Nolan took over five years to write the screenplay after deliberating aboutTenet's central ideas for more than a decade. Pre-production began in late 2018, casting took place in March 2019, and principal photography lasted six months in multiple countries. After delays due to theCOVID-19 pandemic,Tenet was released in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2020, and in the United States on September 3, 2020. It was Nolan's last film to be released byWarner Bros. Pictures.
On "the 14th,” the Protagonist leads a covertCIAextraction during a staged terrorist siege at an Opera House inKyiv. He is saved fromKORD forces by a masked operative whose bag has an orange trinket. The Protagonist retrieves an artifact but his team is captured and tortured. He swallows a suicide pill but wakes up to find it was a fake—a test that only he passed. He is recruited by "Tenet,” a secretive organization that briefs him on objects with "inverted"entropy that move backward through time. With hishandler Neil, he traces inverted munitions to Priya Singh, an arms dealer inMumbai.
Priya reveals that she is also a member of Tenet, and the man who inverted her bullets,Russian oligarch Andrei Sator, is communicating with the future. Sator's estranged wife Kat Barton is an art appraiser who authenticated aGoya forged by her friend Arepo. Sator purchased the Goya and used it to blackmail Kat into staying with him. To earn Kat's help, the Protagonist and Neil try to steal the Goya from Sator'sfreeport facility atOslo Airport but are thwarted by two masked men who emerge from either side of a machine. In Mumbai, Priya explains it was a "turnstile" — a device that inverts entropy. The two men were the same person but traveling in opposite directions through time. She reveals Sator sabotaged his CIA team but KORD has the artifact, which is weapons-gradeplutonium.
Believing the Protagonist has destroyed the forgery, Kat introduces him to Sator in Italy. Sator agrees to help steal the artifact, which the Protagonist and Neil do inTallinn, but they are ambushed by an inverted Sator holding Kat hostage. The Protagonist hides the artifact and rescues Kat, but they are recaptured and taken to a freeport in Tallinn where the inverted Sator interrogates them for the location of the artifact, shooting Kat with an inverted bullet. Tenet troops led by Commander Ives arrive, but Sator escapes into the turnstile. To save Kat's life, they also invert themselves. The inverted Protagonist drives back to the ambush to retrieve the hidden artifact but he encounters Sator, who overpowers him and takes it.
To un-invert, the Protagonist travels further back in time to the Oslo freeport, fights his past self, and enters the turnstile, followed by Neil and Kat. Later in Oslo, Priya tells him Sator now has all nine pieces of the Algorithm, a device future antagonists need to invert the entropy of the world to destroy its past. Priya planned for Sator to get the artifact to reveal the other eight pieces in preparing hisdead drop. Recalling an earlier conversation with Michael Crosby, he realizes it is anuclear hypocenter detonated on the 14th in Sator's hometown, theclosed city of Stalsk-12.
On a Tenet ship traveling back to the 14th, Kat reveals Sator has terminal cancer and is omnicidal. They surmise that after the Kyiv opera house siege on the 14th, Sator returns to a family vacation in Vietnam to commit suicide, sending the dead drop coordinates to the future via adead man's switch.
Arriving at the 14th, Kat poses as her past self in Vietnam as the Tenet forces in Stalsk-12 try to recover the Algorithm. They use a "temporal"pincer movement, with inverted and non-inverted troops creating a diversion so the Protagonist and Ives can steal the Algorithm before detonation. Sator's henchman, Volkov, traps them in the hypocenter. Calling from Vietnam, Sator explains the antagonists are trying to prevent catastrophes due toclimate change. As Volkov is about to execute the Protagonist, an inverted soldier with an orange trinket appears and sacrifices himself, enabling the Protagonist and Ives to escape with the Algorithm. The hypocenter detonates in Stalsk-12 just as Kat kills Sator in Vietnam.
In Stalsk-12, the Protagonist, Neil, and Ives arrange to separate and hide pieces of the Algorithm. The Protagonist notices the orange trinket on Neil's bag. Neil reveals that he was recruited in his past by a future Protagonist and that Neil has known him for a long time. He leaves them his piece of the algorithm to invert and go back in time where he sacrifices himself in the hypocenter. Later, in London, Priya plans to kill Kat to maintain the secrecy of Tenet. Having realized that he is Tenet's creator, the Protagonist kills Priya and watches Kat leave with her son.
Also appearing areJefferson Hall, the "Well-Dressed Man", who the Protagonist tries toextract at the opera house;Andrew Howard as the Driver who sabotages the CIA's Kyiv operation and tortures the Protagonist;Wes Chatham asSWAT 3, a member of the Protagonist's covert CIA team in Kyiv;Denzil Smith as Sanjay Singh, Priya's husband;[18]Jeremy Theobald as the steward at the Reform Club; Laurie Shepherd as Max, Kat and Sator's son;Jack Cutmore-Scott as Klaus, an employee of security firm Rotas at thefreeport in Oslo;Josh Stewart as the voice of a Tenet agent in Mumbai; andSean Avery as the lead soldier on the Red Team.
Writer and directorChristopher Nolan conceived the ideas behindTenet over the course of twenty years,[19] but began working on the script in 2014.[20] The title, as well as being apalindrome, is an allusion to theSator Square.[21][22] Inspired by a feeling about how he imaginedSergio Leone madeOnce Upon a Time in the West (1968),[19] Nolan avoided watching any spy films that might influence him while makingTenet, instead relying upon his memories.[23]
Thescience fiction aspect of the film revolves around the ability to reverse theentropy of things and people, resulting intime reversibility.[24] While the film does refer to real concepts from physics, among themannihilation,[25][26] thesecond law of thermodynamics,Maxwell's demon, thegrandfather paradox, andFeynman andWheeler'sAbsorber Theory, Nolan stated that "we're not going to make any case for this being scientifically accurate".[24] Commenting on the scientific aspects of writing the script, he stated: "I think the scientific method is the best tool we have for analyzing and understanding the world around us ... I've been very inspired by working with great scientists likeKip Thorne, who I worked with onInterstellar (2014), who also helped me out with some early analysis of the ideas I wanted to explore to do with time and quantum physics onTenet, although I promised him I wasn't going to bandy his name around as if there was some kind of scientific reality toTenet. It's a very different kettle of fish toInterstellar."[27]
For both the production and the distribution of the film, which had an estimated budget of $200 million, Nolan continued his relationship withWarner Bros. and his production companySyncopy.[28]Tenet was the last Syncopy film to be distributed by Warner Bros. before leaving the film studio in January 2021.[29] Nolan and production designerNathan Crowley traveled toscout for locations in February and April 2019.[citation needed] Disappointed with theRoyal Swedish Opera as a potential stand-in for the Kyiv Opera House,[citation needed] Crowley instead chose theLinnahall, which fit his affinity forBrutalist architecture.[30] The production decided to film at theNational Liberal Club after management atSotheby's refused to participate, atCannon Hall after Thornhill Primary School inIslington andChanning School were deemed unsatisfactory, and at Shree Vardhan Tower after it was determined that security at theAntilia was too high to film there.[31]
John David Washington,Robert Pattinson, andElizabeth Debicki were cast in March 2019.[32][33] Each of them was permitted to read the screenplay only while locked in a room.[6][19][34] Nolan chose Washington based on his performance inBlacKkKlansman (2018).[35] Washington kept diaries in which he expanded the Protagonist's backstory.[36] Pattinson took some of Neil's mannerisms from political journalist and authorChristopher Hitchens.[37] Kat was originally going to be an older woman, but Debicki's appearance inWidows (2018) convinced the filmmakers otherwise.[4]
Special effects supervisorScott R. Fisher watchedWorld War II films and documentaries to find reference points for the film that were based in reality.[44] Prop prototypes were often3D printed. Costume designerJeffrey Kurland and his team cut and stitched the clothing for the film in the United States, manufacturing it for the main cast and thousands of extras.[45] Production designerNathan Crowley ordered around thirty military wristwatches fromHamilton Watch Company, each analog with a digital countdown.[46]
Linnahall, the location for the fictional Kyiv Opera House
TheKumu museum, the location for the fictional Oslo freeport
Principal photography, involving a crew that Pattinson estimated at 500 people,[37] began on May 22, 2019,[38][47] in a soundstage in Los Angeles,[48] and eventually incorporated seven countries[47]—Denmark, Estonia,[nb 1] India,[nb 2] Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[51][nb 3] Filming in Estonia took place in June and July, with theLinnahall,Pärnu Highway (E67), and adjacent streets closed to facilitate the production.[52][53]Kumu Art Museum doubled as the fictionalOslo Freeport.[54] Barbara's office was built in a former law court, theTallinn Freeport exterior was at the city docks, and a room at theHilton Tallinn Park Hotel was also used.[55] Mayor of TallinnMihhail Kõlvart expressed concerns about potential disruptions, as the shooting schedule required that the arterial Laagna Road be closed for one month.[56] A compromise was eventually reached, involving temporary road closures and detours.[57][58]
Eagle Mountain locations featured in the film as Stalsk-12
Production proceeded in Los Angeles, whereHawthorne Plaza Shopping Center functioned as the interior set of anicebreaker and a shipping container.[68] TheVictorville Airport was disguised as Oslo, with more than ninety extras involved.[19] Instead of using miniatures and visual effects (VFX) for the plane crash sequence, Nolan determined that purchasing aBoeing 747 proved more cost-effective.[69] In October, filming moved toEagle Mountain, where an abandoned town had been constructed and hundreds were clothed in military camouflage uniforms.[6] Over thirty buildings were prefabricated in Los Angeles and shipped to the site. FourBoeing CH-47 Chinooks were loaned out for four days.[citation needed] Outside shots of a tunnel were done in the desert, while the cavernous insides of the Hypocenter were fashioned on Warner Soundstage 16, their largest, with 32,130 square feet.[70]Tenetwrapped on November 12, after 96 days of shooting.[71]
Director of photographyHoyte van Hoytema employed a combination of70 mm film andIMAX,[72] prioritizingPanavision lenses that would best accommodate lower light.[44] Segments that concerned time inversion were captured in both backward- and forward-mobility and speech.[73][74] To ensure proficiency in handling firearms, Washington and Pattinson attended the Taran Tactical firing range inSimi Valley. They did some of their own stunts. Over one hundred watercraft were recruited for the film, including twoF50catamarans,[citation needed] thesuperyachtPlanet Nine (onto which anMi-8 helicopter landed), an icebreaker, a cargo tanker, fishing boats, and speedboats.[75] The windfarm vesselIceni Revenge was used for the three months spent filming in Denmark, Estonia, and Italy.[76][6]
During filming, sound designerRichard King sent a team to Eagle Mountain to record the Chinooks and Mi-8, and toSouthampton to record the F50 catamarans.[77] Others were hired to capture the aural atmosphere of Oslo, Mumbai, and Tallinn.[77] King got audio of both live and blank automatic weapon rounds at a gun range inSan Francisquito Canyon and rented a runway to test how the vehicles in the film sound.[78]
Jennifer Lame replaced Nolan's long-time editorLee Smith, who was occupied with 2019's1917.[79] Visual effects supervisor Andy Lockley said the film's VFX shots involved the participation of 300 employees atDNEG.[19][80]
Ludwig Göransson was chosen to compose the film's music after Nolan's frequent collaborator and first choice,Hans Zimmer, turned down the offer in favor of the 2021 filmDune.[81][82] Researchingretrograde composition led Göransson to generate melodies that would sound the same forward and backward. He experimented with distorted industrial noise and, to represent Sator's irradiated breathing, asked Nolan to tape his own breath in a studio. Göransson produced ten to fifteen minutes of music each week. The first scoring session was held in November 2019, and sessions continued into early 2020.[83] During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Göransson recorded musicians at their homes.[6] TheTenet soundtrack contains "The Plan", a song byTravis Scott,[84] which plays over the film's closing credits.[85]
In August 2019, Warner Bros. debuted a forty-second teaser ahead ofHobbs & Shaw previews,[86] which was published online in December.[87] Yohana Desta ofVanity Fair called it an "old-school surprise" and praised Göransson's score,[88] while Jim Vejvoda ofIGN described it as "Inception with time travel".[89] Both Vejvoda andIndieWire's Zack Sharf noted the trailer's stylization of the film's title asTENƎT to emphasize the palindromic nature.[89][90] The film's prologue also played in select IMAX theaters before screenings ofStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,[87] which Kyle Kizu ofThe Hollywood Reporter favorably compared to the prolog of Nolan's other films.[91] The film's logo was altered in May 2020 to remove the inverted stylization due to its similarity with that of a bicycle components manufacturer.[92] The final trailer was released in August and featured Scott's single.[93] A making-of video was released on August 26.[14]
The marketing and promotion of the film was significantly hampered due to postponements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with executives calculating that each postponement cost Warner Bros. between $200,000 and $400,000 in marketing fees.[94] Eventually, after briefly being held up indefinitely,[95] Glenn Whipp of theLos Angeles Times noted that Warner Bros. did not putTenet on theAcademy's streaming platform or send out screeners to awards voters.[96] Given the large investment in the film, part of its marketing campaign involved dual promotions with the watch manufacturerHamilton andFortnite, both of whom assisted in increasing public awareness of the forthcoming film. Hamilton featured Washington wearing the watch and endorsing it in multiple ad campaigns, whileFortnite developerEpic Games worked on the pre-release trailer for the film and created an interview with Washington which was featured on multiple video game websites.[97]
Warner Bros. originally scheduledTenet for a July 17, 2020, release in IMAX,35 mm, and 70 mm film.[98] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was delayed to July 31,[99][100] and then August 12.[101] Nolan desired that the film be released in theatres as the first Hollywoodtent-pole following the prolonged shutdown, instead of being released on theHBO Max streaming service.[102][103][104] Following a negotiation between Nolan and Warner Bros. executives, the studio arranged for the film to be released in seventy countries, with a run time of 150 minutes, on August 26,[105][106][107] following preview screenings in Australia and South Korea on August 22 and 23.[108][109] The film opened in select cities in the United States on September 3, gradually expanding in the ensuing weeks.[105] On September 4, it was released in China.[110] The lack of available movies afforded it more screens permultiplex than would otherwise have been possible.[111]
On March 2, 2021, Warner Bros. announced that, in light of the New York state government allowing film theaters in New York City to re-open on Friday, March 5, following a nearly year-long shutdown (causing theaters in the city to miss out on the film's initial theatrical run), they would be re-releasingTenet at select theaters in the city.[112] In the Philippines, the film was released onHBO Go streaming platform on June 12, 2021, following the year-long indefinite closure of theaters in the country in response of a potential COVID-19 surge, becoming the last major Asian country to do so.[113] The film was re-released in theaters for exclusive IMAX screenings in 70 mm formats for an exclusive one-week theatrical window from February 23 to March 1, 2024. It also included footage to promote the release of the studio's then-upcoming film,Dune: Part Two (2024).[114]
Nolan subsequently expressed dissatisfaction with Warner Bros. over their handling of the film, along with the studio's announcement of their 2021 theatrical slate also being released onHBO Max day-and-date without consulting the people involved with that slate,[115][104] which resulted in Nolan's following film,Oppenheimer, being financed and distributed byUniversal Pictures instead.[116] In 2023,Variety reported that Warner Bros. (having gone through an ownership and leadership change since the release ofTenet) offered Nolan a "seven-figure check" for him to return to the studio, consisting of the fees that Nolan waived to encourage the release ofTenet in theatres, which ultimately proved unsuccessful as Nolan later reteamed with Universal following the success ofOppenheimer for his next film,The Odyssey.[103][117]
As of January 29, 2024,Tenet has grossed $58.5 million in the United States and Canada and $306.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $363.7 million.[2][1]
With a production budget of $200 million,[120] it is Nolan's most expensive original project.[121]IndieWire speculated that marketing costs pushed the final sum to $300–350 million,[122] though some analysts predicted it would incur lower advertising costs than usual, owing to inexpensive live sports ads.[123] Box office analyst Jeff Bock estimated the film would need to make $400–500 million to break even.[124] In November 2020, rival studios expected the film to lose up to $100 million, but Warner Bros. insisted losses would not top $50 million.[125] Nolan received twenty percent of the film'sfirst-dollar gross.[126]
The film was projected to make $25–30 million internationally over its first five days.[127] In South Korea, pre-sale IMAX tickets sold out, and weekend previews earned $717,000 from 590 venues.[109] Another four days in the country yielded $4.13 million from about 2,200 screens, bringing the cume to $5.1 million by the end of the week.Tenet debuted to $53 million in forty-one countries, grossing $7.1 million in the United Kingdom, $6.7 million in France, and $4.2 million in Germany.[28][128][129] It made $58.1 million its second weekend, with China ($30 million from first showings), the UK ($13.1 million), France ($10.7 million), Germany ($8.7 million), and South Korea ($8.2 million) as the largest markets.[130] It made $30.6 million its third weekend, earning $16.4 million in the UK, $13.2 million in France, $11.4 million in Germany, $10.3 million in South Korea, and $10.2 million in China.[131] The film earned $11.4 million in its first two weeks in Japan,[132] and, after opening in India on December 4, 2020,[133] made about $1.2 million in its first ten days in the country.[134] In Estonia,Tenet became the highest-grossing film of all time, with a total gross of $1.2 million.[135]
In the United States and Canada, with 65% of theaters operating at 25–40% capacity, the film earned $20.2 million from 2,810 theaters in its first eleven days of release: $12 million in the U.S., $2.5 million in Canada, and the rest from previews.[129][136] The second, third, and fourth weekends added $6.6 million, $4.6 million, and $3.3 million, respectively.[137][138][139]Tenet remained atop the American box office its fifth weekend with $2.7 million,[140] before ceding the number one spot toThe War with Grandpa its sixth weekend.[141]
The film's worldwide 2024 IMAX re-release began on February 23, 2024, in 55 IMAX locations, including 12 showing the film in 70mm, opening against the one-week North American engagement of theDolby Cinema reissue ofLes Misérables (2012). It grossed $600,000 globally on its three-day opening weekend for a per-theater average of more than $10,000.[142]
Tenet divided critics, withUSA Today's Jenna Ryu and theLos Angeles Times's Christi Carras respectively describing the reviews as "mixed" and "all over the place".[143][144]The Independent's Clémence Michallon wrote that the film was perceived as "both entertaining and 'cerebral' by some, but lacking and confusing by others".[145] Ellise Shafer ofVariety found that, while some were weary of the film's "metaphysical babble", reviews were "largely positive", with critics overall naming it "a mind-blowing addition to Nolan's already-impressive arsenal".[146] On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, 70% of 378 critics gaveTenet a positive review, with an average rating of 7/10; the website's critical consensus reads: "A visually dazzling puzzle for film lovers to unlock,Tenet serves up all the cerebral spectacle audiences expect from a Christopher Nolan production."[147] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[148]
Guy Lodge ofVariety describedTenet as a "grandly entertaining, time-slipping spectacle".[4]The Guardian criticPeter Bradshaw felt it was both "madly preposterous" and "amazing cinema".[149]Kevin Maher ofThe Times awarded the film a full five stars, deeming it "a delightfully convoluted masterpiece".[150]Robbie Collin ofThe Telegraph likened it to Nolan'sInception and praised the "depth, subtlety and wit of Pattinson and Debicki's performances".[5] In his review forRolling Stone,Peter Travers described the film as "pure, ravishing cinema" and called Washington a "star-in-the-making" who "brings a natural athletic grace to the stunts and hand-to-hand combat".[151]The Dispatch's Alec Dent foundTenet to have "a gloriously innovative storyline with incredible visuals to match".[152] Mark Daniell of theToronto Sun gave the film four out of four stars, deeming it "the cinematic equivalent of aRubik's Cube".[153]Richard Roeper of theChicago Sun-Times gave it three and a half out of four stars, praising Debicki's "mesmerizing" portrayal and concluding that "it's the kind of film that reminds us of the magic of the moviegoing experience", despite not reaching "cinematic greatness".[154] Keith Phipps ofThe Ringer wrote thatTenet has the makings of a cult film, with "a failed release due to the pandemic, a muted critical reception, and a twisty narrative that demands multiple viewings".[155] DirectorDenis Villeneuve called the film "a masterpiece" and "an incredible cinematic achievement".[156]
James Berardinelli noted that the film "may be the most challenging of Nolan's films to date" in terms of "the concepts forming the narrative's foundation: backwards-moving entropy, non-linear thinking, temporal paradoxes", but questioned whether its runtime "might prove to be problematic".[157] He named it the best film of 2020.[158] Leslie Felperin ofThe Hollywood Reporter felt that Washington was "dashing but a little dull" and that Debicki's performance "adds a color to Nolan's palette, and [she] has persuasive chemistry with Branagh in their joint portrait of a violent, dysfunctional love-hate relationship". She concluded thatTenet is "rich in audacity and originality", but lacks "a certain humanity".[17] Jessica Kiang ofThe New York Times described the film as Nolan's "time-bending" take onJames Bond, praising the film's cinematography, score, editing, acting, and "immaculately creaseless costumes", while also deeming it a "hugely expensive, blissfully empty spectacle".[159]LA Weekly's Asher Luberto also highlighted the similarities betweenTenet and the James Bond films, but also felt it was "a daring, surprising and entirely original piece of work, reverent in its spectacle and haunting in its mesmerizing, dreamlike form".[160] Branagh's character was described by some critics as a stereotypicalRussian villain.[161][162] Christina Newland ofVulture.com called Branagh "silly-accented ... as a Bond-villain-esque Russian mastermind".[163]
Mike McCahill ofIndieWire gave the film a "C−" grade and called it "a humorless disappointment".[164]Michael Phillips of theChicago Tribune awarded it two out of four stars, writing that he wished the film "exploited its own ideas more dynamically".[165] TheNew York Post's Johnny Oleksinski also gave it two out of four stars, calling it Nolan's most "confusing" work so far, but acknowledged being "swept up by Nolan's incomparable cinematic vision".[166] Kathleen Sachs of theChicago Reader gave the film one and a half out of four stars, concluding that Nolan "doesn't show much growth in his most recent self-indulgent work".[167] Brian Lloyd ofEntertainment.ie said poorsound mixing "often" rendered dialog inaudible when viewed on 35 mm film, suggesting viewing the film onDigital Cinema Package files to reduce the problem.[168] TheSan Francisco Chronicle'sMick LaSalle also foundTenet "difficult to understand", and continued that "even worse, it inspires little desire to understand it".[169]
In July 2025, it was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition ofThe New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 277.[170] In 2025,The Hollywood Reporter listedTenet as having the best stunts of 2020.[171]
Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale,[172] andPostTrak reported that 80% of those gave the film a positive score, with 65% saying they would recommend it.[173] Some publications reported that the film gained a cult following among science fiction enthusiasts and Nolan's fanbase.[174][175][176]
Tenet's complex plot and character timelines, ambiguities and hidden details have been analyzed, leading to various fan theories and interpretations.[182]
The first-century LatinSator Square, which inspired the film's title, as well as two character names (Sator and Arepo, the Goya forger), the location of the opening sequence (Opera), and the name of Sator's security company (Rotas).
Palindromes (words which are spelled the same forward and backward) andanadromes (words which when spelled backward produce another word) appear throughout the film in various guises. The five-letter words from the palindromicSator Square appear as names and locations in the film: "Sator" (the Russian oligarch); "Arepo" (the art forger); "Tenet" (the name of the film and the Protagonist's organization); "Opera" (the opening scene takes place at the Kyiv Opera House); and "Rotas" (the name of the security company running Oslo Freeport).[183] There is a further nod to the word "Tenet" in the film's final battle in which the red and blue teams each have "ten" minutes to carry out their non-inverted ("ten") and inverted ("net") operations in Stalsk-12.[184] When the Protagonist is being tortured, trains pass by in opposite directions.Ludwig Göransson's score includes melodies that sound the same forward and backward. The film itself is a form of "temporal palindrome", as it ends at the same time as the events of the beginning of the film were taking place, "the 14th".[185]
Several characters have complex timelines in the film due to inverting and reverting, notably Neil, the Protagonist, Sator and Kat.[186][185][187] Inversion allows multiple versions of a character to exist simultaneously; for instance, there are five simultaneous Neils (that are known) in the world during the moments of the climactic scene inside the Stalsk-12 hypocenter where he dies (two inverted and one normal on the battlefield, one inverted at the opera siege and one more normal somewhere else in the world who will later meet the Protagonist in Neil's first appearance of the film),[187] and the implication is that an older future Protagonist is orchestrating the events of the film behind the scenes without ever being seen by the viewer or his past self, in an example of a temporalpincer movement.[188] Inversion also sets upbootstrap paradoxes, whereby events are caused by themselves in a "chicken or the egg" scenario.[189]
Free will is a theme inTenet.[189] There are suggestions thatTenet's universe isdeterministic, so what happens (including bootstrap paradoxes) will always happen, and consequently, there is arguably no free will.[189] One of the film's common refrains, "ignorance is our ammunition", could hint at theillusionist stance that free will does not exist but people should act as if they have free will.[189] However, the characters (especially Neil) express uncertainty as to whether history can be altered, and say several times during the film, "what's happened, happened".[189] Neil's attitude towards free will could be interpreted ascompatibilist, whereby free will and determinism are seen as compatible.[189] Kat is seen as the character who most strongly embodies free will inTenet by choosing to stray from the plan and shoot Sator, at which point she is free from his control.[190] Kat relays to the Protagonist that when she was returning with Max to Sator's yacht in Vietnam and saw a woman (her future self, unbeknownst to past Kat) diving gracefully off the yacht, she felt jealous of that woman's freedom.[186] Similarly, there is uncertainty inTenet regarding thegrandfather paradox and whether the use of the Algorithm in the future, wiping out the past (the time of the events inTenet), would also wipe out the future.[191]Tenet has been interpreted as a war between past and future.[192][186]
^Seven weeks of filming in Estonia came at a cost of €16.5 million;[6][49] Warner Bros. Pictures paid a rebate that was reimbursed at thirty percent.[clarification needed][49]
^It took one week to secure the permission to shoot in Mumbai.[50] The planned schedule was completed in half the time.[51]
^Tenet went under the working titleMerry Go Round.[19][50]
^abMartin, Kevin H. (August 2020)."Time, Again".ICG Magazine. Vol. 91, no. 6. pp. 43–46.Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. RetrievedAugust 24, 2020.
^Tronsli Drabløs, Øystein; Alnes, Espen; Tunheim, Helga (September 5, 2019)."Hollywood-stjerner i Oslo" [Hollywood stars in Oslo] (in Norwegian).NRK.Archived from the original on September 17, 2019. RetrievedJuly 15, 2020.
^abKit, Borys (September 15, 2021)."Inside the Studios' (And Apple's) Frenzy to Get Christopher Nolan's Next Film".The Hollywood Reporter. RetrievedOctober 27, 2024.his once-ironclad relationships with Warners frayed last year with the release of Tenet. Nolan, who enjoyed mutual approval over release dates, and the studio fought over when to release the movie, seeing it push three times before finally opening in September to mediocre box office and middling reviews, both firsts for the man, while other studios pushed their tentpoles into the following year. The filmmaker then took umbrage when the studio put its 2021 slate into a day-and-date release strategy with HBO Max, calling it the "worst streaming service."
Belluomini, L. (2021). "Tenet as Philosophy: Fatalism Isn't an Excuse to do Nothing". In Johnson D. K. (ed.).The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. pp. 1–21.doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97134-6_99-1.ISBN978-3-319-97134-6.S2CID230597057.
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