Tenet · written by Christopher Nolan · 2020

Fay tells the now-dead Protagonist his duty transcends nations and gives him the password 'Tenet.'

Scene 20 of 275 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Save the Cat: Theme Stated
Fay
Protagonist

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 9 min into a 2:28 film

The story so farBefore scene 20

An unnamed intelligence operative, recruited into a shadow war fought through time-inverted weapons and objects, teams with an enigmatic ally to stop a dying Russian oligarch from using technology gifted by a dying future to erase the present.

Scenes 1–17
The Protagonist in his zone of comfort — a skilled, anonymous field operative, competent and confident inside the Kiev operation.
Just before
Scene 17
Safe in the van, the Protagonist realizes the driver has turned a gun on him.
Scene 18
Captured and tortured in a rail yard, the Protagonist watches the 'Target' die under interrogation and bites a cyanide pill rather than give up his team.
Scene 19
The Protagonist wakes from a coma; Fay reveals the suicide pill was a test and that his team didn't survive.
Scene 20
This scene

20EXT. DECK OF THE BOAT – LATER

The Protagonist stands in the wind, contemplating the horizon.

FAY (O.S.)

We all believe we’d run into the

burning building, but until we feel

that heat... we can never know. You

do.

PROTAGONIST

I resign.

FAY

You don’t work for us – you’re

dead.

The Protagonist turns to Fay, confused.

FAY (CONT'D)

Your duty transcends national

interests. This is about survival.

PROTAGONIST

Whose?

FAY

Everyone’s. There’s a cold war.

Cold as ice. To even know its true

nature is to lose.

This is knowledge divided – all I

have for you is a gesture –

(interlaces his fingers)

– in combination with a word –

‘tenet’. Use it carefully, it’ll

open the right doors, but some of

the wrong ones, too.

PROTAGONIST

That’s all they’ve told you?

FAY

The test you passed?

(beat)

Not everybody does.

Fay breaks eye contact with the Protagonist. The boat continues to nose into the swell.