For the viewer as a whole, this information did not add any new insight, as the fundamental question of what exactly causes the anomaly had not yet been answered. Only at the end, when Cooper finds himself in a whole new dimension, incomprehensible to the human mind, does it become clear that it was he who had moved the books in his daughter’s room to thus transmit the cipher to her. In other words, the viewer is again confronted with the adjustment of the perception of the story through the clarification of details.

Interestingly, the magnetic anomaly from Interstellar can be viewed from a different perspective. From a plot point of view, the tipping over of the books and the moving of the clock hand are scripted moves to advance the overall story: with these tools, Cooper conveys the necessary knowledge of gravity and time so that Murphy can save humanity. However, there is a more metaphysical meaning to these scenes, namely the connection between the living and dead people. For Murphy, her father, who abandoned his daughter decades ago and has not made contact, is dead. For this reason, examining the scene through her daughter’s eyes shows an incomprehensible connection to something supernatural, and this connection is one-sided. It seems to hint that dead people may contact living relatives and friends to share important information or bring messages. From this perspective, then, the primary perception of the anomaly as something otherworldly makes sense again.

Notably, despite director Nolan’s frequent technique of explaining uncertainties as the plot unfolds — as was evident, for example, in the Tenet — not all of the film’s unresolved questions are answered. One significant understatement concerns the film’s ending: Cooper and his crew flew through a black hole, or wormhole, to other galaxies, but after a scene with an alternate dimension and a binary transmission to his daughter, he ends up on Cooper’s station orbiting near Saturn (Figure 3). Determining why humans live near Saturn when Cooper and crew began colonizing the exoplanet is a significant uncertainty with no answer. On the one hand, it might seem that the station near Saturn is a temporary stronghold for humanity, which will soon relocate outside the solar system. On the other hand, it is likely that humanity will never be able to move beyond the wormhole, which means it is doomed to live inside the solar system. In this sense, readers’ minds self-construct the plot and determine that the purpose of the entire expedition was never to relocate but to colonize. Thus, Murphy will never see his father again, who has once again poisoned himself to colonize the planets instead of living with his already elderly daughter on a station near Saturn. Nolan does not provide an answer to this question and forms an open finale. It is open finales that are one of the main tools of the reader-response criticism because it allows for the creation of understatement that the individual experience of the audience will perceive. That is why, in fact, there are many interpretations of the ending of Interstellar — because the meaning of the finale has not been clarified, which means that each viewer can interpret the finale in their own way.

Turning again to the philosophy of receptive criticism, one finds an important detail: this school of aesthetics refers to the author’s use of hidden sub-themes as a tool for interacting with the audience. The scenes discussed earlier were examples of obvious understatements or issues that were directly or indirectly discussed in the film. However, the depth of Interstellar is more significant: it includes subthemes that were not described on the surface but hints that were given. One of the lows is the idea of hope as salvation in hopeless situations. In particular, when Cooper falls into a black hole, the viewer takes advantage of the experience he has already had to realize that Cooper will die. This is a well-known truth taught in schools and talked about in scientific writings: there is no way out of a black hole (Weitering). However, in moments of hopelessness and expectation of doom, salvation awaits the protagonist, namely the tesseract as a new dimension. Nolan does not say why he decided to make such a move, so the reader can only explore it through his own experience. Thus, one interpretation might be the idea that there are no hopeless situations, and one must always hope for salvation. Little attention has been given to the question of the supernatural forces that watch over humanity: it was they who gave Cooper entrance into the tesseract. This raises doubts about the fact that there are other forms of life in this universe besides Earth, which is one of the leading existential questions. Remarkably, unlike in classical mythology, these forces are not deities, according to the film, but humans themselves. A viewer who has watched this film carefully might think of the descendants of humanity, who have made such progress that they are able to connect through the fabric of time with their ancestors as a supernatural force.

In conclusion, it should be noted that every work, regardless of genre, has its primary meaning, which can be transparent, as well as additional sub-themes. Interstellar is such a work, which, among others, is perfectly analyzed from a viewer’s perspective. There are many details and questions hidden in this Christopher Nolan work that are not immediately resolved or not resolved at all. In this sense, the audience is left to guess and make assumptions based only on personal experience. Among others, personal experience allows one to experience key moments in the film with a special emotional force behind the audience’s experiences and feelings. All of this leads to the conclusion that the interaction of film and viewer perception creates meanings that are selective and specific to each individual.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today . Routledge: 2006.

Weitering, Hanneke. “How Do Particles Escape Black Holes? Supercomputers May Have the Answer.” Space , 2019.

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Interstellar

Christopher Nolan’s  “Interstellar ,” about astronauts traveling to the other end of the galaxy to find a new home to replace humanity’s despoiled home-world, is frantically busy and earsplittingly loud. It uses booming music to jack up the excitement level of scenes that might not otherwise excite. It features characters shoveling exposition at each other for almost three hours, and a few of those characters have no character to speak of: they’re mouthpieces for techno-babble and philosophical debate. And for all of the director’s activism on behalf of shooting on film, the tactile beauty of the movie’s 35mm and 65mm textures isn’t matched by a sense of composition. The camera rarely tells the story in Nolan’s movies. More often it illustrates the screenplay, and there are points in this one where I felt as if I was watching the most expensive NBC pilot ever made.

And yet “Interstellar” is still an impressive, at times astonishing movie that overwhelmed me to the point where my usual objections to Nolan’s work melted away. I’ve packed the first paragraph of this review with those objections (they could apply to any Nolan picture post “Batman Begins”; he is who he is) so that people know that he’s still doing the things that Nolan always does. Whether you find those things endearing or irritating will depend on your affinity for Nolan’s style. 

In any case, t here’s something pure and powerful about this movie. I can’t recall a science fiction film hard-sold to a director’s fans as multiplex-“awesome” in which so many major characters wept openly in close-up, voices breaking, tears streaming down  their  cheeks. Matthew McConaughey ’s widowed astronaut Cooper and his colleague Amelia Brand ( Anne Hathaway ) pour on the waterworks in multiple scenes, with justification: like everyone on the crew of the Endurance , the starship sent to a black hole near Jupiter that will slingshot the heroes towards colonize-able worlds, they’re separated from everything that defines them: their loved ones, their personal histories, their culture, the planet itself. Other characters—including Amelia’s father, an astrophysicist played by Michael Caine , and a space explorer (played by an  un-billed  guest actor) who’s holed up on a forbidding arctic world—express a vulnerability to loneliness and doubt that’s quite raw for this director. The film’s central family (headed by Cooper, grounded after the  dismantling  of NASA) lives on a  corn  farm, for goodness’ sake, like the gentle Iowans in “ Field of Dreams ” (a film whose daddy-issues-laden story syncs up nicely with the narrative of  “ Interstellar”). Granted, they’re growing the crop to feed the human race, which is whiling away its twilight hours on a planet so ecologically devastated that at first you mistake it for the American Dust Bowl circa 1930 or so; but there’s still something amusingly cheeky about the notion of corn as sustenance, especially in a survival story in which the future of humanity is at stake. ( Ellen Burstyn plays one of many witnesses in a documentary first glimpsed in the movie’s opening scene—and which, in classic Nolan style, is a setup for at least two twists.)

The state-of-the-art sci-fi landscapes are deployed in service of Hallmark card homilies about how people should live, and what’s really important. (“We love people who have died—what’s the social utility in that?” “Accident is the first step in evolution.”) After a certain point it sinks in, or should sink in, that Nolan and his co-screenwriter, brother Jonathan Nolan , aren’t trying to one-up the spectacular rationalism of “2001.” The movie’s science fiction trappings are just a wrapping for a spiritual/emotional dream about basic human desires (for home, for family, for continuity of bloodline and culture), as well as for a horror film of sorts—one that treats the star voyagers’ and their earthbound loved ones’ separation as spectacular metaphors for what happens when the people we value are taken from us by death, illness, or unbridgeable distance. (“Pray you never learn just how good it can be to see another face,” another astronaut says, after years alone in an interstellar wilderness.) 

While “Interstellar” never entirely commits to the idea of a non-rational, uncanny world, it nevertheless has a mystical strain, one that’s unusually pronounced for a director whose storytelling has the right-brained sensibility of an engineer, logician, or accountant. There’s a ghost in this film, writing out messages to the living in dust. Characters strain to interpret distant radio messages as if they were ancient texts written in a dead language, and stare through red-rimmed eyes at video messages sent years ago, by people on the other side of the cosmos. “Interstellar” features a family haunted by the memory of a dead mother and then an absent father; a woman haunted by the memory of a missing father, and another woman who’s separated from her own dad (and mentor), and driven to reunite with a lover separated from her by so many millions of miles that he might as well be dead. 

With the possible exception of the last act of “ Memento”  and the pit sequence in “The Dark Knight Rises”—a knife-twisting hour that was all about suffering and transcendence—I can’t think of a Nolan film that ladles on  misery and  valorizes  gut feeling (faith)  the way this one does; not from start to finish, anyway.  T he  most stirring sequences are less about driving the plot forward than contemplating what the characters’ actions mean to them, and to us. The  best of these is the lift-off sequence, which starts with a countdown heard over images of Cooper leaving his family. It continues in space, with Caine reading passages from Dylan Thomas’s villanelle “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night”: “Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” (If it wasn’t already obvious, this sequence certifies Nolan as the most death-and-control obsessed major American filmmaker, along with Wes Anderson .)

The film’s widescreen panoramas feature harsh interplanetary landscapes, shot in cruel Earth locales; some of the largest and most detailed starship miniatures ever built, and space sequences presented in scientifically accurate silence, a la “2001.” But for all its high-tech glitz, “Interstellar” has a defiantly old-movie feeling. It’s not afraid to switch, even lurch, between modes. At times, the movie’s one-stop-shopping storytelling evokes the tough-tender spirit of a John Ford picture, or a Steven Spielberg film made in the spirit of a Ford picture: a movie that would rather try to be eight or nine things than just one. Bruising outer-space action sequences, with astronauts tumbling in zero gravity and striding across forbidding landscapes, give way to snappy comic patter (mostly between Cooper and the ship’s robot, TARS, designed in Minecraft-style, pixel-ish boxes, and voiced by Bill Irwin ). There are long explanatory sequences, done with and without dry erase boards, dazzling vistas that are less spaces than mind-spaces, and tearful separations and reconciliations that might as well be played silent, in tinted black-and-white, and scored with a saloon piano. (Spielberg originated “Interstellar” in 2006, but dropped out to direct other projects.)

McConaughey, a super-intense actor who wholeheartedly commits to every line and moment he’s given, is the right leading man for this kind of film. Cooper proudly identifies himself as an engineer as well as an astronaut and farmer, but he has the soul of a goofball poet; when he stares at intergalactic vistas, he grins like a kid at an amusement park waiting to ride a new roller coaster. Cooper’s farewell to his daughter Murph—who’s played by McKenzie Foy as a young girl—is shot very close-in, and lit in warm, cradling tones; it has some of the tenderness of the porch swing scene in “ To Kill a Mockingbird .” When Murph grows up into Jessica Chastain —a key member of Caine’s NASA crew, and a surrogate for the daughter that the elder Brand “lost’ to the Endurance ‘s mission—we keep thinking about that goodbye scene, and how its anguish drives everything that Murph and Cooper are trying to do, while also realizing that similar feelings drive the other characters—indeed, the rest of the species. (One suspects this is a deeply personal film for Nolan: it’s about a man who feels he has been “called” to a particular job, and whose work requires him to spend long periods away from his family.)

The movie’s storytelling masterstroke comes from adherence to principles of relativity: the astronauts perceive time differently depending on where Endurance is, which means that when they go down onto a prospective habitable world, a few minutes there equal weeks or months back on the ship. Meanwhile, on Earth, everyone is aging and losing hope. Under such circumstances, even tedious housekeeping-type exchanges become momentous: one has to think twice before arguing about what to do next, because while the argument is happening, people elsewhere are going grey, or suffering depression from being alone, or withering and dying. Here, more so than in any other Nolan film (and that’s saying a lot), time is everything. “I’m an old physicist,” Brand tells Cooper early in the film. “I’m afraid of time.” Time is something we all fear. There’s a ticking clock governing every aspect of existence, from the global to the familial. Every act by every character is an act of defiance, born of a wish to not go gently.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor-at-Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

• Mackenzie Foy as Young Murph
• William Devane as Old Tom
• Matthew McConaughey as Cooper
• Jessica Chastain as Murph
• Michael Caine as Dr. Brand
• Topher Grace as
• Anne Hathaway as Brand
• John Lithgow as Donald
• Casey Affleck as Tom
• Collette Wolfe as Ms. Kelly
• Ellen Burstyn as Old Murph
• Bill Irwin as TARS (voice)
• Wes Bentley as Doyle
• David Oyelowo as Principal
• Christopher Nolan
• Jonathan Nolan

Original Music Composer

• Hans Zimmer

Director of Photography

• Hoyte van Hoytema

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Interstellar Explained — Plot, Meaning & the Ending Explained

T here’s no doubt about it: Interstellar was one of the most mentally-stimulating blockbusters of the 2010s. As such, a lot of people were confused about the Interstellar plot, high-concept science, and bold ending. It’s time for Interstellar explained – a deep-dive in which we answer some of the biggest questions audiences asked about the film. By the end, you’ll know the plot and meaning like the back of your hand; you might even say we’ll have an “interstellar explanation” for the fourth dimension.

Interstellar Ending Explained & Beat Sheet Breakdown

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Interstellar Explanation

Interstellar plot and summary.

Interstellar is a 2014 movie that was directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan . The film received four Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing – and the VFX (Visual Effects) were so well regarded that they won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Although Interstellar received good-not-great reviews upon release, it’s since garnered more acclaim and it frequently places on lists of the best sci-fi movies ever made .

Interstellar is about Earth’s last chance to find a habitable planet before a lack of resources causes the human race to go extinct. The film’s protagonist is Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former NASA pilot who is tasked with leading a mission through a wormhole to find a habitable planet in another galaxy.

Dr. Brand (Michael Caine) explains to Cooper that NASA previously sent another group (Lazarus) to find a habitable planet but they’ve gone silent.

Interstellar Movie Meaning  •  Dr. Brand Explains the Plan

There are two plans in the  Interstellar plot:

• Plan A involves Cooper transmitting quantum data back to Earth in order to develop a gravitational propulsion theory that will allow spacecrafts to carry people off Earth into the other galaxy.
• Plan B involves Cooper’s crew finding the remaining Lazarus crew and establishing a colony on another world.

Interstellar Summary & Setting

When is interstellar set.

We don’t know for certain when Interstellar is set, but the script implies that it takes place in the not-so-distant future. We imported the Interstellar script into StudioBinder’s screenwriting software to take a closer look at the film’s setting. This scene takes place near the beginning of the story and gives us a good hint at how many years in the future Interstellar is set.

Read the Interstellar Baseball Scene

We can infer by way of deductive reasoning that Interstellar takes place about 40-70 years into the future. How? Well, we know that Major League Baseball was still played when Donald was a kid. And we know that when Cooper was a kid, things were in such a state of disarray that no baseball was played.

So, if we assume that Cooper is about 40, and that things fell apart sometime before he was born, but not so far before that Donald didn’t live through a period of normalcy, then we can deduce that Interstellar is set between the ages of Donald and Cooper — roughly 40-70 years from “modern time” of 2014.

Water Planet - Interstellar Explained

What happens on the water planet.

The Endurance crew decides to scout out Miller’s planet because it was the one that had most recently transmitted data to them. But since the planet is so close to the black hole, time is extremely dilated — every hour on the water planet is equivalent to seven years on Earth.

Cooper, Brand (Anne Hathaway), and Doyle (Wes Bentley) land on the surface and attempt to locate Miller’s transponder. But just as Brand finds the device, a massive wave rolls in, forcing the crew to flee to the courier ship. Doyle dies but Cooper and Brand narrowly escape — and Brand realizes that Miller must’ve died seconds before they arrived because of the severe time dilation.

Cooper’s Family - Interstellar Explained

What happens to cooper’s family.

Cooper leaves his family – daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy/Jessica Chastain), son Tom (Timothee Chalamet/Casey Affleck) and father in-law Donald (John Lithgow) – on Earth in order to lead the NASA mission. In his absence, his family develops a contentious relationship; but we don’t learn about it until Cooper does, 23 years into the future while watching old transmissions.

Interstellar  •  Screenplayed

Murph and Tom become foil characters , aka characters who serve to expose attributes in each other. Murph becomes a NASA researcher who desperately wants to solve the gravitational theory to save the people on Earth while Tom takes over the family farm and largely rejects science and the reality of his situation. Their two opposing worldviews work against each other and expose negative and positive aspects of their character.

Mann’s Planet - Interstellar Explained

Where did matt damon come from.

Matt Damon plays the role of Dr. Mann, the captain of the Lazarus mission. After the failure of the water planet mission, Cooper is left with a difficult choice – go to Dr. Edmunds’ planet or Dr. Mann’s planet.

Let’s go back to the script to read through one of the best scenes – the one in which Cooper has to make the right decision in order to have any hope of executing the mission.

Read the Interstellar Decision Scene

Cooper chooses Mann’s planet, taking the Endurance on a one-way trip to Matt Damon Town. When the crew arrives, they find Mann in cryosleep. It’s pretty much clear from the get-go that something is wrong with Mann – although considering the fact that he’s been in solitude/cryosleep for years, it’s not hard to see why.

But Mann has more than just a case of cabin fever, he’s full-blown bent on finishing the mission, no matter the cost.

Interstellar Summary

Plan a was a sham.

Back on Earth, Dr. Brand reveals to Murph that Plan A was always a sham and there’s no way the people of Earth could ever escape.

Interstellar Meaning  •  Plan A Was a Sham

Murph transmits a message to Cooper accusing him of knowing Plan A wasn’t possible, effectively leaving her to die. Cooper tells Mann, Brand and Romilly that he’s going to return to Earth to be with his children and the rest of them can stay on Mann’s planet to start a colony.

But Mann’s planet isn’t hospitable – and he needs the ship to go to Edmunds’ planet. In this scene, Nolan intercuts between Cooper’s confrontation with Mann and Murph’s confrontation with Tom.

Interstellar Movie Plot Explained  •  Dual Confrontations

Murph burns all of the crops in order to make Tom understand he needs to leave the farm. Romilly is killed by a trap mine. Brand and Cooper barely escape back to the Endurance.

What happens in the docking scene?

Interstellar Movie Meaning  •  Docking Scene

I love Interstellar but, boy oh boy, we’ve got a cringe-worthy exchange of dialogue here:

TARS: Cooper, it’s not possible.

COOPER: No, it’s necessary.

Not great – but it’s hard to pick holes in a script as sharp as Interstellar . After some impressive piloting, Cooper successfully docks his courier ship in the Endurance.

What is the Interstellar black hole?

The Interstellar black hole is called “Gargantua” due to its gargantuan size. For more on how Nolan and the team made Gargantua with CGI (computer generated imagery), check out this awesome video.

Interstellar Theory  •  Building a Black Hole

When Interstellar was released in 2014, there were no recorded images of a black hole. But in 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope took the first images of a black hole. This is what the central black hole of Messier 87 (a galaxy in the Virgo cluster) looks like.

Messier 87 Black Hole via NASA

As it turns out, the scientists and visual artists who worked on Interstellar were pretty close with the design of the black hole. But what is a black hole? To answer that question, we have to first answer the question: what is a wormhole? And to answer that, let’s watch a great analogical scene from the film.

Interstellar Movie Plot Explained  •  Wormholes

A common misconception is that black holes and wormholes are the same thing. But as Romilly (David Gyasi) explains, wormholes are like funnels that connect two distant points in spacetime. Hypothetically, objects could safely travel through a wormhole – but consequently, black holes are areas of spacetime that have such strong gravity that nothing can escape.

Note: I am not a PhD physicist and most of the astronomical science in Interstellar is theoretical.

Breaking Down the Interstellar Black Hole

Interstellar black hole explained.

I think the Interstellar black hole scene is where a lot of people got lost. Up until that point, everything made a good amount of sense:

• Wormholes allow people to travel long distances through spacetime
• Differences in gravity and relative velocity cause time dilation
• Planets need key life-sustaining elements to be hospitable

But the Interstellar black hole scene is where Nolan dove deep into theory – and there’s no way to tell whether he was “right” or “wrong” because we have no idea what exists beyond the event horizon.

The event horizon, as it relates to Einstein’s theory of relativity, is the point in a black hole where nothing can escape nor be observed. 

So, for Interstellar, Nolan said, “Let’s send Cooper beyond the event horizon and see what happens.” Let’s look to the film to see what happened — it's abstract and minimalist but a truly thrilling sequence.

Interstellar Gargantua Explained

Many theoretical physicists believe that the event horizon serves as a barrier to the unknown physics of a black hole’s singularity. It could be compressed spacetime, antimatter, etc. In the case of Interstellar, the singularity is a portal to the fourth dimension. But what is the fourth dimension? Let’s listen to Carl Sagan explain.

Carl Sagan Explains the 4th Dimension

So if we’re really trapped inside of a fourth dimension, how can we escape? Well, perhaps the answer exists beyond the event horizon.

Interstellar Movie Explained

Interstellar ending explained.

How does Interstellar end? In order to save Brand, Cooper slingshots around Gargantua to generate enough energy to send the Endurance to Edmunds’ planet. As a result, he slips into the black hole and beyond the event horizon. There, he finds himself trapped in the fourth dimension – a tesseract styled as a never-ending bookshelf.

Interstellar Ending Scene Explained

But Cooper realizes that he’s able to interact with Murph through spacetime. He asks TARS to relay the quantum data to him, which he communicates through morse code. Murph picks up on the morse code because she was fascinated by the gravitational anomalies in their house ever since she was a kid.

Turns out, those anomalies were caused by Cooper interacting through another dimension – sending himself on a mission to get the quantum data. Don’t just take my word for it – for more on the Interstellar ending explained, let’s listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson.

deGrasse Tyson Interstellar Last Scene Explained

The questions raised in this scene aren’t just plot-filler, they’re some of the most profound questions in the universe – epistemological themes, or stances taken on how we understand the world are hallmarks of Christopher Nolan’s directing style .

Interstellar Movie Explained (Continued)

Interstellar ending explained: part ii.

After Cooper successfully communicates the quantum data to Murph, he’s kicked out of the tesseract. Some time later, he wakes up on “Cooper Station” – a space station that’s orbiting Saturn. There he finds Murph on her deathbed; having saved humanity from extinction with the quantum data. Let’s read through their final conversation together.

Read the Interstellar Ending Scene Explained

The Interstellar meaning lies somewhere between astronomical science and intimate human connection. It’s simultaneously a story about traversing the stars and fighting for what you love. For many critics, it’s this dual-narrative structure that makes the story so good – even if it can be a little scientifically vague and cheesy.

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What is Tenet About?

Interstellar isn’t the only Christopher Nolan movie that left audiences scratching their heads. His 2020 film Tenet is just as, if not more confounding than Interstellar . In this next article, we break down the plot of Tenet and analyze some of the film’s biggest events.

Up Next: Tenet Movie Plot Explained →

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17 comments

First off, this is a sham. Interstellar cannot be explained. Ranks up there with Unicorns and Rainbows. And the ‘cringeworthy’ dialogue that was mentioned I find needful and required, given the scenario, but that might be me. And thousands of others who quote that line on a daily basis. Lastly, it’s a movie, not real life. Just enjoy it. Sheesh.

How do you explain Copper ending up in the Cooper land and everyone inhabiting the new planet? Not clear from the explanation.

Really the movie is very interesting,give us the opportunity to think more deeply the universe system is working beyond the the formality of something we called past.

I agree, makes you think and we do not know much about the universe.

It’s so much deeper than that.

It would have been a great movie if Brand (Anne Hathaway) character wouldn't have turned it into a soap opera with her dialogue on "feelings beats science" bullshit. Feelings don't belong in science and distort the reality, just look at how many people react illogically during this pandemic. You don't prove anything based on feelings in science, otherwise you turn it into something else: Religion.

Great visuals and well acted but the plot is way more complicated than it needed to be and I don't think the movie excels at helping you follow it. I had to read a good synopsis afterwards and I was left shaking my head. IMO, the plot could have been simplified while still maintaining the same effect.

Who’s to say feelings can’t be based on science.

it was the soundtrack that led me to the movie. I have never seen such a science fiction that provokes emotion while simultaneously, telling a story about traversing the stars using astronomical science. I was emotional, not because I wanted to watch an emotional movie, but because I felt I could grasp the message which is a thin line between astronomical science and intimate human connection.

Florin, Being that space travel does and will rely on humans for the foreseeable future, there was great reason to include human emotions and responses in the name of love in the movie. No matter how much technology is used, you can’t take out the human element. Yeah, I agree maybe they overdid it a bit, and Edmund was a bit of a tangent but feelings had an undeniable effect on the endurance’s mission.

good summary

Tq for good review

i loved this film. i streamed it two nights in a row.. I am a little familiar with physics, and that definitely helped. but the gravity question (which they do solve by sending a probe over the event horizon and then relay the data back to earth, and via Dad, into her watch) was fascinating and also a great sequencing of an impossible riddle. The story lines were great as was the time/ merge with both events climaxing almost together. the space shots and the black hole — wow!!

Incredibly thought provoking, and although most tend to not understand, the plot fillers while Cooper was within the fifth dimension gave such an emotional thrill ride. After crossing the event horizon, the scientific element isn't meant to be understood, because we aren't able to convey the unexplainable. But incorporating the fifth dimension to transmit a message, along with making it "home" to see his daughter before she died brought the emotional climax that was needed for a satisfying ending to this story. Now it's time for me to find part II.

I found it just as the engine of 2001

I think we can all agree that the movie was profound enough that it got you all into a conversation.

This article had interesting analysis and helpful explanation of wormhole vs blackhole. One problem is that the name Romilly is thrown into paragraph with zero previous explanation as to who this character is. Same thing with Miller. You write they decide to "scout" out Miller's planet. Who is that? Zero prior explanation.

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Hope, Love, and Transcendence: An Analysis of Interstellar

Posted By Matthew Steven Bracey on Apr 1, 2019 | 2 comments

Some months ago I re-watched a film that was released five years ago: Interstellar . Director Christopher Nolan’s film is about hope, love, and transcendence. Amid a broader film culture that celebrates decadence and meaninglessness, this film’s vision is refreshing. Interstellar released in 2014, earning approximately $677.5 million worldwide and receiving five Academy Award nominations. Since I first viewed the film, I’ve continued to think about its rich story and themes. In this post, I will first summarize its plot, then analyze its themes, and finally comment briefly on its filmmaking techniques.

Please note that this analysis contains spoilers.

Written by brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, Interstellar begins at a future time when earth’s resources are spent. Humanity will die out unless someone saves them, a fate that, for the most part, they have accepted—well, excepting the film’s protagonist, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey).

Cooper is a former NASA pilot who now lives on a farm with his daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain, Ellen Burstyn), his son Tom (Timothée Chalamet, Casey Affleck), and his father-in-law Donald (John Lithgow). Through a series of events that he does not fully understand but that he comes to grasp by the end of his narrative arc, Cooper discovers an underground NASA facility, headed by Professor Brand (Michael Caine).

Brand convinces Cooper to join a crew of astronauts on the Endurance mission to seek a new home amid the stars. The team consists of Drs. Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), who is Professor Brand’s daughter, Romilly (David Gyasi), and Doyle (Wes Bentley), as well as two robots, TARS and CASE (Bill Irwin). A former crew of the Lazarus missions had preceded them on this journey years earlier, attempting but failing to identify viable planets for colonization. Through the remainder of the film, the expedition confronts both a wormhole and a black hole, interacts with the challenges created by unfamiliar gravity and relative time, and visits several planets dissimilar to earth.

The Nolans, who also co-wrote The Dark Knight Rises , The Dark Knight ,and The Prestige , have learned how to craft a film with popular, blockbuster appeal that is nonetheless intelligent and refuses to cater to the audience. Interstellar contemplates the big worldview questions that humankind has asked for thousands of years, including but not limited to those concerning good versus evil, truth versus falsehood, rootedness and transcendence, hope and salvation, heritage, and love

  Good versus Evil

Interstellar explores the theme of good and evil through the character of Dr. Mann (Matt Damon), the lone surviving member of the Lazarus missions. Mann, as indicated by his name, represents mankind; in fact, he symbolizes the best of humankind. Prior to finding him, Dr. Brand describes him as one of the “bravest humans ever to live” and “remarkable.”

Yet as Mann’s story unfolds, his bravery is revealed as cowardice; his goodness has given way to corruption. Thematically, Mann is not unlike Joseph Conrad’s Kurtz in The Heart of Darkness (1899). Interstellar teaches that man is capable of great good but is also subject to serious evil if he exhibits pride and lacks humility. On the other hand, Cooper, who is admittedly flawed, emerges as a hero who saves mankind, whereas Mann does not. Interstellar warns viewers against pride and corruption but also inspires them to humility and goodness.

  Truth versus Falsehood

A second question the film asks concerns truth and falsehood. Before piloting the Endurance , Cooper visits his children’s school. The administration explains that his daughter Murphy (named after Murphy’s Law) is causing trouble. She is showing other students pictures from an old textbook that is not government approved. Specifically, the pictures show man landing on the moon.

The educational system reminds the viewer of George Orwell’s 1984 (1949): Truth is constructed; propaganda is taught; man did not go to the moon. The administration of this future school system teaches that the U.S. government faked the Apollo missions to bankrupt the Soviets. “You don’t believe we went to the Moon?” asks Cooper, the retired NASA pilot, in disbelief.

Interstellar presents a world where truth is on trial. However, propagandists do not win the day. Truth triumphs as the film’s protagonists launch into space, see the moon, and much more. The film takes truth, and consequently good education, seriously. To demonstrate, one of the memorable images in the film is that of Murphy’s bedroom where an entire wall is occupied by bookshelves with hundreds upon hundreds of books on them.

  Rootedness and Transcendence

A third theme of importance in Interstellar is that of simultaneous rootedness and transcendence. During the film’s scenes on earth, the motifs of family, agriculture, and food are prominent. Not only does the viewer observe the family eating together around the table but also planting, growing, and harvesting their own food. Interstellar is pro-agrarian and pro-family, but it aims to understand these themes in light of transcendence. Cooper is a farmer but one who is interested in education, books, history, and the stars. He respects the earth, and yet he looks to the heavens. “We used to look up at the sky and wonder about our place in the stars; now we just look down and wonder about our place in the dirt.” He longs for transcendence. “We’re still pioneers.”

Interstellar teaches the viewer to take rootedness seriously, which is manifested in a commitment to the earth and to the family. There’s something right and good about man’s working in the dirt. And yet he should not make an idol of these good things; it leads to death. He should instead understand his rootedness in light of transcendence. Thus there’s also something right and good about man’s looking to the heavens.

  Hope and Salvation

Also significant in Interstellar are the themes of hope and salvation. Initially, NASA attempted the Lazarus missions, named after the biblical figure that Jesus resurrected (Jn. 11:1-46). Ten years later, they launched the Endurance mission. With blight destroying the last remaining viable crops on earth, humankind is as good as dead. And yet in the end, man experiences resurrection, and he endures. His salvation comes from the heavens.

However, according to Interstellar , hope is not from God but from a man of the future who has learned how to reach backwards across space and time to extend the hand of salvation. To that extent, Interstellar boasts a problematic humanism. And yet it rightly leaves room for mystery and for wonder. It also rightly points to the heavens for hope and salvation, except that we as Christians believe that this hope comes not from man but rather from the God-man Jesus Christ. 

  Heritage

Although Interstellar is a film about hope for the future, it is also a film that honors and respects the past. Perhaps the most explicit example of this theme is a line from a poem by Dylan Thomas, “Do not go gentle into that good night” (1951), spoken and echoed numerous times through the film. Other instances include those implicit references to the warnings of Conrad and Orwell (discussed above).

The Nolans also revere the past by their allusions to numerous significant films of the past. For example, Interstellar honors Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), demonstrated in its subject matter (space), monoliths (TARS and CASE), camera angles (especially of the space ship), editing (e.g., its quick cuts from earth to space and from space to a bed). They also pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) in the cornfield scene, to Phil Alden Robinson’s Field of Dreams (1989) in the baseball field scene, and to Steven Spielberg Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), George Lucas’s Star Wars trilogy (1977, 1980, 1983), and Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff (1983) in its subject matter and/or tone. Interstellar teaches viewers to look to the past to make sense of the present and the future.

  Love

Perhaps the most important theme that Interstellar considers is love. The heart of the film is the father-daughter relationship between Cooper and Murphy. Their love for one another is sometimes selfish and stubborn. For example, Murphy must overcome her frustration with her father for his leaving and find forgiveness instead. And yet their love is also sacrificial, evidenced by Cooper’s agreeing to pilot the Endurance and leave his family for the sake of humankind, a decision that will cost them more than they know. Underneath the science and the space travel, Interstellar is a study in relationships.

Interstellar doesn’t promote a utilitarian love bound by the presumptions of rationality and science. It is more than “social unity, social bonding, [and] child rearing,” as Cooper suggests. Instead, it imagines that love is “some artifact of a higher dimension that we can’t consciously perceive,” as Dr. Brand explains. “Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust that, even if we can’t understand it.” She’s right.

Interstellar deeply respects rationality and science, as exhibited by its exploration of black holes, the fifth dimension, singularity, relativity theory, and wormholes. However, it also honors the spiritual qualities of man that scientists cannot test or humankind fully understand. It respects knowledge, but it also dares to honor the mystery of love.

Space doesn’t permit much analysis of Interstellar’s film techniques, but I will mention two of them. Perhaps most notable of the techniques are its visual and auditory elements. Visually the film is stunning: from its cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema) to its production design (Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis) to its visual effects (Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott Fisher). It is contained and yet sweeping, beautiful and yet sublime. Filming locations included Alberta, Canada, and Iceland. Many of the scenes remind the viewer of paintings by personages such as Casper David Friedrich or the Hudson River School painters, except that they are often of space.

Additionally, Hans Zimmer’s score, who is renowned for his work with The Lion King , Gladiator , The Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Dark Knight Trilogy , and Inception , is an integral, powerful component to the film. It is inspiring, introspective, mysterious, and hopeful, if at times minimalistic in form. The sound mixing (Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, Mark Weingarten) of the score immerses the viewer in a film experience that is intense and exhausting but nonetheless rewarding. Readers who did not experience the film in the theater will need a good home entertainment system to do justice to Zimmer’s score. Somewhat unique to the score is its ample use of the pipe organ, which is surprisingly fitting with its sense of grandeur and majesty.

In the final analysis, Interstellar is an intelligent and compelling film. It is not perfect—for example, its dialogue is not always superb—but it takes respectable risks, and it engages hard questions. Not all of its conclusions are right, such as its blatant humanism, but its themes are refreshing. Interstellar refuses to submit to the temptation of existential nihilism. Instead, it affirms meaning in life and purpose in love. It respects knowledge, but it does not presume away mystery. It takes seriously the challenges of the present, but it also recommends hope for the future. It proposes that mankind’s best days lie before him and above him. As Christians we can find encouragement in these messages, all the while remembering that our final telos is not the heavens but rather a New Jerusalem on a renewed earth.

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Author: Matthew Steven Bracey

April 3, 2019

Great analysis! I do believe it is a great film primarily because it tries to ask the big questions. It doesn’t always have the right answers but I give them a lot of credit for trying.

The film does lose something on home video – unless you have a top-of-the-line audio/video system. This was one of my favorite theatrical experiences of the last ten years. The music is otherworldly and incredibly powerful.

Thanks, Phill, for your comment. I agree with your two remarks here. And like you, I like it because it asks big questions, even if its answers aren’t always right. Blessings!

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Interstellar — Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” Movie Review

Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" Movie Review

• Categories: Interstellar

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Words: 938 |

Published: Jun 9, 2021

Words: 938 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Works Cited

• Brode, D. (2015). The Films of Christopher Nolan. Citadel.
• Canby, V. (2014). Interstellar: Through a Wormhole, Darkly. The New York Times.
• Charpentier, M. (2016). Christopher Nolan's Interstellar: Exploring Scientific Themes in Film. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Freeman, D. (2015). Interstellar: Beyond Time and Space. Insight Editions.
• Lozano, M. (2014). Interstellar: A Visual Guide. Insight Editions.
• Nichols, P. M. (2015). Interstellar: The Official Movie Novelization. Titan Books.
• Pappademas, A. (2014). Matthew McConaughey Saves the Universe. Grantland.
• Schedeen, J. (2014). Interstellar: Review. IGN.
• Smith, J. (2014). Hans Zimmer's Soundtrack for 'Interstellar': A Track-by-Track Review. Digital Spy.
• Travis, B. (2015). The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan. Abrams Press.

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'Interstellar' Explained: Timeline, Ending, Themes, and Meaning

Get ready to travel through time and space with christopher nolan..

Interstellar is loud, sentimental, and filled with advanced scientific theories that work for the story, but are mostly theoretical in real life. I'm not one of those people who sit down to pluck apart the scientific plausibility of a screenplay unless I think it takes away from the story. In the case of Interstellar , I think it adds to it.

Interstellar juggles many different timeframes for the story. We cross from what's going on within Earth to the surface level of foreign planets, to the circling ship, and then to a fifth dimension that unites all of them. That's a lot to explain, so we're going to try to do it together.

Today, I want to get into the meaning and explanation for the movie Interstellar and even go over what happens in the movie. We'll talk about Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan working on the movie together and examine its ongoing themes. I'm excited to dive into this one.

So let's get started.

The Interstellar Movie: Explained

Christopher Nolan is one of the most interesting directors out there. He tackles huge concepts and doesn't dumb them down. A lot of times the audience is working to learn along with the characters, and on the edge of our seats as certain plot points jump out. Let's go through the summary of Interstellar and then tackle explaining the movie and the Interstellar premise.

The Interstellar movie characters

• Matthew McConaughey as Joseph Cooper, a widower and NASA pilot who became a farmer.
• Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand, a NASA scientist, and astronaut
• Mackenzie Foy as young Murph
• Ellen Burstyn as old Murph
• John Lithgow as Donald, Cooper's elderly father-in-law
• Michael Caine as Professor John Brand, a high-ranking NASA scientist, ideator of Plan A, former mentor of Cooper, and father of Amelia
• David Gyasi as Romilly, another high-ranking NASA member, and Endurance crew member
• Wes Bentley as Doyle, a high-ranking NASA member, and Endurance crew member
• Timothée Chalamet as young Tom
• Matt Damon as Mann, a NASA astronaut sent to an icy planet during the Lazarus program
• Bill Irwin as TARS (voice and puppetry) and CASE (puppetry)
• Josh Stewart as CASE (voice)
• Topher Grace as Getty, Murph's colleague and love interest
• Leah Cairns as Lois, Tom's wife
• David Oyelowo as School Principal
• Collette Wolfe as Ms. Hanley
• William Devane as Williams, another NASA member
• Elyes Gabel as Administrator
• Jeff Hephner as Doctor
• Russ Fega as Crew Chief

Interstellar plot and summary

The year is 2067, and crop shortages and dust storms have devastated humanity. We meet Cooper, a widower, engineer, and former NASA pilot. Now he’s a mediocre farmer. He and his two kids live with his father-in-law, Donald. His kids are the teenage son, Tom, and his 10-year-old daughter, Murph.

A terrible dust storm leaves a pattern on Murph's bedroom floor. Murph thinks a ghost created them, but the scientific-minded Cooper realizes the patterns were made by gravity variations. After some math, he thinks they represent geographic coordinates in binary code. Cooper and Murph follow the coordinates to a secret NASA facility headed by Professor John Brand, whom Cooper knows from his past life working at NASA.

The NASA scientists fill them in on what’s been going on. Forty-eight years ago, unknown beings placed a wormhole near Saturn, opening a path to a distant galaxy with 12 potentially habitable worlds located near a supermassive black hole named Gargantua. Twelve volunteers traveled through the wormhole to survey the planets, and three—Dr. Mann, Laura Miller, and Wolf Edmunds—reported positive results. The rest are presumed dead.

Brand presents them with two plans to ensure humanity’s survival. Plan A involves developing an antigravitational propulsion theory to propel settlements into space. That is years ahead of the science they have and seems futile. In contrast, Plan B involves launching the Endurance spacecraft carrying 5,000 frozen human embryos to settle on a habitable planet and commence repopulation from there. Then other humans will follow.

Cooper is one of the only pilots left on Earth who can complete a mission like Plan B, so he decides to lead the charge, leaving his family behind. Also going are Dr. Amelia Brand (Prof. Brand's daughter), Dr. Doyle, and Romilly. Before leaving, Cooper gives an upset Murph his watch to track the time for when he returns. She’s so sad she won’t even say goodbye.

What happens on the water planet?

The wormhole takes the crew to Miller's planet. Due to Gargantua's proximity, time is severely dilated. Every hour on the planet equals seven Earth years. Romilly remains aboard Endurance to research Gargantua, while Cooper, Doyle, and Brand descend in a landing craft to investigate the water planet for one hour. The group finds Miller's shipwreck just before a giant wave kills Doyle.

Cooper and Brand barely survive, and their delayed departure results in them reaching Endurance 23 years later in Earth time, though only a few hours for them.

What happens to Cooper’s family?

It’s a brutal blow to start the mission. Back aboard, Cooper is forced to watch videos to catch up on what’s happened in the 23 years he left earth. Seeing his kids grow, his father-in-law die, and even getting some grandkids. His son has become a farmer like his father-in-law. His daughter now works at NASA like him. They're both doing their best to figure out what life is like without a dad.

Cooper and his crew are forced to soldier on. The crew travels to Mann's planet, where they revive him from cryostasis.

Meanwhile, now a NASA scientist herself, Murph has transmitted a message claiming Cooper and Brand knew that Plan A was never viable because it required tech and data from inside the black hole. Cooper intends to return to Earth to be with his daughter, while Brand and Romilly will remain on Mann's planet for permanent habitation. But in a big twist, Mann reveals that he sent falsified data to be rescued—the planet is not fit for human life. He attempts to kill Cooper and then steals a lander and heads for Endurance. Romilly is killed by a booby trap. Brand and Cooper pursue Mann in another lander.

What happens in the docking scene?

Mann is killed during a failed docking operation, severely damaging the ship Endurance.

Mann and Cooper manage to board, but now don’t have enough fuel to reach Edmunds' planet—which is their last hope for finding a place for humanity to relocate. They do some complex math and decide to attempt a slingshot maneuver so close to Gargantua that time dilation adds another 51 years to the already long journey.

The Ending of Interstellar

Cooper and the robot TARS actually jettison from the rocket to shed weight and then propel Endurance so it can reach Edmunds' planet. In turn, Cooper and TARS land inside a massive four-dimensional space called a tesseract.

As he drifts inside, Cooper sees through the bookcases of Murph's old bedroom and weakly interacts with its gravity, realizing he was Murph's "ghost." He sent the coordinates.

The Interstellar bookshelf scene

Cooper theorizes that the tesseract was constructed by humans from the far future who have access to infinite time and space.

He thinks Cooper realizes he and TARS were brought there to relay information to Murph that is critical to the survival of humankind. Cooper uses gravitational waves to encode NASA's coordinates in the dust patterns in Murph's room before manipulating the second hand of Murph's wristwatch using Morse code to transmit all the data that TARS collected from within Gargantua so that Plan A can work.

On Earth, the adult Murph realizes the "ghost" is her father and deciphers the message to solve for Plan A.

The Interstellar ending scene

The tesseract spits Cooper out, and he wakes up on a futuristic space habitat orbiting Saturn, where he reunites with an elderly Murph—who is on her deathbed. Using the quantum data Cooper sent, the younger Murph solved the gravitational theory for Plan A, enabling humanity's exodus from Earth and transformation into a spacefaring civilization.

Murph urges Cooper to return to Brand to have the rest of his life. Her life is now complete. Cooper and TARS take a spacecraft to fly to Edmunds' planet, where Brand prepares a base for Plan B.

Interstellar movie breakdown

Interstellar movie timeline infographic.

To actually understand all the timelines and to explain the movie Interstellar , I thought it might help to see the visuals.

This infographic is the work of Frametale , an entertainment marketing agency with offices in Los Angeles and Istanbul, led by creative director Dogan Can Gundogdu. They have work that's appeared in lots of different films, commercials, and television shows. It explains the time dilation at the center of the story.

The Interstellar meaning and movie explanation

Set in a future where a failing Earth puts humanity on the brink of extinction, it sees a team of NASA scientists, engineers, and pilots attempt to find a new habitable planet via interstellar travel . Of course, the trip has a lot of bumps along the way. And we see humanity suffer as they try to become a multi-planetary species.

At its core, this is a movie about humanity's sacrifices to survive. It's about how pioneers are willing to lay down their own lives so that an entire species might go on.

At the center of this is one family, the Coopers, who dedicate their lives to space travel so that others might live.

What happened to Earth in Interstellar ?

Our pollutants made the earth unstable for human life, so everyone leaves to travel to another planet.

Does Brand die in interstellar ?

The older Dr. Brand does die during the pursuit of Plan A. The younger Dr. Brand is able to get to the Plan B planet and is waiting there for Cooper at the end of the movie.

How long was Cooper in space in Interstellar ?

While we don't know the exact amount of time, you can guess by Murph's age that he's spent almost 100 years looking for planets, but to him, it may have only been a matter of weeks.

The theme of Interstellar and the movie's meaning

For me, I think the themes of this movie lie in the story of family and survival. We're all one humankind, and despite our differences, the ability to survive and move on should trump anything we have against each other.

We need to see past the problems and unite for the much bigger and much more important causes. When it comes to family, love can transcend generations and keep us united although far apart. Sometimes you have to sacrifice to make sure the best happens for you and your offspring.

Summarizing the Interstellar movie, explained

Hopefully, by reading all of these parts, you've gotten your biggest questions about the movie answered. It's a deep journey into humanity and our quest to live amongst the stars. While the journey might be confusing with all the time jumps and multiple planets and plans, I think it just requires rewatching and concentration.

Roger Ebert once called film the ultimate empathy machine . It's a window into all kinds of humanity. A way to see more of the world and to confront what makes us human.

It's hard to find a better example of this sentiment than Nolan's Interstellar . It's a movie about the sacrifices we make to ensure humanity continues to survive, even as the lead character watches his own children die from afar. And somehow, humanity gets better for it, and his grandchildren get to live.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

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Death of Pilot Season, Max Lugavere's ‘Little Empty Boxes’, and Big Pivots

“he spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to make this movie happen. and the first thing i did is i deleted it.”.

As streaming reshapes the industry, pilot season is a thing of the past , leaving creatives to navigate constant demands and year-round pitching. How do filmmakers find balance when the lines between work and rest blur? And how can unexpected pivots lead to more meaningful projects?

This episode of the NFS Podcast explores staying resilient in a world without structure, featuring Max Lugavere's decade-long journey with Little Empty Boxes , a deeply personal documentary about his mother's battle with dementia that evolved in ways he never expected.

Max Lugavere is a filmmaker, health journalist, and New York Times bestselling author. After his mother’s diagnosis with Lewy body dementia, Max chronicled her experience in Little Empty Boxes . The film, which took over a decade to complete, shifted from an investigative piece to an intimate portrayal of love, loss, and resilience.

Give the podcast a listen below!

In today’s episode, No Film School’s Gigi Hawkins speaks with Jason Hellerman, Max Lugavere, and Chris Newhard to discuss:

• The death of pilot season and how streaming has transformed the TV landscape
• The endless cycle of pitching and the impact on writers’ lives
• Finding balance between personal life and an unpredictable film industry.
• How unexpected creative pivots can lead to more meaningful work.
• Max Lugavere’s personal journey documenting his mother’s battle with dementia in Little Empty Boxes
• Chris Newhard’s role in reshaping Little Empty Boxes through fresh eyes, helping it evolve into a deeply emotional and impactful documentary

Max Lugavere on Instagram

Little Empty Boxes website

Max Lugavere’s website

The Genius Life podcast

Max Lugavere’s Books

Chris Newhard’s website

Chris Newhard on Instagram

KYNO editing tool

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This episode of The No Film School Podcast was produced by GG Hawkins .

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Interstellar

By christopher nolan.

• Interstellar Summary

Some time in the late 21st century, Earth’s food supply is running out. Crops are going extinct, and dust storms occur with alarming frequency. The government has done away with the military, and schools use standardized testing to determine whether a child will go down one of two paths: to college, or to work as farmers to fight food scarcity.

Cooper , our protagonist, is a widower and former NASA pilot whose wife died of a brain cyst that was not found because MRI machines are no longer made (in order to cut down on the “wastefulness” of the 20th century). He's now a farmer with two kids, Tom and Murphy (referred to throughout the film as Murph ). They live together with the kids’ maternal grandfather, Donald .

Murph has been visited by what she calls a “ghost” in her bedroom. Books have been falling off her shelf and she believes the ghost is speaking to her. Cooper tells her that ghosts aren’t real and that she must use science to figure out what is actually happening. Soon after, a sandstorm sweeps through their farm and through Murph’s open bedroom window, leaving Cooper to ponder what is left behind: binary code spelled out by the dust on the floor as it meets a strange gravitational anomaly. Cooper translates the binary code to reveal a set of coordinates. He sets off in his truck to find out where they lead, and Murph stows away with him. They arrive at an unmarked gated facility where they're greeted by a hostile military robot named TARS who knocks Cooper unconscious. Cooper wakes up to find that he and Murph are in a top-secret NASA facility led by Professor John Brand and his daughter, Dr. Amelia Brand . They also meet Doyle and Romilly , two astronauts within the space program. After refusing the government’s order to drop bombs on innocent civilians as a means of population control, NASA has been reinstated in secret, as public opinion is that space exploration during such times of food scarcity is a waste of money.

NASA has found a wormhole near Saturn, placed there by an unknown species referred to as "they" or "them," that allows spacecraft to travel to faraway galaxies containing potential habitable new worlds for the human race. The Lazarus missions have already been sent into the wormhole ten years prior to land on each planet and collect data. The next phase of the mission is to go back through the wormhole and find out which planets are habitable so that they might fulfill one or both of Professor Brand’s plans for saving humanity: Plan A is to solve a difficult gravitational equation and use it to transport humans off the earth by means of a massive space station that will take them to their new planet. If he fails to solve said equation, Plan B is to leave the current Earth population behind and colonize the new planet with embryos in cryostasis. Professor Brand believes that Cooper was chosen by the unknown species to embark on the next leg of these missions since they placed the gravitational anomaly in his home, just as they placed the wormhole in space.

Cooper decides to go. Heartbroken, Murph tries to convince him to stay, saying she's decrypted the message her "ghost" left her using the books that fell off her bookshelf, and that it says “STAY” in Morse code. He gifts her a watch to remember him by and leaves anyway, promising that he will return but knowing that in fact he may not. Murph is devastated.

Cooper, Dr. Amelia Brand, Romilly, Doyle, and the two military robots CASE and TARS begin their nearly two-year journey on the space station Endurance towards the wormhole. After traveling through it, they are able to collect the data from the Lazarus missions to determine which planet they should navigate toward. There are three astronauts—Miller, Edmunds, and Mann—on three separate planets. They choose Miller’s planet, the closest of the three, which orbits a massive black hole named Gargantua. A single hour on the planet equals more than seven years on the space station (and back on Earth) due to Gargantua's huge gravitational pull. Romilly decides to stay behind on the Endurance to study the black hole while Cooper, Brand, and Doyle visit the planet in a smaller craft. While on it, they encounter enormous tidal waves that kill Doyle and waterlog their ship's engines. Cooper and Brand are stranded for hours until the engines can drain. When they return to the Endurance , Romilly has been waiting for them alone for 23 years.

Cooper watches years of messages from Tom, now a grown man with a wife and child. Tom says he's decided to make peace with the fact that his father is gone. Donald has passed away, as has Tom's first son, Jesse. Murph leaves Cooper a single message once she turns the same age that he was when he left. Murph has become a scientist working with Professor Brand at NASA to solve the gravitational equation that will allow humanity to leave earth via Plan A. They haven’t solved it yet, but Murph has faith that they will.

Back on the Endurance , Cooper, Brand and Romilly no longer have the fuel to check both of the remaining planets and must pick one. They choose Mann’s planet because his beacon is turned on, signaling that the planet is habitable, and because they believe the brave Dr. Mann represents “the best of us.” Dr. Brand protests, saying that Edmunds’ data is promising. Cooper deduces that she's in love with Edmunds and dismisses her, but she argues that love is a powerful force that they should consider as a factor in their decisions. Cooper disagrees and sets course for Mann's planet.

On Earth, Professor Brand admits on his deathbed that the equation he was seeking to solve was a red herring used to distract Cooper, Murph, and everyone else from trying to save the people on earth. NASA's mission was always to colonize the new planet via Plan B, using the embryos in cryostasis, leaving the people on earth behind to die. Murph is horrorstruck and sends a message to Dr. Brand, asking if she knew the truth.

Cooper, Brand and Romilly land on Mann’s cold, barren planet and awaken him from a deep sleep. As Mann is telling them about the planet's habitability, they receive Murph's message that Plan A was a lie. Everyone is shocked except Mann, who says he knew it to be true all along. Cooper decides to return to Earth.

While briefly exploring the planet together, Dr. Mann attempts to kill Cooper, cracking his helmet and leaving him to suffocate. He reveals that he faked all his data and that the planet was never a viable option for life. He admits that he turned on his beacon only because he wanted to be rescued. Romilly is killed by a booby trap as Mann steals one of their spaceships and heads for the Endurance . Brand is able to rescue Cooper with another spaceship and she, Cooper, TARS and CASE chase after Mann, who has turned off his radio communication. TARS disengages Mann's ship's autopilot so that he'll have to dock with the Endurance manually. He does so, but improperly, preventing the airlock from engaging. When he attempts to open the hatch to get inside, he blows a hole in the Endurance , killing himself and sending the station into a death spiral toward the planet. Cooper, with the help of TARS and CASE, is able to dock their ship with the Endurance and stop its spinning, but they are now in the gravitational pull of the black hole, Gargantua, and are unable to navigate out of it.

Cooper decides to use gravity and the thrust from the remaining ships on the space station to slingshot them around Gargantua and on toward the third planet where Edmunds is. They will send TARS into Gargantua to collect data and attempt to send it back to Earth to help Murph solve the gravity equation. After TARS detaches, Cooper shocks Brand by detaching as well, sacrificing himself to shed the weight and sending her on to Edmunds' planet alone. He descends into the black hole and has to eject. Falling through space, he finally comes to a halt inside a strange, three-dimensional space where he can see every instance of time that has occurred in Murph’s bedroom. TARS begins to communicate with Cooper from another point in space, saying that “they” are five-dimensional beings who have left behind a three-dimensional space to help Cooper experience time as a place. Cooper has quite literally become the ghost inside Murph's bookshelf. With this information, Cooper uses gravity and his love for Murph to leave behind clues for her, including the Morse code in the bookshelf that says, “STAY.”. He manipulates gravity to send his past self the binary coordinates for NASA, and also places the quantum data necessary to solve the gravity equation as Morse code ticking on the hands of the watch he left with Murph as a child.

Back on Earth, the fully grown Murph finds the watch transmitting the data via Morse code in her childhood bedroom. When she does, the three-dimensional space that Cooper is in begins to collapse and he wakes up in a hospital room aboard Cooper Station, named for Murph and currently orbiting Saturn. Murph succeeded in using the data Cooper sent on the watch to save the people of Earth.

Cooper reunites with his daughter, who is now an old woman near the end of her life. Murph tells him to go and find Brand, that she has her kids to take care of her now. As Cooper commandeers a space ship, we see that Brand has found Edmunds’ planet. Edmunds is dead, but the planet has a breathable atmosphere and she has set up camp in order to be found.

Interstellar Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Interstellar is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What does the ‘ghost’ show in the dust?

I believe the dust was always moving showing that the Ghost was Murphy's all along.

when dr.mann is trying to dock with the endurance the external scene have no sound. why is this?

They added no sound as they want to make the scene more realistic as theres no sound in space(vacuum).

When Dr.Mann is trying to dock with the endurance the external scenes have no sound why is this

I think the director is trying to give a sense of realism, that there is no sound in space.

Study Guide for Interstellar

Interstellar study guide contains essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Interstellar
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for Interstellar

Interstellar essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Interstellar.

• Interstellar: Abstract Made into Actuality
• Interstellar: Visual Splendor Eclipsing Storytelling & The Assertion of Film Values
• New Verticality in Film: How Interstellar (2014) Reflects Themes of Human Sustainability and Endurance

• Frequently Asked Questions
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Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, floats in space in "Interstellar." (Paramount)

Arts and Entertainment

Review: human nature vs. moral obligations in ‘interstellar’.

A train is speeding down the railway; shortly ahead there is a split in its tracks, and the direction that the vehicle will continue is determined by a lever on the side of the road. On the main track where the train is currently traveling stands five people, all of whom are oblivious to the impending danger. However, one person also stands on the opposite split of the track. The train will either kill the group of people or the lone person. What would be the right choice to make?

This classic ethics experiment, known as the Trolley Dilemma, drives people to introspect about their moral values and weigh the consequences of their actions. Killing the single person certainly bears a lighter loss quantitatively, but what if it is a loved one who is standing on that end? Would the choice be as easy as “thinking about the collective over the individual?” Interestingly, Christopher Nolan presents a difficult choice similar to the Trolley Dilemma in his film “Interstellar.”

The story of “Interstellar” revolves around a major conflict that multiple characters in the story encounter, and the audience can’t help but chime in this deliberation: the choice between ensuring a possible future for humanity or giving in to human instincts. The film portrays Earth as a dying planet riddled with constant sand storms, infertile soil, and most crops unable to survive under such harsh environmental conditions.

Since Earth is uninhabitable, humans need to find a new place with adequate living conditions for survival. The main protagonist Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, is burdened with the mission to pilot a spaceship along with his team in search of a suitable planet, while scientists remaining on the ground resolve the evacuation method from Earth.

As their “Plan B,” Cooper’s team carries samples of human genomes to ensure human civilization survival in case the attempt to transport people from Earth fails. However, when the team later discovers that the Earth evacuation plan was a scam because it was almost impossible (unless with quantum data) to begin with, the story presents a difficult ethical question: would it be a better option to ensure the future of human civilization or consider loved ones back home?

“Interstellar” embodies trademarks that Nolan implements in his works — exceptional cinematography, dramatic orchestral music, and exciting sci-fi action — these factors ultimately contribute to themes of human nature and the balance of moral obligations, with different approaches presented through key characters that deeply resonate with the audience.

Dr. Brand: Future over Present

John Band, played by Michael Cane, before he speaks his final words in “Interstellar.” (Paramount)

Non-Linear Storytelling

When the characters discover that Dr. Brand (Michael Caine), the scientist who worked on a method to transport people out of Earth, tricked Cooper and his crew to leave the planet because his plan failed, the shock introduces the moral conflict of choosing between future and family. Nolan intensifies the weight of such a decision through his iconic style of non-linear storytelling. Dr. Brand concludes long before Cooper’s mission that there is no way to propel human settlements into space, but Nolan chose to reveal this crucial information in the middle of the film. This non-linear plot structure allows Nolan to control the flow of what is given to the audience, thus emphasizing its weight. In the case of “Interstellar,” the audience knows about this news simultaneously as the other characters, relating themselves with the story. Was Dr. Brand right in making this choice? In this matter of life and death, who can decide which is the better option?

Background music

Music also dramatizes this epiphany. At the crucial scene when Dr. Brand admits to Cooper’s daughter Murph, who remained on Earth to work on propelling settlements, that he has lied, a haunting soundtrack creeps in the background. Nolan is known for utilizing powerful tones in his works, and this film is not an exception. As Brand gradually arrives to tell his secret, the music crescendos in accompaniment and the audience’s surprise rises as well. Along with the shock comes hopelessness, and everyone is driven to consider whether Dr. Brand’s actions are justified. Between people on Earth and the future of humans, he chose the latter and risked keeping an enormous lie until his last breath. He sacrifices his humanity for our species’ civilization, and with Nolan’s signature film techniques, a heavy moral conflict that resonates in viewers emerges because of this character.

The disguised selfish nature

Dr. Hugh Mann, played by Matt Damon, reveals his true hugh-mann nature. (Paramount)

Storytelling structure

Contrary to Dr. Brand, another character in the story chooses his innate survival instincts over the future of humanity. Mann (Matt Damon) is a member from a previous mission that searched for habitable settlements in outer space; each explorer is assigned a planet and has to remain there for the rest of his/her life. Mann’s planet is uninhabitable, but he chose to stay in a sleep chamber and continue sending out live signals so rescue may come in later years. When Cooper’s team arrives, he tells them that his planet is habitable to ease their wariness, then attempts to kill Cooper in order to take off in their spaceship alone. However, Nolan chooses to reveal Mann’s true intentions at the very last second, again displaying his use of non-linear storytelling. This is also a plot twist that Nolan designs to give the audience more surprises and allow Mann’s actions to resonate with more emphasis. As Mann is about to push Cooper down a snowy cliff, eerie music crescendos again in the background, hinting at the sudden twist of events.

The indications made by cinematography

Nolan’s camera shots in this scene also demonstrate the danger of human nature. In one clip, Mann and Cooper fight desperately while the view gradually takes in more of their foreign and desolate surroundings, showing that wherever people end up in this universe, human nature will always drive them to be in conflict with each other. Although many may think that Mann is selfish because he is inconsiderate about the collective, it is also understandable that the desire to live is genetically rooted in human nature. It is easy to blame him for almost ruining the mission to save humanity, but at the same time, no one wants to die alone on an icy, uninhabitable planet that is light-years away from Earth. Unlike Dr. Brand, Mann chose himself over the collective; he is the other end of the moral spectrum, the side that is often viewed as pusillanimous and reveals another facet of human nature.

Cooper’s struggles between time and survival

Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, inside a spacecraft in “Interstellar.” (Paramount)

Example of excellent cinematography

On the other hand, Cooper’s situation is much more complex than those of Brand and Mann. He is torn between going to the mission and staying with his family, whom he cares bout deeply; he ultimately took part in this expedition as he saw the natural deterioration directly impacting his family’s safety. His emotional connection with them runs throughout the film, and the excellent cinematography reinforces this theme. One exceptional scene that stirs thought is when Cooper returns from Miller’s planet and 23 years have passed on Earth. Video logs have piled up, and the camera focuses on Cooper’s reaction as he watches his children grow up. The light from the videos flickers on his face; he smiles, sometimes laughs, but there is also pain that shines through his eyes, unspoken sadness that he wasn’t there to accompany them. He later bursts into tears in the scene as the melancholy music slowly fades into only raw audio of Cooper’s muffled sobs.

Cooper’s sacrifice 

Matthew McConaughey’s acting, complemented by the music and lighting, is a masterpiece that instantly stirs emotion. It provokes thoughts about the most painful way that people realize the value of something only after it’s gone. In this case, Cooper lost years of time with his family and still doesn’t know how much longer he would wait before seeing them again. It is a great sacrifice for Cooper to leave the ones that he loves deeply and pursue a mission into the unknown, which extends his heroism. His story is filled with bittersweet feelings, and it drives the audience to realize the importance of cherishing the times when the presence of loved ones is still the normality.

The famous saying goes, “children are the future of the world,” and “Interstellar” instigated my realization of the immense responsibility my generation carries. As the climate change crisis exacerbates and the United Nations releases a “code red for humanity,” I can’t help but wonder if the scenes in the movie will become an inevitable reality. From a teenager’s perspective, this movie’s sci-fi fantasy and twisted plots make it an extremely thrilling, captivating adventure; however, I also cannot help but wonder what tomorrow will behold for upcoming generations on Earth. What if we are required to choose between choices similar to what is given to Dr. Brand, Mann, and Cooper?

“Interstellar” opened my eyes to the facets of morals and humanity. We can be people like Brand who are willing to lie to provide a future for our civilization, but we can also be Mann who gives in to their survival instincts. Maybe we fall into the same situation as Cooper, who chose to act courageously for the security of his family. This movie has taught me how complex human nature can be, but it also gives me hope that love can push us to exceed our potential and reach the impossible.

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