What Does The End Of Inception Mean? – Inception Explanation And Spoilers
What Does The End Of Inception Mean? – Inception Explanation And Spoilers – Ever since Inception hit movie theaters this past weekend, everyone has been debating on what the end of the movie means. Well, if you would like to know the various theories and Inception explanations then keep reading. If you do NOT want to know any Inception spoilers, do NOT continue.
First of all, Christopher Nolan made one hell of a movie with Inception and you guys might want to watch it more than once. But let’s go over the Inception explanation and what the ending means. In case you completely forgot, at the end of the movie Dom Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) seems to have made it back to his kids, he then spins the top and then the movie ends.
So, everyone is questioning is he still in a dream? Did he make it back into reality? Was he dead this whole time? Why did Nolan not let the audience see if the top falls or not?
If the top falls, the assumption is he made it back to reality. If it keeps spinning, then he is in a dream world.
Here are a few different theories people have been talking about:
He Doesn’t Care About Reality Anymore - Some say he was obsessed with the top the entire movie but then at the end, he just walks away from it without seeing it fall or not to run to his kids.
He’s Still In A Dream – People say the top keeps spinning because the image of his kids never changed throughout the entire movie and they haven’t aged one bit.
He Made It Make To Reality – This is the one that I believe because there are some things that really stick out to me. The big part is the fact that the top was NOT his “totem” but rather it was his wife’s. If you remember, he stole it from her lock box and he also mentioned that if anyone touched someone elses’ totem, it becomes worthless.
So, what was his “totem”? Well, I believe it was his kids’ faces. If you remember, he never saw them and that one time where his wife was telling him to look, he quickly turned away because he didn’t want to get trapped in that world if he saw them.
Anyways, that’s the different Inception explanations and end meanings. What do you guys think?
July 21st, 2010 at 10:12 am
mane it a buncha boo shit. dame dood da matrox wuz 10xs beeter
July 21st, 2010 at 1:53 pm
This is what happened and you can follow the story logically after carefully following it.
With respect to the above mention, you have valid reason to believe it WAS reality. However, the totem thing should be interpreted a different way as I explain below. Additionally, the kids were used to throw off the audience.
Take it from the top:
The movie started where an old di caprio is talking to an old asian man. and they end up at the table and spin the totem and it never falls. Regardless of whether or not the totem is worthless now, but the fact remains that even if the totem was worthless then they would have allowed the totem to fall after spinning for a little while on that desk (still talking about the very first scene of the movie here). The reason why the comment was mentioned that the totem is worthless is because the totem would supposedly appear normal (and follow normal rules of gravity and spin and fall soon after) according to the other dreamers sub conscious. However, in the very first scene it kept spinning. After watching the entire movie, you can come to the conclusion that it was done that way to demonstrate that they are IN A DREAM.
So anyways the movie continues and goes into reality and starts from the beginning to kind of show how they eventually ended up there at the desk in that conference room and old with each other. (Remember the movie began and kind of ended off with that scene being one of the very few last scenes).
So the Di Carpio gets contracted and builds his team in reality and goes after the agenda of exploiting a bereaving son whose father ran a powerful business empire.
Eventually they all end up on a plane and what happens is the plot starts. So clearly the big business owners son gets put into a sedated state through mixing something in his drink. And when he is sedated, they all get on board with immediately starting the dream process.
So now they end up in the FIRST LEVEL (ill call it the “Van”) of the dream. Where they are in taxis and things take a sharp turn because the group failed to realize that the empire owner’s son had some sub concious baggage of his own that came into the dream (like his own personal army). They eventually all end up in van and mask the son and his fathers right hand business man and induce them into the SECOND LEVEL (Ill call it the “Hotel”) of the dream. This is the one where they end up in a hotel room and convince the son to go after an agenda which they will exploit to turn his own subconcious against him. Then once they are all there and get induced into another dream, they end up in the THIRD LEVEL (I like to call this the “ice storm”) part of the dream. So as the son goes through the dream and ends up having his own subconcious be exploited with the dream makers agenda. The son ends up being shot and in order to revive him they need to make him go into a FOURTH LEVEL (Ill call it “falling cliffs”) dream and then pop out of it in a way where he is falling backwards or something similar in order to overcome the fact that he is dying in the THIRD LEVEL dream. So the FOURTH LEVEL is where you see the beach and the falling cliffs/walls and this is where Di Caprio has all his memories of his past wife and kids and where he had built all of his previous life when he fell into the state of LIMBO(where you can get stuck in a dream for a very long time).
So pay close attention here as this is what will help explain the end of the story. ok so clearly, everyone is on their way back out of the FOURTH LEVEL that actually ended up in the fourth level. The son of the empire owner, the architect of the dream (girl from france) and Di Caprio. The son of the empire owner wakes up out of the FOURTH LEVEL because he falls and wakes up in shock back into the third level. The architect girl after urging Di Caprio to get out of the FOURTH LEVEL also ends up coming back into the third level. Di Caprio gets left behind and doesnt wake up out of the FOURTH LEVEL in time clearly before they also all wouldve died in the THIRD LEVEL. Everyone was in the third level except di caprio at this point, however the asian guy….the asian guy had died in the third level (if u rememebr he took his last breath and died in the third level from a gun wound). So the asian guy got left behind and everyone else escaped. Now they all start getting back to the SECOND LEVEL in the hotel room, yet they did not need to because one of the guys in the crew induced them out of it by making them go into a falling motion in that elevator if you remember. So again, everyone escapes out of the third level, and automatically escapes out of the second level because of the elevator, and then ends up in the second level where they get back in the van. This is the part where the van is also set up to be in a falling motion where everyone can wake up out of it. So everyone else probably woke up and carried on with their lives, including the son of the empire owner. HOWEVER, the movie does not show this.
Instead, if u remember, Di Caprio stays in the Falling Cliff level, and never makes it back to the Ice storm level or the hotel level which of course no one was really covered in, and the van level. The asian guy died in the third level and got entered into LIMBO. Di Caprio, also similarly, got caught into LIMBO in the FOURTH level to begin with. So now once they both got caught into LIMBO in their own levels. The question comes, how did they end up meeting up in LIMBO. Well if you see the first scene of the movie, Di Caprio was dragged in there and it turns out their subconciousnesses connected somewhere in the LIMBO. and they both talked about how they had not seen each other for a very long time. This is because, they both remember each other in reality and by the time they met up eventually in LIMBO time had passed.
So when the movie shows the ending, and he lands and goes past immigration and all that…that is Di Caprio dreaming still in his LIMBO and that he came back to reality and that him and the asian guy went on with their lives and of course the totem clearly shows eventually that hes dreaming, but they both end up at the scene after it all where they end up meeting to talk. The movie does not show any of this but more than likely the Asian guy wanted to talk to di caprio about how he realized probably at that point, that they were both still in LIMBO from the time they both thought they had landed.
Sorry if i am not too clear in some of this, but try logically deducing this, this is the realist explanation you will find and it is exactly what the point of the ending was to explain for those that figured it out.
July 21st, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I think that he was in reality.
If he was in a dream world then when his wife killed herself, she would have woken up from her dream and would have been in the real world. Then she could have ‘kicked’ Cobb and caused him to wake up from his dream.
July 21st, 2010 at 4:31 pm
The last theory seems to make the most sense to me. The person that made observations to create that theory is very intelligent.
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:26 am
I don’t think the spinning-top totem is spoilt by it originally being his wife’s. She is dead and he is the only one that knows the rule regarding it. The top’s everlasting spin is only an indication of him being in his own dream. If it falls, he could still be in a dream, just not his own. Perhaps he is in his father’s/Saito’s dream.
As for the kid’s faces being his own totem; I liked this idea, but anyone who has seen his kids (such as his wife or his dad) would know what their faces looked like. They could impliment their faces in a dream, so it wouldn’t help him know whether he was in a dream or not.
As for the kid’s aging. IMDB credit’s two sets of actors for playing the kids at difference ages (approximately two years apart). The senario is the same (however their shoes are different. My theory is that Nolan deliberatly made the senario (kids sat on grass in the sunshine) similar so that we the audience doubt it. For example: Just imagine if the kids were there with their grandfather at the airport. I think people would without a doubt say that Cobb had reached reality. Nolan wants us to doubt.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 am
Its all a dream…dicaprio is stuck in “limbo”. But for him his limbo is an endless loop in which he is trying to figure out a scenario which he can be content with.
His entire focus prior is about his wife and this is presented as his secret. She is held prison in this ELEVATOR of his mind which goes up and down on multiple levels to the different complexities and perceptions he has of his wife. With him being in a dream this elevator acts as his SAFE within another level of the dream.
So as his limbo permutates a shift occurs and his wife is no longer his focus, it becomes the less complicated perception of his children.
This entire elaborate scheme of levels of dreams is actually dicaprios inception on himself, which he aims to go from an elaborate and complicated limbo into a more peaceful one.
There was no real start to the story, the audience assumes that its a narrative, and just as explained between dicaprio and the architect there is no beginning to a dream and you don’t know how you got there. Which leads me to believe this is why he started this inception, this beginning. In order to start a dream that was convincing to him and that he wouldnt refuse.
Some foreshadowing of this may have been in the chemist introduction scene when they go down into the testing lab to see his sleep subjects and one of his workers says something to the effects of they dont come here to sleep they come here to be awakened and who are you to say whether or not that is their reality or dream.
Another point which shows that this is a dream is, at which point does dicaprio awaken to be on the airplane? It is only assumed. There was no one left in any of the levels to kick him back out of all of the levels of the dream. Yes, it is definitely said in the movie that as the sedative starts to wear off that they would be able to kill themselves out of a dream…which would mean dicaprio could have shot himself out of all of those dream levels with one shot, but this was not shown. He grabs the gun and then they are on the plane. No gunshot.
Another major point to the movie was dicaprio saying inception is possible because he had done it before. As well as dicaprio knowing what would happen if you died while being too many levels in. The only instance where its proven that dicaprio had done it before is when he confesses to having done it to his wife. But where is the proof that you would be stuck in limbo? unless it had or is happening.
The totem
- Doesnt matter…because it was not his totem and he only knew about totems because of his wife. And 3 other ppl throughout the dreams touched his, the wife, the asian soldier, the asian.
And when he stole his wifes totem it was not in reality it was in a dream. So he’s walking around with an imaginary dream object referencing that to check reality?
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Everyone keeps saying he stole the Totem in “Limbo” but he didn’t steal it. He took it out of the safe and put it back in the safe spinning, so he could give ‘Mol’ the idea that her reality (Limbo) wasn’t real. He must have taken the Totem for her during reality maybe after her death, he would have gotten her affects.
July 22nd, 2010 at 5:02 pm
when his wife killed herself in reality in the hotel room he reaches down and picks her totem up…time had passed in the limbo cause the asian was old meaning the ten hours of reality with the sedative had passed since he aged so much
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:30 pm
I love the fact that I have read everyone of these replies and have gotten absolutely nowhere. Its awesome. Everyone has a very intelligently thought out reason to what happened and all of them could be possibly true. Except for the one that says his wife died and then she would have woken him up. First off that would be impossible because she died twice….Once in the snow level when she got shot, and then again in limbo……so she would’nt be back in reality she would be still trapped in limbo, if this was the case. But anyways I hope the author never gives an explanation because this is exactly what he and I personally both want. Just a bunch of explanations that all could be true. The movie was great and left me with my mind blown.
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
well this is what i think asian guy was stuck in limbo longer than di caprio. so thereefore he was older keep in mind the deeper you get the faster time moves 5 minutes inreality can be several years in deep drea,s especially 4 deep. so when they were talking and dicaprio is young and asian guy is old he shoots dicaprio and then shoots himself. there fore taking them out of limbo. kids did not change much because one could have been a week or two or even a month could be several years in the deep dreams, in my opinion he went back to reality, what couldve seemed a long time was only because they were dreaming. totem was only there to confuse you.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:11 pm
It was not all a dream, the beginning of the movie was reality but the end of the movie was indeed, a dream. Simply put, the movie did not show everyone being “shocked back” into the previous layer such as leo and the asian guy but somehow they were all on an airplane together at the end instead of having a few of the cast members in a LIMBO. As to whose dream it was (in the end), I’m not really sure, it could have very well been Leo’s and all of the people around him could have been his subconscious without any of his buddies physically being there. But hey, I guess we will never know for sure.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:16 pm
how…about she died 3 times btw. and second off. she wasnt a real person she was a figmet of his mind…
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:19 pm
number’s of deaths.
sorry 4 deaths not 3.
1. she had to kill herself to get out of limbo.
2. she jumped out of the window.
3. she gets shot in the 3rd level(ice level)
4. she gets blown away by the girl in the 4th level.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:27 am
I’m 85% sure that the entire movie was Cob performing INCEPTION on himself. To plant the idea that he himself could be redeemed. Otherwise how could his psyche influence every scene; when only the architect was supposed to do so? And make no mistake he influences every scene.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:16 am
It must be taken into consideration that the movie in itself is a maze. Each level of the dream is designed to be a labyrinth, so why not consider that the story is a maze. With each explanation and idea above there is a point where something does not quite add up. The plot has so many holes where so many things cannot be explained.
The explanation above that best matches the maze idea is the explanation about the endless loop in ‘LIMBO’, where Leo is in constant state of repetitive dreaming to reach a level of satisfaction and get ‘home’. The totem aspect is just an idea to get the viewer lost, as is the fact that the beginning is the end. All of these aspects are meant to confuse and make the viewer feel lost in ‘LIMBO’.
Just consider the idea that after each explanation there is still something that does not quite make sense, simply due to the vagueness of the film.
The film is meant to put to the viewer in an endless looping maze where there is not clear way out. This is what makes the movie so fantastic and original. It leaves the viewer lost in a dream where he or she cannot remember how they got there or how to get out. Its frustrating and brilliant.
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:08 am
I’m just wondering.. If the van was there kick back into reality. How was everyone except for Di Caprio and the asian able to swim back out of the van? Shouldn’t the fall from the van wake everyone back up in the airplane?
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:14 am
Nevermind…. I’m wrong…
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:55 pm
After reading all these comments, everyone has a good point. I think at the end of the movie DiCaprio makes it back to reality. It looked like the totem was about to fall but they didn’t show it. During the plane, It was the reality time. As you see, they get off the plane successfully and make it to the USA. It seems they made it to reality, but they just don’t show it. I thought it was good movie. The film was made to make the viewer question it. I don’t think we will ever know the truth, maybe in the future.
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:00 pm
the main article theory makes sense to me, however I need to add an important point, during the “real world” plan it was agreed that the team members last “waking” kick will be the Van hitting the water surfice, that will bring them back to real world “Plane”, well, they missed that level!, the “hotel” bomb was supposed to awake them during the free fall of the Van, but this didnt happend and they were awaken AFTER the van hit the water surface, this clearly mean that they all were stuck in the First level dream “van”, and since (as noticed in some scenes) architect girl felt in love with Dicaprio, then she followed him to Limpo and made him dream about meeting his kids.
Another scene clarify what I am saying is the “immigration” scense where she looked at him and smiled whilst he got the entrance stamp to USA and back to his childre.
The top DIDNOT fall because he is dreaming.
another supportive point is that he saw his kids as exactly as he was imagining in his memories, and the fact he saw their faces!…its simple…shes the “architect girl” afterall !
Hope this make sense to you guys!
(apologies for my english language, english is not my native language)
July 24th, 2010 at 1:19 am
The limbo:
Remember that limbo is a state. Its a place where you don’t know weather your still dreaming or if its reality. Eventually people will wake up at some point as limbo is just a passing through state into reality. You can be trapped within a limbo basically for a lifetime. But eventually you HAVE to wake up to the reality.
People are either waken up when they are “kicked” out (at the end: when the strong sedative is not active anymore) or when the sedative runs out. You can’t sleep naturally forever in reality.
When someone is old and die of “oldness” inside limbo, they will wake up from the limbo as this would be a “kick” out. It could be followed by another limbo and thats why its so crazy, because you loose track of when its another limbo or when its reality. And thats what happens to Cobb’s wife. (You might ask yourself the question, that you gotta remember where you came from before entering the levels or limbo’s? But i guess you will forget that place after living a whole life in a limbo. And what about deja vu’s?)
In theory you can have an endless long strings of limbo’s until you finally wake up to reality. Remember that 5 min in reality can be many years in a series of limbo’s.
The wife’s deaths:
Cobb’s wife only dies ones for good! When she jumps out of the window. All other times are just projections. (Memory’s of her in Cobb’s mind). Therefore when she dies, if it’s:
Reality: then she’s really dead.
Another dream: she wakes up into another limbo OR if she wakes up into reality, she can’t wake Cobb up because of a still active sedative, leaving him to still dreaming in a limbo and in Cobb’s mind she doesn’t really exists, because Cobb believes that it’s reality and therefore she is dead.
The old asian guy and Cobb scene:
The old asian guy dies in the van and have therefore been living a whole lifetime in limbo, because Cobb dies when he later drowns in the van and is therefore entering limbo later when he kills himself at level 4. Therefore the old asian guy is old while Cobb is young. The old asian guy have lost track of reality and therefore Cobb came to tell him that he lives in limbo.
The plain incident:
When you see people waking up on the plain, they are waking up because the strong sedative runs out. Everybody is trapped at level 1, because they were suppose to be kicked back to reality when the van hits the water at the time the sedative ran out. You never know if everyone lived a whole limbo life (besides the old asian guy) or what happened and it doesn’t matter.
The Token:
People keep referring to this token. The old asian guy and the asian solder touches it. So what? Who cares? It doesn’t change the fact if Cobb is coming back to reality or not. Its just a lead to those who couldn’t figure it out by themselfs (the reason why i wrote this). It’s a movie and maybe the whole movie was based in a limbo. That would be a great way into a sequel, wouldn’t it?
Conclusion is:
Is Cobb finally in reality or is it yet another dream that Cobb is settled with, until he wakes up into another limbo or maybe reality? Maybe you live in a limbo. Do you remember coming into this world? No, you just woke up in the middle of it and began you journey. Try to make the best of it…before you wake up!
Steve Jensen
stevejensen.dk@gmail.com
July 24th, 2010 at 6:53 am
“The top DID NOT fall because he is dreaming.”
I don’t agree … completely. If you notice the top starts to waver and then the screen fades to black. You don’t see it fall because you’re not exposed to it long enough. All the other times I remember seeing that top spin, it was like a gyro … perfect.
July 24th, 2010 at 6:58 am
And commenter Ryan nailed it …. this back and forth banter is quite cerebral-ly satisfying.
July 24th, 2010 at 8:35 am
What a great movie. I have to see it again. I think AP’s explanation makes the most sense. The movies starts in the middle of something, like a dream… I’d like to think that because the top begins to wobble at the end it means a happy ending, but the maze idea, the endless loop… it makes more sense for it all to be a dream. Brilliant!
July 24th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
I saw the movie twice in two days. I found it brilliant, and enjoy reading the various theories. I had one question about the levels, though. As the van is falling in level one, the people experience zero gravity and therefore are floating in level two (in the hotel). However, wouldn’t that also be zero gravity, and they would be floating in level three (ice world) as well?
July 25th, 2010 at 1:17 am
How about the name of the movie was Inception. that is to plant an idea in your mind. By going through deeper layers, and deeper untill the thought is your own right. What if the point of the movie is to plant an idea in your mind, i am not sure as to what the point may have been but it is a thought
July 25th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Just seen this and what a quality movie, had to go back and watch it again. So much speculation and doubt over what has happened. The “hotel” level is Arthur’s dream so this is why he has to stay awake and doesn’t go down to the “snow” level. The zero gravity that is in the “van” level will only affect the dreamer of the next level down (Arthur) so this is why it doesn’t occur through all the other levels.
July 25th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
To Andrew
~
I don’t think so. Because What happens in level 1 happens to level two. But the shaking in the real world would not effect them in level 2 that much as the person driving the van in level one. So the no gravity in level 1 would effect them heavily in level two but almost not at all at level 3.
July 26th, 2010 at 1:25 am
What if it was all a plan to plant the idea of Leos wife being dead in his mind. Im probably wrong. But its just a thought
July 26th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
The “inception” idea is that a person can experience something with someone else and have a completely different interpretation of what happened — that the “truth” is subjective. Moviegoers (especially the ones on this thread) all have different interpretations of the idea that has been planted in their minds, and _your_ totem to know what is “your reality” is the movie itself.
The movie characters each played a role in shaping whatever interpration you’ve come up with. Do you want to “believe” it was a dream? Did he finally wake up into reality? Then all the evidence you remember from watching the movie points to that.
And if you’ve listened to other people (like those in this thread) point out the flaws in your conclusion or show you why theirs is better, you’ve caught yourself wondering if what they said was true — if what you remember wasn’t correct, and that their “reality” is indeed the “truth”.
But if it’s true (hehe, and what is truth?) what they say, and the book is always better than the movie, then I hope they come out with the book version of this.
July 27th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
OK the kids faces are not his totem…. his wife his dad and whoever else has seen and touched those faces… and yes HE is stuck in limbo:)!!!1111one11
July 27th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
and the top can fall its not his its his wifes totem.. BUT you kno it was all myDream:)))
July 27th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Okay, I really do not understand how Leo got to the asian dude after the apartment where the architect girl fell off and told leo to find the asian dude. He somehow woke up on the shore….does that mean he entered limbo? or like a 5th level of dreaming? and I agree with whoever said that he is in reality because everytime that leo spins the totem in dreams it never actually topples it remains perfect basically the entire time…but at the end it does topple a little…so that has to mean hes in reality. Also, they had to be in reality at the end because at the beginning of the movie, they started off in the japanese scene, which was the 2nd level, then they woke up into the riot scene (1st level) then woke up into reality. After that if you count how many levels or dreams theyve gone into and back, they are in reality.
….
fuck inception. its made my brain turn into scrambled eggs.
July 27th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Upon leaving the theatre this past weekend I instantly jumped on the idea that the whole thing was just a dream and that Cobb was stuck in Limbo the whole time.
Here’s why none of it really existed:
1. The movie starts off in the middle of some scene with Cobb washing up on a shore. Just as Cobb mentions a few times in the movie, ‘you know your dreaming if you cant remember what you were doing just before this moment or how you got there.’
Although Cobb never had to ask himself this, its worth looking at every scene of the movie and wondering where he was just before that moment or how he got there.
2. Mol’s appearances clearly demonstrate it was always Cobb dreaming because she was his projection that seemed to invade every other person’s dreams he would enter. As the Extractor, his projections were never a part of either the Architect’s dream or the Dreamer’s.
3. Inception is possible because Cobb did it to his wife while they were both in Limbo. After living for decades in Limbo with his wife, and then trying to outrun the guilt of his wife’s death while still in Limbo, Cobb’s subconscience comes up with an elaborate plan to perform inception to himself so he can be happy finally and enjoy his “life” in Limbo without the guilt of his wife’s death on his conscience. The final scene of the movie is his limbo reality with projections of his children.
4. You have to consider the possibility that Cobb’s conscience, or any conscience for that matter, after being weighed down by the guilt of his wife’s suicide for seemingly decades of time would go to some pretty extreme lengths to free himself from his own bondage especially if he was going to be trapped in limbo forever dealing with his own guilt.
The scenario Cobb’s conscience comes up with is the plot of this movie (Mal mentions this somewhat offhandedly at the end of the movie to him as a possibility for all the insanity he just experienced).
5. Ellen Page (Ariadne) is his own projection to assist him in overcoming his guilt for his wife’s suicide.
6. Every other character is also a projection created by Cobb.
7. It was never explained what Cobb did previously before becoming an Extractor.
8. If none of this was a dream and Cobb really was living in reality
– and now time for two things ive read that i highly agree with regarding the movie –
from gizmodo:
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.
from screenrant:
At the beginning of the film, after the first job Cobb’s team tries to pull on Saito, we see Cobb sitting in his hotel room alone, spinning the top and watching it intently, gun in hand. This is a guy who is ready to blow his brains out if the top keeps spinning, in order to “wake himself up.” That’s how obsessed and paranoid he’s become.
Throughout the film, Cobb continues to obsess about spinning the top and verifying reality – however, at the end of movie, he spins the top and walks away from it before he can verify if it stops spinning or not. His kids come running in and Cobb could care less about about the top or “true reality” or extraction/inception anymore. He just wants to be with his children, in whatever place he can be with them. That emotional connection and desire is “reality” enough for him.
In the end, Cobb walking away from the top is a statement in itself that also completes the arc of his character. In a way, the movie is its own maze designed to plant a simple little idea in the viewer’s mind: “reality” is a relative concept.
July 28th, 2010 at 7:24 am
Question… How come his wife never got old, like the Asian guy? Does this mean she was never dead or is it because that’s how Cobb remembers her? Then why does he remember the Asian guy old? Ahhh I need an answer! It seems like there are so many interpretations that work but I need just one!
July 28th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Let’s just reiterate what the movie told us about the process. First, there has to be an architect in order to keep the dreamer in a controlled area. Secondly, the dreamer is the one who fills the dream with people, or perceptions. It is this second fact that makes me believe that the entire movie was a dream.
Like someone previously stated, the fact that his wife keeps showing up despite different dreamers seems to show that cobb is the dreamer for the entire movie and everyone else is a perception.
As for the totem, it wasn’t his originally, and as he stated once somebody else touches it, it is worthless. They don’t mention whether or not someone may have touched it before it became a totem. This leads me to believe that it wasn’t a real totem, and simply followed his mind’s desire as to if it would drop.
It also seems to me that the girl was the one who had to give cobb the idea to let go of the guilt of his inception. If he was giving it to himself, its not really inception is it?
This movie was definitely a mind workout. Christopher Nolan is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors. Between The Prestige, Dark Knight, and now Inception, he continues to surprise me and impress me with every movie. I plan on seeing this movie again so I may try to understand it even more. I loved that he didn’t show the top falling at the end. Great movie.
July 29th, 2010 at 1:08 am
If you want to differentiate the dreams from reality go to his ring finger. Every scene he’s dreaming in – the ring is on his finger. When he’s in reality the ring is not on his finger. Case closed.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:54 am
What you people fail to mention about the Asian guy is that although he was shot in the “van” level, he seemed fine in the beginning of the “hotel” level. He then started to lose health in the “hotel” level but appeared fine in the “snow” level. Then again he lost health in the “snow” level. Then the heir almost loses his health. This causes Cob and the architect to go to Cob’s Mol world, which includes the beach, the hotel room, the house, and the kids. Now Cob is focused on keeping his projection wife from messing everything up while the architect saves the heir. After Mol is taken care of, Cob tells the architect to go cause he is going to get he Asian guy. This leads Cob back to the beginnning scene. Now they are both old men. The totem top (if you believe totems worked and Cob’s totem was indeed the top) kept spinning, so older Cob and the older Asian guy are both in a dream state in that meeting room. The Asian guy, I believe, did in fact survive and not go into limbo. Remember as the levels get deeper, time magnifies. They were four or five levels deep (which is debatable). The short moments that death coul have occured to the Asian guy in the “van” level could have been years in the deeper levels. How Cob and the Asian guy left the other levels (van, hotel, snow, Mol’s world, and the meeting room), Nolan leaves out in order to leave a twisted ending and earn such notable recognition as a great director.
Another idea that can be tossed into this discussion is the fact that the Asian guy also had trained subconsious projections to kill any dream sharers. So they could have killed Cob (the audience not knowing of course) and the sedetive would have already worn off causing Cob to go back though the levels. The Asian guy would have killed himself with the gun and done the same.
One more issue is the positioning of the team in the van. Wouldn’t the people in the front part of the can wake up before the people in the back since the water would hit them first?
Well anyway this is just my 2 cents.
I personally think he made it back to reality or his reality and limbo were so fully incorporated due to inception, he is trapped in his own maze (or world if you will). This would mean that he made up everything that occured throughout the movie and was in fact in a coma from a visous fall he had. I am of course kidding, but who knows…
July 29th, 2010 at 10:47 pm
The most beautiful part of this film is the fact that the film it’s self performs Inception on the viewers. It brilliantly and successfully plants the idea that we must figure this film out, in our minds. While so cleverly written it is impossible to know for sure. There will be many different theories applied to this film, and over time one will most likely become the most excepted, but I personally do not want to know for sure because that dampers the ending for me. If he is in reality he will drive him self crazy trying to figure out a state of dream or reality in which he can have both is children and is wife, and if he is in a dream he will most likely never get out. In the end the only thing left to say is kudos to Christopher Nolan.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:23 am
I don’t want to influence those of you who believe it to be a happy ending, but I have a few possible new scenarios:
1) Dom is not an extractor, and the whole movie is a dream.
Therefore no one actually makes it to reality.
The whole Fisher story represents a strained relationship of perceived dissapointment between Dom and his father. This is ultimately resolved.
Dom’s wife killed herself/was killed in real life. And Dom feels that he is responsible somehow. It may have been something he said to her.
Like any grieving spouse, he would “dream” of all of the different futures, and missed possibilities.
2) Mol was right, and when she killed herself, she woke to reality and is with her kids. Dom is still dreaming, going through the different phases.
Perhaps he is in a coma? Maybe there was a car accident or something, and in his coma he blames himself?
Or they were having marital issues, and as it is a dream, at first Mol is the crazy, evil one. Near the end, she becomes a voice of reason, and he is increasingly conflicted.
For some reason he feels he has to let her go, so he can be with his kids?
3) Mol is the only one who is alive in reality! This is her dream! Dom and the children passed away a couple of years ago. In her subconscious, she is Dom, letting her go to be with the kids.
The term limbo is often used to describe the place between life and death. I think the coma idea is quite plausible.
Perhaps not the happy ending we all may want. But a peaceful ending regardless.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I read that when you sit through the whole credits, in the end you hear the top wobbling and falling down, just after you heard that song they used to wake up.
did anybody hear that? i didn’t stay so long through the credits.
my questions:
Isn’t the totem their to prove if you are in YOUR dream and not in someone else’s? that would mean that he was not in his own dream in the end, but its not clear if he’s dreaming or not. in fact, that could mean that everything was a dream, the whole movie. Your “dream”, which would explain the music at the end of the credits, and the top falling (if thats really true). but referring to what said about the totem, this could also mean you shared a dream of someone else. .
i know that sounds strange…but i like the thought
other question:
in the plane at the ending, when they wake up, there are no cords or suitcase visible, which was in fact the case before when they got out of a dream (level). Did anybody see the same?
this would mean his still dreaming, or in limbo.
i didn’t recognize the wedding ring, but heard from another guy of it. but he also said that in the ending after waking up in the plain, you never see a shot of that hand with the ring, or without it again.
I think, the riddle is not solvable. and that makes this movie to a very personal experience IMO. everyone explains it differently. And thats why i think thats IMO the best movie i’v seen so far. It’s like a dream i can’t wake up, its so beautiful and thrilling.
I go see it again, and maybe again
.
.
i will return and talk about my version of the meaning of the ending and the story. i simply can’t remember enough to explain it. i’m so confused
July 31st, 2010 at 11:28 pm
So, is no one theorizing that the entire movie is Cobb’s dream?–that his wife was in fact correct that they were still dreaming and that her suicide either woke her up or separated them? Because it seems to me THAT is the only other option that Nolan teases us with. Because Cobb obviously makes it back to the plane. So either he is back in reality at the end or else the entire thing is a dream.
But as someone else pointed out I think correctly, the fact that he doesn’t care whether or not the top stops is the important thing.
August 1st, 2010 at 8:31 am
I believe that he woke up in reality.
Think about it the architech left limbo with fisher so they would complete the inception. But once Dom stayed he woke up on the beach because mol and his dream/reality had been destroyed once he fessed up and forgave himself for planting inception on her before. So once he woke up he was found by the asian guys who took him up to the asian guy once they found his totem. The asian guy and dom started remembering because they had both felt it before in the real world so then the asian guy kills himself and dom and they ride up the dream levels and wake up he goes through the airport sees his dad goes home and there his family is the same age because the dream world is longer then the real world and then he sees their faces….Also at the end of the movie if you stay through the credits at the end you hear like a spinning and then it stops..(meaning the totem falls which means hes not dreaming) so its reality.
August 1st, 2010 at 10:14 am
If you’re still confused about the levels and “kicks”, I’ve created an infographic explaining the ending: http://ustandout.com/free-designs/inception-explained-infographic. My theory is that Cobb’s “limbo” is really another dream level, and that Cobb finds Saito in the actual limbo (which is the reason Saito is old while Cobb is not; Saito got to limbo first, where time seems exponentially longer).
August 1st, 2010 at 10:50 am
He’s in reality. Throughout the movie, all he wanted was to see his children. But he needed the asian guy to make ‘the call’ so that it would happen. So he stayed behind to convince the asian guy to leave limbo. I doubt he would have taken ‘no’ for an answer and just given up at that point.
August 1st, 2010 at 6:42 pm
if you wait till the end of the credits, you hear the top fall..
so i don’t think the explanation is as complex as everyone is making it .
Sounds like he was back in reality
August 2nd, 2010 at 12:17 am
1. PLANE is a 2-D construct or aircraft, PLAIN is boring or a field.
“the van was there…” the van was where? “…kick back” Ahh, that’s why they made different spellings!
2. (THEIR shows possession for a group of people, THERE is a reference to a location, and THEY’RE is a conjunction for THEY ARE. Now, to the main event:)
For such an intelligent conversation… come on guys, this is elementary school stuff. Not to mention in both cases these were already correct in preceding posts. Recession what?
Oh, and its clearly a dream at the end, since he walks from the airport terminal directly into a different scene.
Peace out.
August 2nd, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Just saw the movie last night and let’s just say “Inception” by definition is the pure reason why this movie has remained #1 at the box office since its release. Nolan is a genious. If you notice, marketing of the movie gave little away regarding the plot. So when you go in, you are just watching and trying to understand the plot. You go in taking what you see at face value because you have no pre-conceptions of what the movie is about. Each scene is planting a small idea of its meaning in your head….until you get to the final scene and the inception is complete. Just like Cobb had acheived inception with Mal (doubting the life she knew was her reality), Nolan has created inception with us the viewing audience. We start to question what really had just happened. And thus an idea is created in our head and like a parasite, it dominates us. The real Inception? Convincing the viewer they need to see the movie again to catch what they may have missed the first time….Marketing genious!
August 2nd, 2010 at 3:00 pm
(a lot of the good theories here aside,) the only thing ‘for sure’… is that it’s a damn good, intelligent film, with a cleverly crafted plot, that’s got us all …. thinking.
(p.s. I know the DP. I’ll ask him what was (originally) ‘intended’ in the meaning. However, the beauty of such a film, is that the viewer is left with several options & ambiguities, that allows the viewer an even more entertaining experience, long after the film is over,… for the viewer gets to choose whichever reality he/she chooses to see. Genius.
And in fact, might be the true ‘inception’ of the film on the audience: that is ‘what one believes is real, is the true reality for him/her.
Spoon-fed plot lines = boring & banal. Films that make us think = rare & amazing.)
August 3rd, 2010 at 7:25 am
I know you guys have already heard almost every possible scenario, but these are just some of my thoughts.
Cobb say’s throughout the whole film that ‘it’s a dream when you don’t remember the beginning’
If that’s true why would Cobb remember being on the plane in the beginning, to end up there again when he (does or does not snap back into reality) you see it in his facial expression as well that even he is shocked that he has ended up back on the plane. (e.g When their all in dreams, they never really question where they are or how they got there) If Cobb’s was in a limbo, why wouldn’t he just jump straight to see his children, why would he go through the airport scene etc…
I also think that before that he would have progressed to the Fifth level (how ever he ended up there or however he actually snapped back into reality is irrelevant) because the scene where Cobb’s & Saito meet again at an ‘older age’, is the same kind of scene/background as the japanese one from the beginning of the film…
What do u guys think?
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:50 pm
why is the beginning of the film constantly mentioned througout the film?…. like the asian guy constantly reminds cob about how they met, aging like old men when they havent even gotten there yet…. my theory, the whole thing starts at the beginning of the movie and then the scene after the old guys is their explanation of how they got there, because in a dream, you never know how you got there so then they could be in a dream state already and then have had that dream…. or the limbo itself could indefinitely be the first level and that means that it was a dream of dreams… sooooo now that ive confused everyone…… anyways i really think the whole movie is a paradox… because you start and end at the beginning scene but you dont know how you got there so you try to make sense of it and thats prolly when their minds made up the rest of the movie up XD
August 4th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
question,
How does dicaprio get to the plane scene if he doesn’t have anyone to kick him out of the 4th level?
1. assuming the end is a reality – if indeed the end was reality and that the movie is stopped before the top falls, how does dicaprio go back to the airplane scene?
He has no one to kick him out of the he doesn’t have anyone to kick him out of the 4th level or the 3rd level or the 2nd level or the 1st level, because at the end of the movie, everyone except for the japanese guy and dicaprio are out and back to reality. everyone made it through the levels back to the airplane scene systematically.
If no one was on the 2nd level or the 3rd level to kick dicaprio out of the 4th level, how does he get back to reality?
2. assuming the end is not reality (and that it is one of dicaprio’s dreams) – Assuming the end is not reality, is the airplane scene at the end a 5th level? But then how does he see all the other ppl there?
is he dreaming about those ppl, the juno girl, arthur, etc. ?
AHHHHHHH
but i love this movie
i have a theory that Dicaprio was always in a limbo and never escapes from the limbo although he tries to escape the limbo himself by trying to plant ideas in his own mind. But i need to clarify how he gets to the airplane scene first before i can say that my theory works.
I don’t believe anything in that movie was reality
there could have been but i don’t think there ever was reality
but god damn it
i love this movie
August 4th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
AT J.F.T.
damn right you are
August 4th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
the top is as much a totem for us as it is for leo/mal. there are times that it falls over in the movie, letting us know what is real and what is a dream. therefore, that kind of blows the idea that the whole thing was a dream.
August 5th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
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I believe during the whole movie we are in Cobb’s dream. The point of the top still spinning in the end of the movie is to show us that in “reality” that isn’t possible, so we must be witnessing a dream.
We don’t know what’s happening in Cobb’s reality, because no scene in the movie was Cobb’s reality – he was always in a dream and every single person in the movie was in his subconscious. I don’t doubt that all of the people in the movie were a part of Cobb’s real life (which we never witnessed); I always dream about people in my real life. Cobb just has some pretty creative dreams. If he were to do the “ultimate wake-up,” he would be back to his real reality – just normal every day life, which again, we never witnessed.
And to defeat Shelia’s argument that the falling of the totem at some points proves that the whole movie wasn’t a dream, remember…it’s Cobb’s dream. His own mind can make the totem fall or keep spinning no matter if he is still dreaming or not. That is why in dreams, anything is possible…even dreaming that you’re in reality dreaming about something else. Cobb could be sleeping in his bed at home by his wife, with his kids in bed in the other room, and without the help of a sedative. Just a good old-fashioned dream. The whole movie was Cobb’s dream.
August 5th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Sorry about the beginning of my previous message, I am a law student preparing for final exams and have no clue how that got there!
August 6th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
wow this i dumb everyone on here is trying to agrue there piont when the end of the movie is sooooooooo clear!!!
think back far into the movie when he is talking to his children and the asked him when he was comming home and then he asked to talk to his mother! their voices where matured voices!! the kids at then end of the movie dont fit the voices THERE TO YOUNG THERE FOR HE IS IN A DREAM OR LIMBO!!!!
August 8th, 2010 at 11:17 pm
Remember when he spun the top in the bathroom and someone walked in and he knocked it off the counter? Did he spin it again the rest of the movie before the end? If not, I believe he was still in a dream state. And why is everyone so confused about the wife? She was is sub conscious that he couldnt let go. She was dead.
August 9th, 2010 at 4:19 am
Obviously Nolan left every viewer to decide him/herself whether Cobb is still dreaming or not. However one VERY strong point towards the “he was in reality” theory is that HE NEVER SEEN HIS WIFE IN HIS PERCEIVED REALITY – so it had to be the “real” world. I think the most important point however that it does not matter for him – because whatever it is, he decides to remain in this state (already but deciding to look at his children, which in first place makes unnecessary to check his totem)
August 9th, 2010 at 11:10 am
I think the statement about totems being worthless if touched by someone else is pertaining to the abnormalities in weight of some of the totems (for example: Arthur’s loaded die). recalling the point of these objects, they are made unique so that the dream architect cannot reproduce them exactly as the holder knows them (telling the totem owner whether or not they are in a dream, and if it is their own dream). the top’s unique characteristic was not it’s weight, and so being reproduced would be simple, meaning it would still serve its purpose if Mal wasn’t in possession of it.
if you think about Cobb’s top, really, even if the top falls over we can’t be so sure we’re in reality. the rule the top follows is impossible outside of a dream, which makes it really just an idea in the mind of the holder, something they count on…but if in the end Cobb really wanted to believe he was home, there’s nothing in his dream stopping him from letting the top fall over.
August 12th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Nolan is smart … he now can make a sequel that everyone who has seen inception will have to watch
August 12th, 2010 at 9:34 am
People are saying it started at the end…..but the scenes wer different-at the beginning arthur was there and (according to what dicaprio thinks) they were in a dream inside a dream not limbo
August 14th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
The movie does not begin randomly, it begins while they are working.
Think of it this way. If he was dreaming, that means everyone is a projection of his subconcious. The architect girl would not be able to affect his dream in the later scen because she is only his imagination. Also, it would be impossible for Cobb to meet anyone new (such as the girl) because it is his own subconcious.
And if anyone remembers, they were all kicked. The Asian guy was kicked (and he was old throughout the movie) in Limbo while he was brought to life by the defibulator in the ice level, Di Caprio was kicked in limbo, the girl was kicked in limbo, and everyone else was kicked according to plan.
Also, if the kids were the same projection as he had thought, they wouldn’t have different shoes like they did, and the theory that it was the architects dream is false because she had no idea how the kids looked, and if she did (which she didnt) their personalities and voices would be different which Di Caprio would notice.
As for the totem in the end, it obviously flickers in the end.
If you all noticed in other scenes, he picked up the totem after it was thrown because he only needed to throw it to see if the weight and spin pattern were the same. It doesn’t matter how long the totem spins but rather if it spins like it should in reality.
And as for the notion that since it was the wife’s totem it doesn’t matter, his wife is dead so it has no relevance whether she knows or not. The only other person that knows the weight, feel, and spin pattern of that totem is dead, so it doesn’t affect him.
The end could be symbolism for he doesn’t care whether it is reality or a dream, but I think it is symbolism for he is done with all the dream crap and is going to live a well deserved life with his loving children. Hence why he wouldn’t pick it up and put it in his pocket.
So basicly, it’s reality, and since we can’t see how long the totem spun, and the fact that how long the totem spun wasn’t the issue, but its weight, size, and spin pattern is what was used to determine what was reality, it doesn’t matter how long the totem spun.
August 15th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I noticed that in the scene with old cobb and old asian guy it seemed like he was about to pick up the gun on the table. Maybe that is how Cobb awoke back into reality, he was shot by the asian guy. (And the sedative had to had worn off because it was said it took a day for them to wake up that way and plus they were both already lost in limbo) Then Nolan wanted the audience to assume that the asian guy shot himself and returned to reality. Thats why they never showed how he returned. They already missed the “kicks”. It was stated with Cobb and Mal that you can die in limbo and return to reality. But with Mal it was all to much for her. Anyway that’s my theory, great movie! Seen it alot already
August 16th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Anyone ever study Buddhism? Think about the “bardo” — the whole movie seems like the bardo. I think they may all be dead!
The bardo supposedly is the state of mind a soul undergoes at death for 49 days. Because the soul is suddenly detached from the body (which helps anchor the mind in “reality”), the soul basically goes through a dream state that might be hellish, depending on the fear level of the individual.
August 17th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
As Alex says – the ending cannot be in the same ‘reality’ as the earlier ‘reality’ at the start of the film. When he is in the hotel room, after having come out of the two levels of dreams at the start, and is about to try to escape in the helicopter with Arthur and Nash (Lukas Haas), he calls his family and speaks to his son and daughter, both of whom are clearly a lot older than the children he sees at the end. He has been away for years and has never actually seen them at that age, so the children he sees at the end must be the Philippa and James that he remembers before having to escape the country. Therefore the ending has to be a dream.
That’s assuming that there is ever any kind of reality in the film. I’m inclined to believe that it’s all a dream.