Tom Cruise's 2001 film Vanilla Sky has been voted by cinemagoers as the most confusing movie of all time.

The American psychological thriller, which also stars Penelope Cruz, made it on the top of the list just ahead of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

Directed by Cameron Crowe, Vanilla Sky led the poll of the most confusing movies ever, conducted for film service rental service LoveFilm.

The story about dream fantasies, love and disfigurement definitely left many viewers discombobulated when the movie, which was a remake of the Spanish hit Abre Los Ojos, was released.

In third place is 2001's Donnie Darko, which was directed by Richard Kelly and starred Jake Gyllenhaal. It initially flopped but sold many DVD copies.

The Wachoswki brothers' The Matrix Revolutions came in fourth on the poll.

The survey was conducted to mark the relase of Leonardo DiCaprio's new film Inception, which apparently made many fans unable to comprehend the plot. It was directed by Christopher Nolan, whose movie Memento is at number five.

LoveFilm, the DVD rental and online streaming service, surveyed over 2000 film fans.

"It's clear that dreaming is the biggest cause of confusion for viewers," LoveFilm editor Helen Cowley said.

"Switching from reality to dream sequences pulls the wool over our eyes and leaves us searching for the truth."