Inception ***SPOILER THREAD***

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by Ray_Lewis'_Victim

When Fischer Jr. Wakes up on the plane, why doesn't he recognize that "hey, these are the guys that were ****ing with me in my dream, maybe I should take some sort of notice, or at least acknowledge that something weird happened. Maybe I shouldn't make this crazy life decision based on that kind of dream"

It is not entirely uncommon to have dreams involving people you saw throughout the day. Its my thinking that our subconscious records everything, all the time and we see flickers of these memories during dreams that take on the scenario of the particular dream.

I saw the movie friday. I was impressed with it. In my humble opinion, the last scene with the top is reality. Th top wobbles and slows before the picture goes to black.

[Killericon]

Originally Posted by sirhcyennek81

It is not entirely uncommon to have dreams involving people you saw throughout the day. Its my thinking that our subconscious records everything, all the time and we see flickers of these memories during dreams that take on the scenario of the particular dream.

I saw the movie friday. I was impressed with it. In my humble opinion, the last scene with the top is reality. Th top wobbles and slows before the picture goes to black.

But his Kids were exactly how he remembered them. Yes, it wobbled, and yes, in every other scene where he spins it in a dream it never wobbles, but they're definitely trying to leave it open.

[sirhcyennek81]

Originally Posted by Killericon

But his Kids were exactly how he remembered them. Yes, it wobbled, and yes, in every other scene where he spins it in a dream it never wobbles, but they're definitely trying to leave it open.

We never really know how long he had to be seperated from his kids. We get the impression of years, but that could just be a device of the story to make us think that. It could be months, which could feel like years, considering the events surrounding Mal's death and his own guilt over it.

I agree they were trying to leave it open, but the top is not the only sign. In his dreams, he never sees his kid's faces. At the end, he does.

[v2micca]

Originally Posted by sirhcyennek81

We never really know how long he had to be seperated from his kids. We get the impression of years, but that could just be a device of the story to make us think that. It could be months, which could feel like years, considering the events surrounding Mal's death and his own guilt over it.

I agree they were trying to leave it open, but the top is not the only sign. In his dreams, he never sees his kid's faces. At the end, he does.

There is one other detail that supports the ending is reality argument. Throughout the film, Cobb always is wearing his wedding band in flashbacks and dreams. He doesn't wear the ring in reality. In the last scene in the movie, he is not wearing his wedding ring.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by v2micca

There is one other detail that supports the ending is reality argument. Throughout the film, Cobb always is wearing his wedding band in flashbacks and dreams. He doesn't wear the ring in reality. In the last scene in the movie, he is not wearing his wedding ring.

That doesnt necessarily mean anything because the evolution of his character leads to the moment where he accepts his wife's death in the dream world (taking off the ring), and he returns to the same dream moment that he had not been able to get past before...seeing his kids' faces...only to move further on.

I think that there is no resolution, and that its intended to be ambiguous about waking life and dream states. Its saying that the line between them is blurry if there is one at all. Its the old mind-body problem.

[Taco John]

Loved the movie... probably one of my new all time favorites (which puts two movies from one season in my top ten, this one and Toy Story 3 which I thought to be excellent).

In any case, this movie has plagued me like none I can ever remember. The Matrix got me excited, but there was no ambiguity to it (I still love the concept, even if the execution of that concept fell flat - by the way, if you haven't seen the "Animatrix," I highly recommend it. It opens up the story a bit and really shows you the world that the Wacho Brothers created).

So at the end of Incpetion, everything appears hunky dory. Saito wakes up, makes the call, Cobb goes home to his kids. And then in what will surely be one of the most talked about endings in the history of cinema happens and Nolan leaves the audience to wonder if the spinning top falls, which would signal that he is, indeed, in the real world (and thus this ending is not a dream).

I don't know whether my theoretical interpretation is correct or not, but after seeing the movie twice now, I have a pretty strong theory about the ending, and what better place to share it than on Facebook.

Before I get too far into it, I wanted to note a few observations that I think are worth noting.

1. The spinning top is NOT Cobb's (Leo's) totem. That is Mal's (Cobb's wife's) totem. Cobb is using it, apparently, for sentimental reasons. This was her closest possession, and ultimately a personal symbol of his guilt that he carried around after her death. It's my opinion that Cobbs's personal totem is his wedding ring. On the second viewing, I noticed a scene at the beginning when Cobb and Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) were trying to steal Saito's secrets, that the light glinted on his ring at a particular moment. I made a mental note to pay attention to the ring because I thought it might be a hint (or it might be nothing). What I found is that when Cobb is in "reality," he does not wear the ring, however when he is in the dream world, he has it on. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to clearly see at the end of the film whether or not he had his ring on when he spun the top for the final time.

2. What I didn't understand/appreciate the first time viewing the movie is that Michael Caine's character(Miles) is Mal's (Cobb's wife's) father. This seems very odd to me. I wish I understood more about what has gone on between him and Cobb. Apparently, he buys the story about Mal killing herself, and is still willing to associate with Cobb despite the tragic death of his daughter. This is a little troubling to me because it's never explored at all in the film. What I can surmise is that he's a brilliant (apparently) psycologist who travels back and forth from his class room in France (Mal had a French accent), to his wife and grandchildren (Leo's kids) in America. He apparently was part of the invention of the dream device which the military used for training soldiers - and apparently trained Mal and Leo on its use. I'm not sure if this means much at all, except that he might have a motive to try and break into Leo's "safe" to discover the "real truth" about his daughter's death. The movie suggests that Miles bought Cobb's story about her death, and moved on with life. I'm not so sure though. The only thing that I can say for certain is that he had a motive to want to break into Cobb's "safe," and that he Adrianne was his student, who was in place to do as much - and maybe even plant inception into Leo (remember that she's the one that shot Mal in the end, and explained it as "improvising").

Ok. So now it's time to drop the bomb.

I don't want to say that my theory is absolutely right. I don't even know if I believe it myself. So I'll say it like this: there is a definite possibility that Leo's perfect ending was too good to be true - that he is in fact trapped in a deeper state of limbo.

To explain my theory, I have to revisit the "rules" of the shared dream state. You'll remember that the reason that they couldn't wake up from the dream state when they died during "the Fisher operation" was because they were under heavy sedation that was designed to allow them to go at least three levels deep. Thus, if they were killed in a dream, they were sent to limbo UNLESS they were killed at the time of "the kick" at which time the inner ear function would jolt them out of the dream and up a level. Also remember that when they went to limbo, "the architect" was whoever had spent the most time creating the world there, and thus the limbo that was experienced was the world that Leo and Mal had created together. Leo explained something to the tune of we had gone so deep that we stood there on "the shores of our subsconsious" and created a world there. This is significant because when they go to limbo after Fischer is shot by Mal, they wake up on the shore. Also remember that Leo is found by Saito's men waking up on the shore with a gun tucked in his back (an event which happened after Mal was killed in what I would call "Limbo #1"). Now hold that thought -

It's important to remember that Nolan took great pains to show Adrianne moving all the way up from limbo, and up through each kick until she found herself on level one, submerged in the van that had just gone off the bridge. It's also important to remember that when she throws Fischer Jr. (the rich kid) and herself off the building to die, it was during the kick, thus she moves "upwards" rather than downwards, despite the sedative. They also showed that when they reached level 1, they were underwater and that they didn't want to die by drowning there - the had scuba tanks in the van to suck oxygen out of before they finally escaped the van (thus, it was important that they didn't die there). And VERY importantly they showed Cobb's presumably dead and drowned body in the van as Arthur looked it it, shrugged, and escaped the watery grave. Cobb had died on level one. He missed the kick upwards. He was already in limbo, however - "Limbo #1," the world that he and Mal had created together. But the next time we see Cobb, he is waking up on the shores of Saito's subconsious - and at this point I must remind that Cobb wasn't the only one who died in that van. Saito had died on level 3 (going to Limbo #1), and then on level 1 (which I believe sent him to what I will call "Limbo Level 2.")

So as I said, the next time we see Cobb, he is waking up on the shores of Saito's subsconsious. He and Saito had missed the kick, and were still heavily sedated. Saito had apparently reached this limbo level well before Cobb had because he had aged significantly, and he had created an empire for himself. He was "a lonely old man, waiting to die alone."

And this is where the ambiguity really comes in. The question is about whether the sedation is still in effect or not. What we've seen is that when someone dies under the sedation, they go deeper into the dream and lose track of what is real and what isn't. But when someone dies during the kick, they are taken upwards and out of the dream (thanks to the inner ear function causing dream instability). There is just as much reason to believe that when Saito (presumably) kills Leo and turns the gun on himself at the end (or simply kills Leo, we can't definitely say whether or not he turned the gun on himself), that instead of moving upwards and out of the dream, that instead Leo is taken to an even further state of limbo, a perfect ending that his subsconsious has created for him. And in this "Limbo Level 3," it might not even matter at all if the top falls because the power that made the top spin infinitely was Mal, and Mal is dead. And if this is the case, there is no way for Leo to know if this is real or he is dreaming. And the fact that after he spun the top at the end, he didn't stop to see how it reacted suggests that he doesn't care.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Loved the movie... probably one of my new all time favorites (which puts two movies from one season in my top ten, this one and Toy Story 3 which I thought to be excellent).

In any case, this movie has plagued me like none I can ever remember. The Matrix got me excited, but there was no ambiguity to it (I still love the concept, even if the execution of that concept fell flat - by the way, if you haven't seen the "Animatrix," I highly recommend it. It opens up the story a bit and really shows you the world that the Wacho Brothers created).

So at the end of Incpetion, everything appears hunky dory. Saito wakes up, makes the call, Cobb goes home to his kids. And then in what will surely be one of the most talked about endings in the history of cinema happens and Nolan leaves the audience to wonder if the spinning top falls, which would signal that he is, indeed, in the real world (and thus this ending is not a dream).

I don't know whether my theoretical interpretation is correct or not, but after seeing the movie twice now, I have a pretty strong theory about the ending, and what better place to share it than on Facebook.

Before I get too far into it, I wanted to note a few observations that I think are worth noting.

1. The spinning top is NOT Cobb's (Leo's) totem. That is Mal's (Cobb's wife's) totem. Cobb is using it, apparently, for sentimental reasons. This was her closest possession, and ultimately a personal symbol of his guilt that he carried around after her death. It's my opinion that Cobbs's personal totem is his wedding ring. On the second viewing, I noticed a scene at the beginning when Cobb and Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) were trying to steal Saito's secrets, that the light glinted on his ring at a particular moment. I made a mental note to pay attention to the ring because I thought it might be a hint (or it might be nothing). What I found is that when Cobb is in "reality," he does not wear the ring, however when he is in the dream world, he has it on. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to clearly see at the end of the film whether or not he had his ring on when he spun the top for the final time.

2. What I didn't understand/appreciate the first time viewing the movie is that Michael Caine's character(Miles) is Mal's (Cobb's wife's) father. This seems very odd to me. I wish I understood more about what has gone on between him and Cobb. Apparently, he buys the story about Mal killing herself, and is still willing to associate with Cobb despite the tragic death of his daughter. This is a little troubling to me because it's never explored at all in the film. What I can surmise is that he's a brilliant (apparently) psycologist who travels back and forth from his class room in France (Mal had a French accent), to his wife and grandchildren (Leo's kids) in America. He apparently was part of the invention of the dream device which the military used for training soldiers - and apparently trained Mal and Leo on its use. I'm not sure if this means much at all, except that he might have a motive to try and break into Leo's "safe" to discover the "real truth" about his daughter's death. The movie suggests that Miles bought Cobb's story about her death, and moved on with life. I'm not so sure though. The only thing that I can say for certain is that he had a motive to want to break into Cobb's "safe," and that he Adrianne was his student, who was in place to do as much - and maybe even plant inception into Leo (remember that she's the one that shot Mal in the end, and explained it as "improvising").

Ok. So now it's time to drop the bomb.

I don't want to say that my theory is absolutely right. I don't even know if I believe it myself. So I'll say it like this: there is a definite possibility that Leo's perfect ending was too good to be true - that he is in fact trapped in a deeper state of limbo.

To explain my theory, I have to revisit the "rules" of the shared dream state. You'll remember that the reason that they couldn't wake up from the dream state when they died during "the Fisher operation" was because they were under heavy sedation that was designed to allow them to go at least three levels deep. Thus, if they were killed in a dream, they were sent to limbo UNLESS they were killed at the time of "the kick" at which time the inner ear function would jolt them out of the dream and up a level. Also remember that when they went to limbo, "the architect" was whoever had spent the most time creating the world there, and thus the limbo that was experienced was the world that Leo and Mal had created together. Leo explained something to the tune of we had gone so deep that we stood there on "the shores of our subsconsious" and created a world there. This is significant because when they go to limbo after Fischer is shot by Mal, they wake up on the shore. Also remember that Leo is found by Saito's men waking up on the shore with a gun tucked in his back (an event which happened after Mal was killed in what I would call "Limbo #1"). Now hold that thought -

It's important to remember that Nolan took great pains to show Adrianne moving all the way up from limbo, and up through each kick until she found herself on level one, submerged in the van that had just gone off the bridge. It's also important to remember that when she throws Fischer Jr. (the rich kid) and herself off the building to die, it was during the kick, thus she moves "upwards" rather than downwards, despite the sedative. They also showed that when they reached level 1, they were underwater and that they didn't want to die by drowning there - the had scuba tanks in the van to suck oxygen out of before they finally escaped the van (thus, it was important that they didn't die there). And VERY importantly they showed Cobb's presumably dead and drowned body in the van as Arthur looked it it, shrugged, and escaped the watery grave. Cobb had died on level one. He missed the kick upwards. He was already in limbo, however - "Limbo #1," the world that he and Mal had created together. But the next time we see Cobb, he is waking up on the shores of Saito's subconsious - and at this point I must remind that Cobb wasn't the only one who died in that van. Saito had died on level 3 (going to Limbo #1), and then on level 1 (which I believe sent him to what I will call "Limbo Level 2.")

So as I said, the next time we see Cobb, he is waking up on the shores of Saito's subsconsious. He and Saito had missed the kick, and were still heavily sedated. Saito had apparently reached this limbo level well before Cobb had because he had aged significantly, and he had created an empire for himself. He was "a lonely old man, waiting to die alone."

And this is where the ambiguity really comes in. The question is about whether the sedation is still in effect or not. What we've seen is that when someone dies under the sedation, they go deeper into the dream and lose track of what is real and what isn't. But when someone dies during the kick, they are taken upwards and out of the dream (thanks to the inner ear function causing dream instability). There is just as much reason to believe that when Saito (presumably) kills Leo and turns the gun on himself at the end (or simply kills Leo, we can't definitely say whether or not he turned the gun on himself), that instead of moving upwards and out of the dream, that instead Leo is taken to an even further state of limbo, a perfect ending that his subsconsious has created for him. And in this "Limbo Level 3," it might not even matter at all if the top falls because the power that made the top spin infinitely was Mal, and Mal is dead. And if this is the case, there is no way for Leo to know if this is real or he is dreaming. And the fact that after he spun the top at the end, he didn't stop to see how it reacted suggests that he doesn't care.

You chose character-based resolution over the resolution of a complex framework of interacting sci-fi principles.

Its the same thing that unsatisfied Lost fanatics went ape over...but you're right. The dream/waking state issue is meant to be left unresolved. The character's choices to confront what was in his basement led to the resolution.

[Taco John]

Don't ruin Lost for me... I'm just getting started...

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Don't ruin Lost for me... I'm just getting started...

Oh...sorry. How far are you along?

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by McSkillet

Oh...sorry. How far are you along?

! Episode 1. I just started this weekend.

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by Taco John

! Episode 1. I just started this weekend.

That's how I started. I came late to the show, but finished on time.

LOVED it. The best show of its generation, IMO. The first three seasons are gripping. Good thing you have DVD (or Blu-Ray) to bounce from one episode to the next without waiting.

Use this site as a resource if needed, but only look at the episode discussions because the rest of it will spoil it for you. http://forum.lostpedia.com/season-1-f67.html

[gyldenlove]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Loved the movie... probably one of my new all time favorites (which puts two movies from one season in my top ten, this one and Toy Story 3 which I thought to be excellent).

In any case, this movie has plagued me like none I can ever remember. The Matrix got me excited, but there was no ambiguity to it (I still love the concept, even if the execution of that concept fell flat - by the way, if you haven't seen the "Animatrix," I highly recommend it. It opens up the story a bit and really shows you the world that the Wacho Brothers created).

So at the end of Incpetion, everything appears hunky dory. Saito wakes up, makes the call, Cobb goes home to his kids. And then in what will surely be one of the most talked about endings in the history of cinema happens and Nolan leaves the audience to wonder if the spinning top falls, which would signal that he is, indeed, in the real world (and thus this ending is not a dream).

I don't know whether my theoretical interpretation is correct or not, but after seeing the movie twice now, I have a pretty strong theory about the ending, and what better place to share it than on Facebook.

Before I get too far into it, I wanted to note a few observations that I think are worth noting.

1. The spinning top is NOT Cobb's (Leo's) totem. That is Mal's (Cobb's wife's) totem. Cobb is using it, apparently, for sentimental reasons. This was her closest possession, and ultimately a personal symbol of his guilt that he carried around after her death. It's my opinion that Cobbs's personal totem is his wedding ring. On the second viewing, I noticed a scene at the beginning when Cobb and Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) were trying to steal Saito's secrets, that the light glinted on his ring at a particular moment. I made a mental note to pay attention to the ring because I thought it might be a hint (or it might be nothing). What I found is that when Cobb is in "reality," he does not wear the ring, however when he is in the dream world, he has it on. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to clearly see at the end of the film whether or not he had his ring on when he spun the top for the final time.

2. What I didn't understand/appreciate the first time viewing the movie is that Michael Caine's character(Miles) is Mal's (Cobb's wife's) father. This seems very odd to me. I wish I understood more about what has gone on between him and Cobb. Apparently, he buys the story about Mal killing herself, and is still willing to associate with Cobb despite the tragic death of his daughter. This is a little troubling to me because it's never explored at all in the film. What I can surmise is that he's a brilliant (apparently) psycologist who travels back and forth from his class room in France (Mal had a French accent), to his wife and grandchildren (Leo's kids) in America. He apparently was part of the invention of the dream device which the military used for training soldiers - and apparently trained Mal and Leo on its use. I'm not sure if this means much at all, except that he might have a motive to try and break into Leo's "safe" to discover the "real truth" about his daughter's death. The movie suggests that Miles bought Cobb's story about her death, and moved on with life. I'm not so sure though. The only thing that I can say for certain is that he had a motive to want to break into Cobb's "safe," and that he Adrianne was his student, who was in place to do as much - and maybe even plant inception into Leo (remember that she's the one that shot Mal in the end, and explained it as "improvising").

Ok. So now it's time to drop the bomb.

I don't want to say that my theory is absolutely right. I don't even know if I believe it myself. So I'll say it like this: there is a definite possibility that Leo's perfect ending was too good to be true - that he is in fact trapped in a deeper state of limbo.

To explain my theory, I have to revisit the "rules" of the shared dream state. You'll remember that the reason that they couldn't wake up from the dream state when they died during "the Fisher operation" was because they were under heavy sedation that was designed to allow them to go at least three levels deep. Thus, if they were killed in a dream, they were sent to limbo UNLESS they were killed at the time of "the kick" at which time the inner ear function would jolt them out of the dream and up a level. Also remember that when they went to limbo, "the architect" was whoever had spent the most time creating the world there, and thus the limbo that was experienced was the world that Leo and Mal had created together. Leo explained something to the tune of we had gone so deep that we stood there on "the shores of our subsconsious" and created a world there. This is significant because when they go to limbo after Fischer is shot by Mal, they wake up on the shore. Also remember that Leo is found by Saito's men waking up on the shore with a gun tucked in his back (an event which happened after Mal was killed in what I would call "Limbo #1"). Now hold that thought -

It's important to remember that Nolan took great pains to show Adrianne moving all the way up from limbo, and up through each kick until she found herself on level one, submerged in the van that had just gone off the bridge. It's also important to remember that when she throws Fischer Jr. (the rich kid) and herself off the building to die, it was during the kick, thus she moves "upwards" rather than downwards, despite the sedative. They also showed that when they reached level 1, they were underwater and that they didn't want to die by drowning there - the had scuba tanks in the van to suck oxygen out of before they finally escaped the van (thus, it was important that they didn't die there). And VERY importantly they showed Cobb's presumably dead and drowned body in the van as Arthur looked it it, shrugged, and escaped the watery grave. Cobb had died on level one. He missed the kick upwards. He was already in limbo, however - "Limbo #1," the world that he and Mal had created together. But the next time we see Cobb, he is waking up on the shores of Saito's subconsious - and at this point I must remind that Cobb wasn't the only one who died in that van. Saito had died on level 3 (going to Limbo #1), and then on level 1 (which I believe sent him to what I will call "Limbo Level 2.")

So as I said, the next time we see Cobb, he is waking up on the shores of Saito's subsconsious. He and Saito had missed the kick, and were still heavily sedated. Saito had apparently reached this limbo level well before Cobb had because he had aged significantly, and he had created an empire for himself. He was "a lonely old man, waiting to die alone."

And this is where the ambiguity really comes in. The question is about whether the sedation is still in effect or not. What we've seen is that when someone dies under the sedation, they go deeper into the dream and lose track of what is real and what isn't. But when someone dies during the kick, they are taken upwards and out of the dream (thanks to the inner ear function causing dream instability). There is just as much reason to believe that when Saito (presumably) kills Leo and turns the gun on himself at the end (or simply kills Leo, we can't definitely say whether or not he turned the gun on himself), that instead of moving upwards and out of the dream, that instead Leo is taken to an even further state of limbo, a perfect ending that his subsconsious has created for him. And in this "Limbo Level 3," it might not even matter at all if the top falls because the power that made the top spin infinitely was Mal, and Mal is dead. And if this is the case, there is no way for Leo to know if this is real or he is dreaming. And the fact that after he spun the top at the end, he didn't stop to see how it reacted suggests that he doesn't care.

Well, there is another possibility the way I see it. Ariadne, Yusuf, Arthur, Eames and Fisher all make it to level 1 of the dream as they get out of the water, which means they should be able to wake up to reality.

Once they make it back to reality they should be able to unhook Cobb and Saito from the sedative and wake them back up to reality regardless of limbo. Cobb had been in limbo before and didn't suffer any apparent insanity once he woke back up to reality. There is no guarantee that that is what happened, but it is at least possible.

[edgemyster]

I see it the way Taco John describes it. The top wobbles but then spins freely at the end - it's a dream. It's no more complicated than that.

His kids look the way they do because it's his last memory of them. They might even be wearing the same clothes. Not coincidence. He then proceeds to fabricate the rest (them turning around) as his visit to limbo progresses.

Prior to that Saito and Cobb are both still attached to the machine, so it makes sense that their subconscious can interact with one another.

It's important to note that at the end Saito cannot kill Cobb and then himself while under deep sedation and hope to move a level towards reality. Dying in this state means a fast trip to limbo (which is where they already are apparently). To get out, one needs a kick from the realm closer to reality (or for the machine to be turned off) - and these guys died / missed the kicks. But Cobb is dreaming freely in limbo - so his way out is to forget the rules and generate a means to an end (his children).

Yes, the two of them can be woken up, sure, but Cobb's limbo will last a long time. An earlier remark or two in the film indicates that anyone landing in limbo through its full duration under heavy sedation will have their brains fried.

Cobb's limbo dream world continues past Mal, past the visit to Saito and onto his kids.

In a movie of complicated dream worlds, Christopher Nolan would have missed a grand opportunity to end the film in the way he did had he applied the alternative, rosy finale that saw Cobb to his children in complete reality.

[Chris]

http://www.chud.com/articles/article...ION/Page1.html

This is the best analysis I've read.

Every single moment of Inception is a dream. I think that in a couple of years this will become the accepted reading of the film, and differing interpretations will have to be skillfully argued to be even remotely considered. The film makes this clear, and it never holds back the truth from audiences. Some find this idea to be narratively repugnant, since they think that a movie where everything is a dream is a movie without stakes, a movie where the audience is wasting their time.

Except that this is exactly what Nolan is arguing against. The film is a metaphor for the way that Nolan as a director works, and what he's ultimately saying is that the catharsis found in a dream is as real as the catharsis found in a movie is as real as the catharsis found in life. Inception is about making movies, and cinema is the shared dream that truly interests the director.

I believe that Inception is a dream to the point where even the dream-sharing stuff is a dream. Dom Cobb isn't an extractor. He can't go into other people's dreams. He isn't on the run from the Cobol Corporation. At one point he tells himself this, through the voice of Mal, who is a projection of his own subconscious. She asks him how real he thinks his world is, where he's being chased across the globe by faceless corporate goons.

She asks him that in a scene that we all know is a dream, but Inception lets us in on this elsewhere. Michael Caine's character implores Cobb to return to reality, to wake up. During the chase in Mombasa, Cobb tries to escape down an alleyway, and the two buildings between which he's running begin closing in on him - a classic anxiety dream moment. When he finally pulls himself free he finds Ken Watanabe's character waiting for him, against all logic. Except dream logic.

Much is made in the film about totems, items unique to dreamers that can be used to tell when someone is actually awake or asleep. Cobb's totem is a top, which spins endlessly when he's asleep, and the fact that the top stops spinning at many points in the film is claimed by some to be evidence that Cobb is awake during those scenes. The problem here is that the top wasn't always Cobb's totem - he got it from his wife, who killed herself because she believed that they were still living in a dream. There's more than a slim chance that she's right - note that when Cobb remembers her suicide she is, bizarrely, sitting on a ledge opposite the room they rented. You could do the logical gymnastics required to claim that Mal simply rented another room across the alleyway, but the more realistic notion here is that it's a dream, with the gap between the two lovers being a metaphorical one made literal. When Mal jumps she leaves behind the top, and if she was right about the world being a dream, the fact that it spins or doesn't spin is meaningless. It's a dream construct anyway. There's no way to use the top as a proof of reality.

Watching the film with this eye you can see the dream logic unfolding. As is said in the movie, dreams seem real in the moment and it's only when you've woken up that things seem strange. The film's 'reality' sequences are filled with moments that, on retrospect, seem strange or unlikely or unexplained. Even the basics of the dream sharing technology is unbelievably vague, and I don't think that's just because Nolan wants to keep things streamlined. It's because Cobb's unconscious mind is filling it in as he goes along.

There's more, but I would have to watch the film again with a notebook to get all the evidence (all of it in plain sight). The end seems without a doubt to be a dream - from the dreamy way the film is shot and edited once Cobb wakes up on the plane all the way through to him coming home to find his two kids in the exact position and in the exact same clothes that he kept remembering them, it doesn't matter if the top falls, Cobb is dreaming.

That Cobb is dreaming and still finds his catharsis (that he can now look at the face of his kids) is the point. It's important to realize that Inception is a not very thinly-veiled autobiographical look at how Nolan works. In a recent red carpet interview, Leonardo DiCaprio - who was important in helping Nolan get the script to the final stages - compares the movie not to The Matrix or some other mind**** movie but Fellini's 8 1/2. This is probably the second most telling thing DiCaprio said during the publicity tour for the film, with the first being that he based Cobb on Nolan. 8 1/2 is totally autobiographical for Fellini, and it's all about an Italian director trying to overcome his block and make a movie (a science fiction movie, even). It's a film about filmmaking, and so is Inception.

The heist team quite neatly maps to major players in a film production. Cobb is the director while Arthur, the guy who does the research and who sets up the places to sleep, is the producer. Ariadne, the dream architect, is the screenwriter - she creates the world that will be entered. Eames is the actor (this is so obvious that the character sits at an old fashioned mirrored vanity, the type which stage actors would use). Yusuf is the technical guy; remember, the Oscar come from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and it requires a good number of technically minded people to get a movie off the ground. Nolan himself more or less explains this in the latest issue of Film Comment, saying 'There are a lot of striking similarities [between what the team does and the putting on of a major Hollywood movie]. When for instance the team is out on the street they've created, surveying it, that's really identical with what we do on tech scouts before we shoot.'

That leaves two key figures. Saito is the money guy, the big corporate suit who fancies himself a part of the game. And Fischer, the mark, is the audience. Cobb, as a director, takes Fischer through an engaging, stimulating and exciting journey, one that leads him to an understanding about himself. Cobb is the big time movie director (or rather the best version of that - certainly not a Michael Bay) who brings the action, who brings the spectacle, but who also brings the meaning and the humanity and the emotion.

The movies-as-dreams aspect is part of why Inception keeps the dreams so grounded. In the film it's explained that playing with the dream too much alerts the dreamer to the falseness around him; this is just another version of the suspension of disbelief upon which all films hinge. As soon as the audience is pulled out of the movie by some element - an implausible scene, a ludicrous line, a poor performance - it's possible that the cinematic dream spell is broken completely, and they're lost.

As a great director, Cobb is also a great artist, which means that even when he's creating a dream about snowmobile chases, he's bringing something of himself into it. That's Mal. It's the auterist impulse, the need to bring your own interests, obsessions and issues into a movie. It's what the best directors do. It's very telling that Nolan sees this as kind of a problem; I suspect another filmmaker might have cast Mal as the special element that makes Cobb so successful.

Inception is such a big deal because it's what great movies strive to do. You walk out of a great film changed, with new ideas planted in your head, with your neural networks subtly rewired by what you've just seen. On a meta level Inception itself does this, with audiences leaving the theater buzzing about the way it made them feel and perceive. New ideas, new thoughts, new points of view are more lasting a souvenir of a great movie than a ticket stub.

It's possible to view Fischer, the mark, as not the audience but just as the character that is being put through the movie that is the dream. To be honest, I haven't quite solidified my thought on Fischer's place in the allegorical web, but what's important is that the breakthrough that Fischer has in the ski fortress is real. Despite the fact that his father is not there, despite the fact that the pinwheel was never by his father's bedside, the emotions that Fischer experiences are 100 percent genuine. It doesn't matter that the movie you're watching isn't a real story, that it's just highly paid people putting on a show - when a movie moves you, it truly moves you. The tears you cry during Up are totally real, even if absolutely nothing that you see on screen has ever existed in the physical world.

For Cobb there's a deeper meaning to it all. While Cobb doesn't have daddy issues (that we know of), he, like Fischer, is dealing with a loss. He's trying to come to grips with the death of his wife*; Fischer's journey reflects Cobb's while not being a complete point for point reflection. That's important for Nolan, who is making films that have personal components - that talk about things that obviously interest or concern him - but that aren't actually about him. Other filmmakers (Fellini) may make movies that are thinly veiled autobiography, but that's not what Nolan or Cobb are doing. The movies (or dreams) they're putting together reflect what they're going through but aren't easily mapped on to them. Talking to Film Comment, Nolan says he has never been to psychoanalysis. 'I think I use filmmaking for that purpose. I have a passionate relationship to what I do.'

In a lot of ways Inception is a bookend to last summer's Inglorious Basterds. In that film Quentin Tarantino celebrated the ways that cinema could change the world, while in Inception Nolan is examining the ways that cinema, the ultimate shared dream, can change an individual. The entire film is a dream, within the confines of the movie itself, but in a more meta sense it's Nolan's dream. He's dreaming Cobb, and finding his own moments of revelation and resolution, just as Cobb is dreaming Fischer and finding his own catharsis and change.

The whole film being a dream isn't a cop out or a waste of time, but an ultimate expression of the film's themes and meaning. It's all fake. But it's all very, very real. And that's something every single movie lover understands implicitly and completely.

* it's really worth noting that if you accept that the whole movie is a dream that Mal may not be dead. She could have just left Cobb. The mourning that he is experiencing deep inside his mind is no less real if she's alive or dead - he has still lost her.

[gyldenlove]

Much is made in the film about totems, items unique to dreamers that can be used to tell when someone is actually awake or asleep. Cobb's totem is a top, which spins endlessly when he's asleep, and the fact that the top stops spinning at many points in the film is claimed by some to be evidence that Cobb is awake during those scenes. The problem here is that the top wasn't always Cobb's totem - he got it from his wife, who killed herself because she believed that they were still living in a dream. There's more than a slim chance that she's right - note that when Cobb remembers her suicide she is, bizarrely, sitting on a ledge opposite the room they rented. You could do the logical gymnastics required to claim that Mal simply rented another room across the alleyway, but the more realistic notion here is that it's a dream, with the gap between the two lovers being a metaphorical one made literal. When Mal jumps she leaves behind the top, and if she was right about the world being a dream, the fact that it spins or doesn't spin is meaningless. It's a dream construct anyway. There's no way to use the top as a proof of reality.

There is one giant falacy in that argument, if Mal was in the same room she would have her back to Dom when trying to persuade him to jump and he would easily be able to get hold of her and pull her back in. If we assume that Mal at this point is not controlled by Dom's consciousness, she would figure this out and ensure that she would be in a position where Dom could not interfere with her jumping and that she could see him. Being declared sane by several psychiatrists, leaving a letter behind that he killed her and her messing up the hotel room and all point to her having planned the moment in great detail, she would not overlook an important detail like that.

it's really worth noting that if you accept that the whole movie is a dream that Mal may not be dead. She could have just left Cobb. The mourning that he is experiencing deep inside his mind is no less real if she's alive or dead - he has still lost her.

There is one other problem stemming from the Totem, if it was all a dream, how did Dom get the Totem from Mal? She needs to have died for Dom to take possession of the totem. Being that she only appears when Dom knows he is dreaming, and that he has possession of the top in those scenes, she is certainly a figment of his imagination throughout the film (the flashback scenes are still memories and so imaginary as well). Being that Mal appears in every dream Dom has, it stands to reason that she should appear during what is protrayed as reality if that was truly a dream as well.

[ScottXray]

Originally Posted by gyldenlove

There is one giant falacy in that argument, if Mal was in the same room she would have her back to Dom when trying to persuade him to jump and he would easily be able to get hold of her and pull her back in. If we assume that Mal at this point is not controlled by Dom's consciousness, she would figure this out and ensure that she would be in a position where Dom could not interfere with her jumping and that she could see him. Being declared sane by several psychiatrists, leaving a letter behind that he killed her and her messing up the hotel room and all point to her having planned the moment in great detail, she would not overlook an important detail like that.



There is one other problem stemming from the Totem, if it was all a dream, how did Dom get the Totem from Mal? She needs to have died for Dom to take possession of the totem. Being that she only appears when Dom knows he is dreaming, and that he has possession of the top in those scenes, she is certainly a figment of his imagination throughout the film (the flashback scenes are still memories and so imaginary as well). Being that Mal appears in every dream Dom has, it stands to reason that she should appear during what is protrayed as reality if that was truly a dream as well.

Not necessarily. I also feel the whole movie is a dream, as explained above. But somewhat more like a nightmare than a regular dream . Time and again when the children appear, they are called away by a womans voice. This could be Mal. It could be that they are a separated or divorced couple, and she is not dead at all. It would also explain his thoughts that Mal is the culprit when things go wrong duirng many scenes. An innate resentment
presented as something else (arch enemy - ex lover) which prevents him from seeing the childrens faces.

The idea of it being a dream throughout, explains Mals appearing on the opposite buildings ledge...out of reach and impossible to be reached, with no explanation of how she got there...a dream. The sense of helplessness is an emotion triggering the dream state.

Anyway , it is a great flick, and the ending is in the mind of the audience....planted there to be questioned. An inception of the idea, if you will..

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by ScottXray

the ending is in the mind of the audience....planted there to be questioned. An inception of the idea, if you will..

You got it.

[Homer Simpson]

[Chris]

So I was walking home from my usual route today and I crossed paths with Joseph Gordon Levitt (Arthur from the movie). Gotta love NYC.

[OrangenBlueOhio]

Originally Posted by Killericon

At least 5 people in the theatre I was in groaned at that. Loudly. What a cop-out.

It seemed like the whole theater groaned at the end when I saw it. I liked it. I would agree he is in a dream at the end given the top spinning and kids not aging/changing clothes.

[Taco John]

Both showings that I went to, the people in the theatre laughed in amusement over the ending. It was a positive reaction.

Also, Cobb got Mal's totem in the destroyed hotel room, next to the broken wine glass.

[Homer Simpson]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Both showings that I went to, the people in the theatre laughed in amusement over the ending. It was a positive reaction.

Also, Cobb got Mal's totem in the destroyed hotel room, next to the broken wine glass.

I saw it in the IMAX theater in Denver (where someone brought a baby in... a 1 year old... it lasted until about 15 minutes in, where the walked to the back of the theater, but DIDN'T leave, until some guy snapped something along the lines of the $17 we all paid to get to see it...anyway, I digress).

THe reaction was the same, everyone had a sharp intake of breath and gradually it dawned on everyone what was about to happen and everyone laughed with a knowing "oh you got me!", it was obvious everyone had loved it.

[Homer Simpson]

Major props to Hans Zimmer's score.

[Rulon Velvet Jones]

Nolan didn't work that long and hard to remake ****in' Newhart.

[Chris]

It's awesome to see everyones positive reactions to the movie. More please!