Michael Caine has definitively explained the ending of Inception

Dream or reality? We now know.

Very few films have prompted as many articles, in-depth features and think pieces quite like Christopher Nolan's wonderful sci-fi actioner, Inception.

Not since Fr. Dougal McGuire struggled with the whole 'dreams vs reality' concept has an audience been as invested in the perception of reality because at the end of the film, one totem caused a plethora of debates.

Eight years have passed since the film was released and we're still obsessing over this moment.

As you may remember from the end of the film, dream thief Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) was looking to make it back home to see his children.

After successfully performing an inception job on Robert Michael Fischer (Cillian Murphy), who needed to dissolve his father's company, Dom's employer Saito (Ken Watanabe) used his vast influence and financial clout to clear his name with the American authorities and give him safe passage home.

This being said, at the end of the film, was Cobb still dreaming, or was he back to reality?

During a recent panel for Film4's Summer Screen series at Somerset House in England, Michael Caine (Miles) gave the definitive answer on the question that fans were discussing over the last decade.

“When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it, and I said to him, '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," said Caine.

As you can see in the final moments below, Caine's character is accompanying Cobb as he returns home to see his family.

Ergo, Leonardo DiCaprio's character made it back to see his kids.

Let that totem drop.

Clip via j2k5