Let Michael Caine Finally Explain the Ending of Inception Once and For All

After more than eight years of debate over the ending of Inception, Michael Caine has offered some clarity on the movie’s mysterious final moments.

While speaking at a Film 4 Summer Screen showing of Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed thriller, Caine—who played the father of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Dom Cobb—shared some insider knowledge on whether Cobb was awake or dreaming in Inception‘s closing sequence.

“When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it,” Caine said. “And I said to [Nolan], ‘I don’t understand where the dream is.’ I said, ‘When is it the dream and when is it reality?’ He said, ‘Well, when you’re in the scene, it’s reality.’ So get that — if I’m in it, it’s reality. If I’m not in it, it’s a dream.”

There you have it, Inception fans. Since Caine is in the final scene, it’s reality. Case closed. The totem falls.

Revisit the iconic ending below.

Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com.