TENET EXPLAINED
Our Take on Characterization
One may consider Tenet consisting the least character development out of most of Nolan’s films. Even so, each character still plays a pivotal role in the film that echoes the major themes of Tenet.
After going through the turnstile, one’s actions and weapons are inverted (reversed), like a mirror reflection. Just like the resulting effect of experiencing the temporal turnstile, characters experience a drastic development of characterization afterwards.
1. Kat (Elizabeth Debecki) — A Mirrored Self
Before the inversion, Kat was weak and saw herself as a prisoner of her husband — the woman who envied the girl who jumped off the yacht freely. The red-dressed Kat moving forward in time didn’t have the will to kill her husband — “You’re not angry enough. Because anger scars over into despair. I look in your eyes… I see despair.”
After going through the turnstile, Kat transforms into a strong-willed, determined and courageous woman. She throws back the question at Sator, “Look me in the eye. What can you see? Despair or anger?” She is able to find the courage to kill her husband and free herself, becoming the woman who jumped off the yacht.
Only then does she realize she was looking at her future self.
2. The Protagonist (John David Washington) — Two of a Kind
Washington’s nameless character declares that he is the Protagonist twice throughout the film. The first time, Priya corrects him, “You are a protagonist. Did you think you were the only one capable of saving the world?” Does that mean there are two protagonists? Yes and No. There are two different protagonists in the film. Both of them are the same person, only at different times. One is in the present. The other, in the future.
The Protagonist in the present is who we see in the majority of the film. An adept former-CIA spy recruited and assigned a secret task: investigate Sator’s plans and stop him from ending the world. He is portrayed as the lead agent, who for the most part is unaware of the true nature of the mission and the concept of the “temporal pincer movement”. In other words, a skilled pawn in the mission to save the world. He moves forward in the sequence of events of the mission, garnering information on how the mission will proceed and succeeds.
We only get a glimpse of the future Protagonist towards the end of the film. This version of the Protagonist knows what has happened and is the mastermind behind the mission. As he tells Priya before he kills her “We’ve been working for me.” Finally realizing that the Protagonists involved in the mission, both the agent and the person-in-charge, have been him all along. The future Protagonist is his “mirrored self” who, with all the information, must think backwards, communicate with the right people in the past and recruit Neil, executing the plan to save the world.
The possibility of both Kat and the Protagonist having a mirror self in the film is because they are essentially, the good guys. The Protagonist has the ability to reflect and therefore evolve after going through the turnstile.
3. Sator (Kenneth Branagh) — The Antagonist
Unlike the other principal characters of the film, Sator is the only one who doesn’t have a mirror “self”. He is the opposite of the protagonist, the villain with an evil plan to end the world. He lacks the ability to self-reflect and therefore his character does not make any transformations. This makes him a one-dimensional antagonist, doesn’t it?
4. Neil (Robert Pattinson) — The “Inversion” of the Audience
Imagine we as the audience are experiencing forward time, it would make sense that Neil acts as OUR inversion. In contrast to the viewer, he knows most of what’s about to happen in the mission as he has already experienced the current events unfolding as we watch the film.
On top of that, there’s been a lot of speculations that Neil might be the adult Max, and whether they really are the same person is not revealed in the film. “Done is done. Who knows what would have happened if I had told you? The policy is to conceal it.” Could Nolan and Neil be concealing this possibility from us in order to “let the film happen” as it is?
So, is Neil Max? Don’t ask. It’s BETTER IF WE DON’T KNOW.
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Photo Source: Tenet. Christopher Nolan. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2020. Film.
Disclaimer: Any views and opinions expressed are personal and solely belong to the authors. They are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club organisation, company, individual or anyone or anything.
