Inception Ending Explained
Jul 19, 2010 by Kofi OutlawConfused about the ending of ‘Inception’? Here’s an explanation of what really happened in the film.
While we have an Inception review where you can leave comments, we’ve set up this page as a place where you can discuss the Inception ending and other spoilers without worrying about ruining the movie for folks who haven’t seen it yet.
To help steer discussion we’ve added a lengthy analysis of Inception (especially the ending) and explained why our analysis of the film fits with the story Christopher Nolan intended to tell.
Does our Inception explanation match your theory? Find out!
Many people walked away from Inception impressed. Some were confused, some were even feeling like they had their brains woken by the most exciting and thought-provoking movie experience to come along all year.
I realize that most people who saw Inception have already made up their minds about what they perceived the film to be (and Nolan will undoubtedly be proud of that). However, for those of you still looking for an Inception explanation, we like to offer a few thoughts.
We’ve organized things by category for you, in case you’re more interested in one facet of the film than another. If you want to read about specific points you can follow the links below:
- The Rules of the Dream World (this page)
- The characters and their functions
- Inception Ending Explained
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The Rules
So, the first thing to talk about are the rules of the dream world Nolan created for the film. With all the action that happened onscreen, it was easy to forget some of the finer details – but once the lights came up, and people had time to think, I know the question of who was dreaming which dreams certainly came up (among others questions as well).
Remember the basic premise: Cobb (the extractor) and his team are con artists, and like any con artists their job is to construct a false reality and manipulate it in order to confuse and/or fool a mark (in this case industrialist Robert Fischer, played by Cillian Murphy). Nolan takes the classic concept of a con man a step further by making Cobb and his team dream thieves, but in the end, the basic concept is still your classic con/heist movie.
Dream Levels and Dream Time
Nolan throws a lot of fancy math at you but it’s all really inconsequential. All you need to really know are the basic concepts:
The dream within a dream process puts you into a deeper state of dreaming. The deeper you go, the further removed your mind is from reality. We all know what that’s like: the deeper you sleep, the harder it is to be woken up and the more vivid and real-feeling a dream becomes. If you’re in a deep enough sleep, not even the usual physical ques to wake up effect you, such as the sensation of falling (“the kick”) or even, say, having to go to the bathroom.
By the time you reach the Limbo state it can be so difficult to wake, and the dream can feel so vividly real, that the mind stops trying to wake at all – the mind accepts the dream as its reality, like slipping into a coma.
When you wake up in Limbo you don’t remember that there is such a thing as a “real world” – as in any dream, you wake up in the middle of a scene and simply accept it for what it is. Breaking yourself out of this cycle is extremely difficult, which is why Cobb and his wife Mal were trapped in Limbo for what seemed like decades.
Time is the other factor. The deeper you go into a dream state, the faster your mind is able to imagine and perceive things within that dream state. We’re told the increase is exponential, so going deeper into dreams turns minutes into hours, into days, into years. This is why Cobb and his team are able to pull off the Fischer job while the van is still falling through the air, before the soldiers break into the snow fortress, before Arthur rigs the elevator, and all within the span of a flight from Sydney Australia to LA.
In Limbo, the mind works so fast that actual minutes can be interpreted as years gone by. When Saito “dies” from the gunshot wound he received on level 1 of the dream, his mind falls into Limbo, and Saito remains there for the minutes it takes Cobb and Ariadne (Ellen Page) to follow him into Limbo – those minutes in one dream state feel like decades to Saito in his Limbo state. By the time Cobb deals with expelling Mal’s “shadow” from his subconscious, Saito has begun to perceive himself as an old man.
Mal’s shadow stabs Cobb during the film’s climax, which throws Cobb back out into Limbo and onto the shores of Saito’s limbo house. When Cobb has to “wake” again in Limbo, his mind is muddled just like old man Saito’s brain. Through Saito’s memory of Cobb’s totem and some shared dialogue that included key trigger phrases – “Leap of faith,” “Old man full of regret, waiting to die alone,” etc. – Cobb and Saito are able to remember the meaningful conversations they had and that there is a reality they existed in before Limbo, where both of them had deep desires still waiting to be fulfilled (Cobb and his kids, Saito and his business). Once they remember that limbo is limbo, they are able to wake themselves up (likely with a gunshot to the head).
Continue to the characters and their functions…
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The whole story could very well be false – with Mal still alive.
The fact that Cobb uses Mal’s totem is one key. It’s repeated throughout that one never allows another person to touch one’s totem, as it then becomes possible for someone controlling a dream to also control the behavior of that object in the dream. But Cobb breaks this rule by using Mal’s totem. So there really are two people that know how this totem should work. That makes it possible for Mal to actually be alive, controlling the behavior of the spinner so that Cobb can be led to believe that at some level, he’s back in reality – when really he is not.
Then there is the suicide scene. There’s a moment where Cobb motions for Mal to “come back inside”, and his arm motions as if she were on the edge of the window that he’s facing out of. Of course, she isn’t – she’s in another window across from his. Maybe this is just slightly careless directing/writing on Nolan’s part. To me, it seemed like a perfect reflection of how a dream operates – you see something in one place but your perception of where it is, is not in the place you see it but somewhere else, like next to you. Thus, Cobb may have dreamed the suicide itself – he saw his wife on the other side, because this allowed him to face her and talk to her, but he felt or perceived that she was next to him, so he tells her to “come back inside” when he OUGHT to have said “GO back inside”.
@MNK
Mal is dead, so the fact that she also knew the top’s properties doesn’t matter; she can’t affect the top in reality. Only ONE person knows the properties of the top.
You are being really nitpicky about the direction of cobb’s gesture in the suicide flashback…He is so distraught at that point that he is not thinking, “Gee, I should point my hands THIS way, considering where my beloved wife is standing.” He is simply motioning to her that he desperately wants her back SAFE with him.
No, I think they have a good valid point. Mal might not be dead so she can still control the top. I also thought the same thing. If she were in that room on their anniversary, how would she be across the road on another ledge if it weren’t a dream. I think that was the point of that scene. If not, he would have put her on the same ledge outside the window like normal. She killed herself to go back to reality with the kids and wanted him to do the same. She did, therefore she is still alive. He did’t therefore he is still dreaming. Her father also told Cobb “come back to reality” at one point when they met, which brings me to believe it’s all a dream.
@Hmcarter
The only problem (and a MAJOR one, at that) with the idea of Mal actually being alive is this: If she is alive but is not hinted at (and no, the whole “Ariadne is Mal” is not a hint or proof; it is merely an interpretation) ANYWHERE in the film, then Nolan has simply made a bad film. It’s fine if Cobb never realizes she is alive, because that could be part of a particular plot, but the audience MUST have be let in on the secret…let in on the joke…at some point in the film, since this IS a film and not real life or an actual dream sequence.
Think of it this way: Very few people (and I believe NO ONE, if claimants were to be honest) knew Bruce Willis’s psychologist in “The Sixth Sense” was actually dead until almost the end of the film when the REVEAL was made. The whole film had the audience thinking one way, but the end very deftly showed the truth. The twist would not have worked without the reveal.
Another example: In ANY film having aliens, there MUST always be some human element involved to engage the audience (who are, after all, human), whether it be human-like motivations for the aliens’ actions (“E.T.”, “District 9″) or humans interacting in some way with the decidely NON-human aliens (“Aliens”, “War of the Worlds”).
If Mal is still alive in the storyline, she MUST be shown either in full, as a shadow or silhouette OUTSIDE THE DREAM (maybe picking up the top, blowing a kiss to Cobb, whispering to his sleeping form, or one of countless other ways), or perhaps even as the narrator of the film (or, at least, parts of it). AT NO POINT does the film EVER even hint Mal’s presence in the real world.
Simply put, either Mal is dead, or this film is one of the most godawful movies ever made…the former is MUCH more likely than the latter considering Nolan’s previous efforts.
After two viewings at the theater, here’s my general comments.
* I think that lots of commenters in here are really over-thinking this one, and I think that the top likely stops spinning. However, in the event that it does not stop spinning, I have a theory that makes alot of sense to me. It’s mostly already outlined here:
* IN THE EVENT THAT THE TOP DOES NOT STOP SPINNING, my idea is already thought of an expressed here. http://halphillips.tumblr.com/post/822919795/inception#disqus_thread Basically, Ariadne is Cobb’s dream guide/psychologist, and the entire film is actually an inception to cure Cobb of his guilt and depression, which is keeping him from seeing his children, AND his reality/confusion in order to cure him and allow him to be an architect again. This is why his team particpates.
* Whereas the theory outlined above says everything is a dream, I think that he is awake until he takes the test sedation. I think the entire thing was planned by his team and Ariadne, beginning at the beginning of the film… except part of the inception took place in reality.
* At the end of the film, Cobb returns to level 1 and the top continues to spin. At this point, he sees his children and wakes up.
The following points of the film were a series of inceptions, similar to the “inceptions” made on Fischer.
* Ariadne (the one who helps Thesius escape the labyrinth by providing a string to get out again) convinces Cobb that he must confront his problems with Mal.
* His father tells him that he needs to come back to reality.
* The plot that takes Cobb further into his own subconscious has him confronting Mal, allowing him to make the inception himself.
* His direct acquisition of Seito, indicated by his age, tells the team that the inception was complete. It’s verified.
* The final level, when he sees his children again, is the icing on the inception – by releasing his guilt, he is able to see his children again. Later, when he wakes up, the changes to his psyche cure him of his ills and the story continues…
If you study the film and look for little details you will know if the end is real or not. This little detail is his wedding ring. In reality he doesn’t wear the ring, but in the dream he does. This is even after leaving his wife in “Limbo”. Watch the film again, look for the wedding ring, then you will know the truth about the ending.
In the end I believe that Cobb is living in reality. Once while dreaming, he explains to Ariadne that the kids are memories, and that no matter how many times he gets in touch with them while dreaming, he can never see their faces, they always turn away when he’s about to call them home. In the end, his father calls the children and they look back. That makes me think that scene is real life.
if you think about it, the totem was mauls then cobb took it, which means that the totem never worked for him in the first place, hince the fact that every time he spins it it always falls, so my point is there in a dream from the very start,
@GMann
Mal is dead, so she can’t affect (influence or alter) the top or its properties, so it is a legitimate totem for Cobb, since he is the only living person who knows its properties.
if its all taking place in a dream then they wouldnt have really been sedated and therefore would have woken straight up. Seems to me it would have to be reality or things wouldnt have happened the way they did.
Okay, if Cobb had to go through all that trouble to obtain a passport in order to get back to the United States where Mal’s dad kept and took care of the kids, then how could Cobb have visited him in Paris where he got Ariadne??? I thought Mal’s dad lived in the States with the kids. Why would he be in Paris, working. Did anyone else catch this?? Our reality had to be Cobb’s 1st dream.
@Hmcarter
Mal’s father (Cobb’s father-in-law) works (and, likely, lives) in Paris, France. The movie never indicates if he and the grandmother are divorced or simply living apart based on their particular responsibilities (she takes care of the kids; he teaches architecture at a Parisian unversity), but she lives in America.
This really should not seem so confusing: Grandpa–France; Grandma–U.S.
I never indicated they were divorced. So, if he works in Paris, then he travels back home to America frequently?? In the end, the grandpa picks Cobb up and takes him home and the grandpa apparently visits the kids enough that he brings gifts? I forgot there was even a grandmother. Sorry for the comment.
it seems that Michael Caine is Mal’s dad, maybe the “grandma” on the phone is Cobb’s mom?? just my guess…
Here’s my theory for what it’s worth.
The reason I believe Cobb is still stuck in limbo at the end is b/c the title of the movie serves a dual purpose.
Inception isn’t just the origin of an idea. It’s also an entry point aka how you got here, can you explain it, remember it. Cobb is very careful to explain that in dreams you just appear in mid-scene, no explanation NOR memory how you got there.
You state Cobb shot himself to wake up. BUT we didn’t see that action even though we see the KICK for each other character. That’s a choice Nolan made NOT to show the kick for Cobb and Saito… and it’s also a choice to make events after take on a dream-like feel to them.
We saw Cobb just magically wake up on the plane… much like Fischer just appeared in the bar.
There was simply no INCEPTION point back to reality for him.
As for the spinning top, it’s a distraction, a deliberate one sometimes science fiction writers inserts look over at the shiny top don’t stop and ask why you don’t see his KICK nor his process up through the many levels of subconcious to fully awake.
Also, the point Cobb made about a talisman ignored one aspect, it’s a not a physical item in a dream, it’s another manifestation of the mind. As Cobb stated the mind is extremely powerful and can trick itself into believing anything to defend itself.
The top is about to teeter b/c Cobb wills it to be reality, no matter if he’s in limbo, he desperately wants to believe it’s reality.
Saito was killed and ended up in limbo. The explanation for that was that you wouldnt exit the dream because of sedation. If the plane scene wasnt reality then he wouldnt have really been sedated and the death would have taken him to reality rather than limbo were Cobb met him. Unless its just a plot hole or some ‘mind tricking itself into thinking its sedated’ type deal then they must have been back in reality when they exited limbo even though you dont see how they exit it.
hmmmm unless they were sedated in real life too – damn it Mr Nolan!
Okay, two things that were not brought up here (in favor of Cobb has woken up). 1. One of the reviewers mentioned Cobb’s children are the same age at the beginning and at the end of the film. Wrong. If you stayed during the credits it states in parenthesis (hint, hint) that there were two sets of actors playing Cobb’s kids and that the second set were (two years older) at the end of the film. 2. Strange name, Ariadne. I looked it up and it turns out she was a character in greek mythology who helped Theseus find his way out of the Minotaur’s labyrinth. Also, Michael Caine says he has someone very special in mind to help Cobb (get out of his own labyrinth). Those two things as well as the top wobbling sealed it for me.
Finally, if you stayed for the final credits…..you could HEAR the totem drtop………
whos to say that it was the kids at the end and the kids from the other sunshine memories that where the 2 different ages if i remember correctly there was another scene at the beach with the kids no?
Why accept the totem as a sign of reality?
I don’t understand why the totem is accepted as a sign of reality or dream state?
Could the characters not be in a dream, but dreaming that the totem behaved like in reality, e.g Cobbs’ totem falling down?
there is no established “rule” that prevents the totem from being manipulatied by the otherwise caothic aspects of the dream states, non the less Limbo.
@Andreas
In a movie, the rules of the given universe must be fairly consistently followed, or the whole movie degenerates quickly into a jumbled mess. Even in this film, which by its very nature can bend certain physical laws in certain parts, rules are established and must be followed. If you ignore one of the most basic (the importance of the totems’ properties to indicate dream or reality), why not simply ignore others too???
For example, you say the main character is named Cobb? Well, I say his name actually is Pork Rind McGee. After all, identity is just another bedrock element of the film.
Another example: You say the film is Earth-based? I say it it takes place in pocket dimension on the dark side of the Moon. Location is not significant if the indicator for reality is not either, right?
In other words, if you play around with the rules, they cease to matter. Thus, the entire film ceases to matter.
That would be sad, given how wonderful most people think the film is…
@Archaeon
“In a movie, the rules of the given universe must be fairly consistently followed, or the whole movie degenerates quickly into a jumbled mess.”
Yes, of course, your point is obvious. But questioning one of the most basic rules, that indeed has been made up, is a pretty regular and important thing to do when you talk about or critizise a movie.
And yes, when the rules for the movie is first made up, then they must be followed consistently. What I’m doing is questioning why they made that rule a part of the movie in the first place.
To follow your name allegory, if Cobb was called Nelson Mandela, you would question why this choice was made by the director or writer.
Many other “rules” that are being made up in the movie is quite good and reasonable. Like the division of work between the different mind intruders (architect, dreamer, extracter, etc) or the “rules” of the different dream layers. This is made up, but it makes sense, to some extent. You can imagine this to be the case, if you set your mind in tune with the framework of the movie.
It is clear that the movie seeks to portrait a situation which, when it comes to its relation to our reality outside the movie, is in some sense quite realistic. If the basic premises or framework of the movie is not based on reality outside of the movie, than it would be a jumbled mess indeed. The reason it is a good movie, is partly because it resembles our reality on many points, making it possible to think this could have happened (if we use our imagination).
The movie builds on regular notions of sleep and dream, from reality outside the movie (although some more popularized than scientific claims, like the fact that dream time is different from real time.)
I just thought the notion of having a totem indicate wheter or not one was in reality seems quite arbitrary, compared to some of the other more advanced complexities of the movie.
The totem is kind of like the old saying “if you’re unsure if you’re dreaming, pinch yourself in the arm and see if you wake up”. But as anyone knows, you can ofcourse dream that you pinch yourself in the arm… I just think the totem deal is to unrealistic or dumb maybe, compared to other aspects (made up indeed) of the story.
But most likely I just did not understand it, and was why I wrote here, maybe someone could give an explanation.
@Andreas
I see somewhat more clearly what point you wished to make. I still disagree, BUT I appreciate the reasoning and logic you used.
I think that its interesting Miles is there at the airport at the end. How is Miles both teaching in France and looking after the children in California ? Remember in the film Miles could also be “The Architect”….
Great film though
The ending is clearly not happening in reality. The other user who posted before me gave the reason: there’s no chance in hell his kids are still in the same pose, outside the same living room door, on the same grass, as all the memory sequences we have seen until then. The question is, who dreams the so-called “reality” level?
It can only be his dad, played by Michael Caine. In the final scene, his dad makes him go towards his children and look at their faces. His dad meets him at the airport. Earlier in the movie, Cobb tells his dad that HE had shown him how to perform inception (before the dad suggests ariadne).
The conclusion is that the whole movie is an inception for Cobb, even though he thinks he’s performing an inception on Fischer. His dad has dreamed the world they are in; he is not involved in the deeper levels of the dream world, like the van or the hotel. He organized the whole crew to plant the idea in Cobb’s head that it’s not his fault that Mal died. This is clear from Ariadne’s words–she was suggested by his dad, and she is the one that always stays close to him, and finally makes him let go of Mal.
Ariadne is a name from mythology; in mythology, she led Theseus out of the labyrinth of the Minotaur. In this movie, if she is Ariadne, the person she leads out of the maze is Cobb–therefore Cobb corresponds to Theseus. In other words, the whole set-up is to make Cobb come out of the labyrinth of his own guilt, and accept that it’s not his own fault. This idea is planted there by Ariadne; Cobb is conned into believing that he arrives at it by himself.
This interpretation of mine naturally assumes that after he sees the kids, he is healed, and wakes up feeling no guilt–in true reality this time.
See, I don’t think that it is Michael Caine’s dream, but rather Mal’s dream, and that when she committed suicide she actually got herself out of their dream, but that Cobb stay behind and continues to go deeper and deeper into the levels of his dreams.
that is EXACTLY how I interpretted the movie as well. Good to know i’m not alone. That’s why their apartment is weird in the ‘reality’ sequence. All of a Sudden Cob is looking across the gap or street at his wife. And she’s trying to convince him to kill himself and wake up.
Mal on the ledge – this was a key point for me, too. How can the hotel room wrap around in such a way that Mal crawls out the window, but is looking across the gap at Cobb? I think Mal and her dad have been trying to get Cobb back to reality.
Remember the conversation between Cobb, Arthur, Fisher and (the projection of) Browning on the hotel level where Browning suggests(I think) that Fisher break up the company and Cobb says he’s lying? Perhaps the initial inception was telling Cobb that limbo was not reality, but somehow this backfired. Mal went with it to get him out of limbo, but then tried the suicide gambit to bring him back to reality. Since that didn’t work, the father had to send in a team to help him deal with the guilt before bringing him up to the next level.
If Mal is alive, this might explain the top – she’s the only other person that knows the characteristic of that totem.
The Michael Cain theory seems kind of plausible bc at one point he does tell Cobb to come back to reality…i think Cobb is told at other points to come back to reality as well I just can’t remember when…I also can’t remember if the top ever drops the many times he tries to spin it….if it stops anywhere in the movie (except the part where it gets knocked over) i would say it’s reality.
The only problem I have with the Michael Cain theory is this: after Cobb and Mal killed themselves to get out of the Limbo dream state, they woke up in what they presume to be their “reality”. If this reality is actually a shallow-depth dream, then it was in this same dream that Mal killed herself and Cobb’s guilt for her death began to take root. So, in their reality, why would Cain even want to make an inception in Cobb’s to begin with? He would have no reason to, because the whole event that caused his guilt happened in the dream state, not the reality.
I think that the dream has to be taking place in Cobb’s head (MAYBE Mal’s), but not Michael Cain’s. When the target dies near the end, he drops into the Limbo that Cobb is already familiar with. Unless they were all in Cobb’s (or potentially Mal’s) head, why would he drop into HIS Limbo? We have to assume that this “limbo” is as deep as you can possibly go into a dream state, since you are sent there by default if you die while sedated. Therefor the ultimate owner of the dream that the bulk of the movie takes place in must be Cobb – otherwise the target would have dropped into a different Limbo where none of the things Cobb created were waiting.
Likewise, it could have been Mal’s dream, since it could have been her Limbo that Cobb was in for those 50 years. However that means that they’re in Mal’s head, which means that Mal never died – so what would the purpose of the whole movie be? How would they know to send people in to wake Cobb up if there was never a reason to, because Mal never really died?
see the problem i have with the theory of inception being beformed on cobb is that like showed firsty they both get hit by a train in limbo once you die in limbo theoretically you end up in the real world then in the real world mal died thats what it hink atleast also the wedding ring its obvious that when they are in dreams he has it and outside of it he doesnt the last scene i know is questionable but the movie is not that inception is being performed on cobb…
Mal committed suicide from the opposite balcony, hence a mimicking projection of Cobb’s dream. We are mostly viewers in dreams
I completely agree, I think it was Mal’s dream and that she was performing inception on Cobb. I am inclined to think so for all the reasons brought up by everyone on this site; but also you never find out what Cobb’s totem is because he’s using Mal’s,making me think he’s stuck in there unaware that he’s even sleeping.
One of the stupidest movies I have ever seen. Making the movie so difficult to understand, and open to so many explanations, makes is it a bad movie. Movies are supposed to leave you with a feeling, or a thought, or a message of some kind. Not with endless hours of analysis.
i will kick u vivaldi……..
if say this movie stupid again………….
this is the best awesome……….
i ever saw…………
@Vivaldi
Hmmm…You’re not too bright, are you? The story of the film was quite simple and straightforward; it’s the concepts presented (and the manner in which they were presented) that raised this film above the usual summer (and, in fact, Hollywood) muck. Maybe, you should just stick to easier fare…like “Dora, the Explorer”.
Vivaldi,
You can always go watch Transformers 2 on DVD again, instead.
Vic
There is enough weight in this movie that the audience is supposed to walk away with a deep sense of questioning reality, and observing multiple perspectives; to get us to Think.
The cool thing is that the movie does it so well, everyone in the same theatre will have varying degrees of this perception. Even with another viewing the audience can take fresh angles to the story.
Every time I see it and talk it over with people new ideas and takes on the story are brought up, in a seemingly endless chain of thinking.
I don’t feel that using your mind is a bad thing.
very clever
I guess the whole Ariadne mythology thing is the key to understand the core of the story. Also, the song heard before the “kicks”, “Non, Je ne regrette rien” ties up with the whole transcending the guilty theme – “No, I don’t regret anything”.
A good theory,but we have to question the motives here.
Let’s assume that Caine wants his son to get rid of the guilt,and finally be happy to be with his children,is that enough to let his son stay in a dream just to be happy? Any other in the team does not have a motive,so we assume that they help Caine,but we have to reconsider Saito,because ,for what reason would he want to go limbo for like 50 years???
Is it possible that he was just one of Caine’s projections in level 1,one of Alchemist’s projections in level 2 and blah blah…?
Or is this all set-up somehow by Cobb himself,just to find a meaning to his life again???(memento-like theory)
Ayyway,i think the film was made that way that you can’t really tell.Every theory is questionable,and a lot of theories could stand.
It is a great film,yet another one by Nolan.
to make my view clearer (sorry for double posting, i just think i’m onto something)
1) We know the ending is not reality because of the kids being in the same place as his memories. There’s also the spinning top, the dreamlike quality of corporations chasing him around the world–but the kids are the dead giveaway.
2) We know the “reality” is not dreamed by Cobb, because in his self-created dreams, he never sees the kid’s faces. When he dreamsonly builds on memory, and when he actually did see his kids on the lawn, he never looked at their faces. So the fact that this time he sees them means that somebody else is the architect. So, who dreams it? It has to be the only character who doesn’t go into further levels of dream-within-a-dream. Of the characters that appear in the airport, only his dad (michael caine) does not go into deeper dreams. So the “reality” is his dream by default.
3) We know Cobb’s dad knows inception and in fact taught it to Cobb. Cobb tells him this.
4) We know Cobb’s dad is concerned about his son and his inability to tell reality from non-reality because he expresses that concern when they speak; he also knows about Mal, the reason behind his guilt.
5) Ariadne was suggested for the team by Cobb’s Dad. For a stranger, she is very inquisitive about his past. She consistently intrudes about Mal; she even goes into his dream-constructed world without permission. She will say things to Cobb that Cobb later assumes to be his own thoughts–like the idea that it’s not his fault that she dies, that he has to get over her.
6) Moreover, Ariadne’s name suggests that she refers to the minotaur myth, in which Ariadne leads Theseus out of the labyrinth of the minotaur. Throughout the movie Ariadne is leading Cobb on; so if she’s mythical Ariadne, Cobb is mythical Theseus. And the minotaur is his guilt regarding Mal’s death.
It follows that the most likely explanation is that Cobb’s dad, who is the master of inception, designed the whole frame to make Cobb confront his guilt and wake up out of this dream-state. He suggests Ariadne, who is not the architect, but rather the extractor. Ariadne follows Cobb all the way to the deepest level of the psyche, and there she makes him believe that HE has accepted and moved on from his guilt, while in fact it was she who staged it, guided him along the whole way, and placed that thought in his head at an early stage. Cobb’s dad, the only person who does not go into deeper dream levels, has to be the dreamer of the so-called “reality”. Presumably they all wake up AFTER, and Cobb feels that he has finally accepted his wife’s death, and wants to take care of his kids instead. He will think this is his own thought, but it is in fact planted there–by inception–by Ariadne and Cobb’s dad.
@dan
Actually, Cobb doesn’t say his father-in-law taught him inception; he simply says his f-i-l taught him to navigate people’s dreams…the knowledge of which Cobb started using for EXTRACTION, the exact opposite of inception. Of course, his f-i-l knows Mal is the reason for his sadness and guilt–she was his daughter! Also, you’re right that Ariadne’s name implies that she helps Cobb escape…from the dream and from the trapped feeling he’s had not being able to return to his kids. Ariadne is not unusually curious about Cobb–once she dicovers how troubled he is and how dangerous his dream-travels can be for others coming with him, she naturally wants to know more about the condition of his psyche…as ANY normal, intelligent, cautious person would.
He wakes up in reality, MAL IS STILL DEAD.
@John
The hotel room does not wrap around; the hotel, however, does (many hotels are designed this way, with a courtyard or lack of view, especially in urban areas where space is limited). Mal is perched outside of the room ACROSS FROM her’s and Cobb’s room, so he cannot immediately reach her to grab her arm.
Also, I’ve already explained in several other posts why Mal CANNOT be alive. She is dead.
See, if the target was cobb, and the others orchestrated the inception on cobb, then why does Peter (Eames) say sorry to Mr. Fisher.. adn fisher says, i finally know what my father wanted me to do…. definitely not so!!!
Somethingh has been left out. What about the kick, that was the only way to come back to the reality, so Cobb and Saito didn’t make it, they didn’t wake up in the kick. Maybe Cobb dream everything that he want, like forget that his wife die because the idea he puts on her mind (maybe that is why he does not use the wedding band in the final) and see his children face. Maybe all the end was projections of what his want.
Guys, what about the kid’s grandmother? Was’nt she supposed to be home with his kids?
Great movie!
I think an argument for the ending being a dream is something they said multiple times throughout the movie; “how did you get here?” The movie never shows how Cobb and Saito managed to wake from the limbo state. Just a thought.
I think that basically everyone posting is getting bogged down in the details of this. I also think that this is precisely what Nolan had in mind.
So, what do I think about the ending? Is Cobb dreaming and had he been dreaming the entire film? I genuinely do not believe that there is an answer to this question. Does it take from the film that the question has no answer in mind? Absolutely not, especially after you hear what I believe the idea to the film was.
We know that the population who viewed this film is torn between the answer to the question. Let me restate the question in it’s basic form: Was Cobb perceiving reality or was he still dreaming? This idea has been in the minds of essentially everyone who watched the movie. This idea bears striking resemblance to the idea which Cobb forces on Mal, except that the question is directed at herself, not Cobb.
I believe that the movie is intended to be very meta. There are two ways to interpret this. One way has been noted several times, including in this article, I believe. The suggestion is that the film is very meta insofar as Nolan was performing an inception on the audience to question reality. I do not believe this is the intention of the movie. Why not? Well, firstly that idea has been around for a long time, and anyone who’s taken any philosophy course or done any reading in philosophy can confirm that. For example, Rene Descartes mentioned the possibility that what we perceive to be reality could be a dream in his famous Meditations on First Philosophy. This concept is also not new to the world of movies, since The Matrix invited the audience to question reality in this way. I also think that trying to convince the audience that they might be dreaming and then suggesting that the only way out is to kill themselves is, well, evil.
If this was what Nolan had in mind, then the movie isn’t as good as I thought, since it really fails to make people question their own reality. The only reason why we question Cobb’s reality is because, not only is it outrageous, but also because he’s shown the propensity to get himself stuck in dreams for what he perceives to be sixty years or so. A movie such as The Matrix would do a much better job of asking people to question their reality since Neo is supposedly an average guy who finds himself to a higher level of reality. Perhaps Morpheus will show up at my doorstep tomorrow and tell me that I’m not living in reality, but I have no good reason to believe that I’m dreaming.
So, if asking the audience to question reality is the purpose of the film, then it does a poor job.
The second way to think of the movie as being very meta is the one I believe to be true (and in fact, I came up with the idea). Nolan doesn’t want us to question our own reality. He wants us to question Cobb’s reality. Nolan performed an inception on the audience to cause them to question whether or not Cobb is dreaming. So, this way, the movie is actually MORE meta than you might think. Not only is the movie an inception itself, but the idea that we’re being forced is one ABOUT the movie, and it’s also the VERY SAME idea which the main character put into his wife’s head.
This interpretation offers neither a clean-cut ending or a message for us to apply to ourselves, so why is it appealing? I find it appealing because, all things considered, it is beautiful in and of itself. Everyone is going nuts about the ending to the film, and this interpretation of the film expects that to be the case, whereas the others do not include this. The ambiguous ending is fully explained with this interpretation, whereas the questioning-reality interpretation could have been done without an ambiguous ending and it had the flaw of not being convincing. When you think about things this way, despite having no clean-cut ending, the movie is wrapped up nicely in an entirely different way.
Let me, after viewing many valid and thorough posts and hypotheses, present a different idea, if only for discussion, since we can argue all these points back and forth.
What is truly fascinating about this movie is how Nolan can make tangible even the most abstract things within the flow of the movie that it seems perfectly acceptable. 1.An actual elevator to go “deeper” into Cobbs brain from the beach to the hotel. 2. an actual architect rendering these levels for the dreamer to fill with information that is revealing to the extractors, or inceptors in this case. These are all almost silly when discussed but fully plausable for those who saw it. Also well done is the exaggeration of dreams based on actual factors. When Arthur is flopping in the van, the entire hotel shifts axis and everyone floats as if in a space simulation parabolic flight. In the fitst extraction, an Entire building begins to flood from the top windows. The avalnch in the third fortress level. Each further level one goes into, the more exaggerated even a little event feels (whch is why they use the kicks at the very least).
So with that in mind, I will say the whole movie is a dream and an exaggeration of a fully relatable problem many fathers faec with their children in the corporate day of age. He is always on the road, going from place to place, losing touch with his kids, who he would love to be there, and his wife, who he must have arguments with. He has lost reality by ways of his constant and demanding job (one could even question if he is an actual dream grifter/incepter – or that is just his symbolism for someone who is in psychology or even something like advertising where he can manipulate the mind into wanting to buy a product or figuring out what focus groups like–which is why i can even believe someone saying this movie is actually in the past {look at the clothing and hairstyles emphasizing the 1920 to 40s–then again the hotel had modern technology.. anyways).
He is a man always on the run, and in his dream, he had fabricated that it is not his fault he is constantly o nthe road —
1.”numerous anonymous corporations are constantly chasing you. “, which Cobbs wife uttered to him and questioned whther or not HE was dreaming, when they were both in limbo before she stabbed him.
2.a. His wife turned him in to force him to “take a leap of faith” with her and go into reality by jumping off the ledge. b.He is not allowed to go into the country because of this or he’ll be shot. c. Others seem to know about this without being told.
3.his kids are never facing him, but turning and runnin away, almost going on childhood withouthim.
4.His guilt creates a wife who is a menace and dangerous (which he calles a shadow) , even though she seems so pretty and harmless, as an excuse to leave as if he doesn’t have one good enough for himself.
So He is using companies and work as a scapegoat. He feel compelled to work just as much as he does to be with his kids. But the pressures of the corporate empire press down on him more than his guilt.
In this movie, his dream, his wife jumps off the ledge wanting to get out and into reality. She does this because she confuses reality with dreams based on his inception and follows his advice from a deeper dream to escape (by riding the rails so to speak). In actuality, its Cobbs own confusion of reality and perception of his day to day jobb. Cobb projects his wife, instead, being confused, and he jumping off the ledge is his own manifestation of him feeling he is losing his relationship with his wife. It’s exaggerated, since it’s symbolic in a dream, like the avalanche and the turning hotel. The reasons he is banned from the US based on this are almost absurd, since the police can find out the verdict fairly simply.
Cobb cannot jump with her, and be in a commitement with her forever, like he promised in marriage, his own perceived dreams by wearing the ring, and numerous times in the dream, because he is so reluctant to abandon his alternate reality: his demanding job -his day to day reality,, his dreeam/this movie and take a leap of faith to his family and kids.
Saito, is his fantasy. A man who can come and fix everything for him — by force no less. he can make a call, he can let him be with his kids. how? by Cobb convincing an heir to a corporate kingdom, to break it up into less powerful entities. How convenient. Cobb;s ticket to his family is by breaking up the establishment: convincing a corporate titan, the future runner of an international empire, to lay off, for lack of a term, and demagnify its hold of Cobbs everyday life. This is cobbs dream, a man to come sweep him and save him. Saito asks him to take a leap of faith, and cobb does… for a man in order to break up an empire first, family and guilt next. He cannot go back unless he takes care of his hecktic work situation and he cant take care of the work situation(by breaking apart the oppressive companies —the inception mission) until he can deak with his guilt.
The whole movie has a continuous loop theme. 1.the endless staircase 2. the recurring characters 3. most importantly, the clockwise depiction of a dream Cobb scribbled to Ariande, in her dream, of a mind constantly processiong and creating in a loop. Cobb then draws a line saying “this is what we need you to do, create, so the mark can process”. This line is what the movie is. Cobb processing his situation above the surface (not in the movie) and creating more based on that procession below the surface (what is shown in this movie). It is prefect how the movie, like a clock, basiclly ends where it began, on the 12, on the beach in Japan, but like a clock, the hand may still be on the same number but it is in a different time, not 12am but 12 pm. Saito is old, relecting now Cobbs anti-hero, the opposite of Saitos early depiction of a fantasy. Old and alone, regretting his inaction is saito, just like he told cobb not to be.
He is in his deep limbo here, on the beach, washed ashore on the coast of japan. his own mission to save, within himself, his sanity, is complete with the inception into fischer. He can go to his kids again, and not have to work. The totem spins, and just when it wobbles, the movie ends. It’s not important, Cobb doesn’t care anymore. He will stay in this state with his kids to leave reality and responsibility of work and fam.
The top – the top is cobbs totem all along, Not Mals. Why? The only totem not shown in the movie is either Cobbs or Mals. Many think the top is not cobbs, due to obvious scenes where it clearly shows her owning it. However, throughout the whole movie, Mal is a projection by Cobb. She is the only one guaranteed to not be in the movie. In no way is she hooked up to the machine on any level. Since the movie is a dream and all the figures in it are projections, Cobb can know their totems since he created them in his mind, whether his subconscious self knows about them or not. Since Mal enterred the dream with Cobb on the same level, and is now, one can argue, awake, Cobb’s subconscious doesn;t know his wife’s totem because she never showed it to him in reality. So, when he, in his limbo, projects his wife, his closest thing to him, he renders his token as hers since, when they entered the dream, he had no clue what she would use to know reality. By him projecting his wife to lock the totem safe in a vault, he is convincing himself on a deeply subconscious level that his wife’s dream of them to be together and not have him jet setting for work are unrealistic (since in that dream they made in limbo they were together always). He then spins the top and changes reality to make her believe this is not possible. This is him trying to convince himself his work is worth it. He ends up regretting it because his wife jumps off a ledge because of this.
By spinning this deepest level top, his whole perception of a totem being a link to reality. On his deepest level, he changed the meaning to what a top spinning means. So when his wife jumps off the ledge and the top is still, it is his reality since he convinced himself it is. He is confused, just as his wife said, just as ariande said, just like michael caine said (sorry forgot his name), and his totem lost meaning. So at the very end, when the top spins and wobbles a bit, He is in a fantasy land, but it doesn’t matter. He walks away to join his kids in a state he wants to be real and convinces himself to be, although it is not. He is in limbo.
how is that? well, the way the top wobbles is telling. nolan could have cut the scene at any time after the wobble, but only does when the top is perfectly upright. Of course, when filming, the top eventually fell, but when the screen is cut is totally arbitrary and the top looks as if it will recover. It is purposely vague, because this is scence is vague, even to Cobb, but it doesnt matter sinec he convinced himself to be able to accept the guilt of alienating his wife for work, at least in his make believe state. His kids, he can have now that the corporation is broken up and work is done. When he is in reality, he may have to quit his job, but for now all good.
why are the kids different? they are slightly different in dress and in positioning in the final scene which is extremely telling. Since in cobbs mind, he has not seen his kids in some time when he finally does his brain knows to render them a little differnt. However, his brain only has that one image to work with, so the alterations are ever so slight, but not enough to probably reflect reality, since he cannot.
who is ellen paige supposed to be. well, ellen paige is his own representation of a female young Cobb. A young Cobb, after college, would question cobbs actions constantly and and play counter to his actions. She is a flat one dimentional character, as is his wife, since they are projection by cobb to convince himself conflictiong things. They bother question if he views reality correctly and oppose his actions. They are made by a man to oppose a man, so its not deep. However, the college kid is described as being being “even better than”cobb was at her craft. the kid is his old self asking why do you do these things? old self knows. he views her as his better self.
That’s an interesting interpretation, although I’m not buying Ariadne = Cob. I have noticed that few are as obsessed about the mechanics of the top as I am, but you seem to have an interest, so
What do you think of the following?:
A totem shows its owner that they are in reality (or their own dream) because it has a certain property that only they know. A piece of paper with a certain number written on it would do as long as no-one saw the number. However, finding that your totem is not as you would expect does not necessarily indicate that you are in a dream. If you switched Arthur’s dice for an unweighted dice, he wouldn’t be dreaming. So normal totem proves you are awake (or in your own dream) but cannot prove that you are dreaming.
On the other hand, Cobb’s totem must fall in reality, but can only spin forever in dreams. However, a dreamer can dream a falling top. Therefore Cobb’s totem can prove that you are dreaming but not that you are awake.
I really hope I’m not obsessing over a small cinematic compromise or plot hole, but…
Cobb requires that the top has this property of proving that you are dreaming so that his inception on Mal will work.
But why should he believe that this totem is suitable for use as his own totem? It won’t tell him when he reaches reality. So does he not have a real totem? I do believe he suspects he is lost in his own dreams and a bad totem is part of this. What do you think?
Cobb is lost. Mal is trying to save him. The first “inception” is when Cobb finds Mal’s totem, and begins plotting a way out of limbo.
I just want to make an observation. Cobb would spin the totem and it would fall. He knew he wasn’t in a dream at that point. Notice that at no point in the “real” world besides the end does he actually spin the totem after he tests the sedative in the chemist’s basement. The time that he tries the totem after that, he drops it before he can see if he’s dreaming. Who knows, maybe he’s still dreaming in Mumbasa at the end of the movie…
litterally just walked out of seeing this, absolutely briliant. from the actual idea itself through casting and photography. I think the pacing of the ending and the way it cuts into the middle of a scene (as in you never know how a dream starts) are the biggest indicator that he´s still in the dream sequences. the ending being open for debate is a nice touch too. i noticed this film doesnt have any opening credits the same as the dark knight, are all his films like that?
I’ve seen only 4 of his movies. This one, the 2 Batmans and The Prestige. All great IMO. I do believe he shows no credits at the beginning of any of these but I can’t speak for his other few movies. If you haven’t seen the Prestige, you should definitely check that one out as well. It makes you think about a lot of things as well.
I have just got home from watching this movie and was googling the ending in bed on my phone as it is so confusing but it appears that no-one shares my opinion that maybe the children were never actually a reality? That maybe him and his wife created them in their world while they ‘grew old’ there is no proof that they are a reality. The fact the spinning top was spinning at the end tells us that it was not reality and that he was, in fact still dreaming, maybe in limbo? Nevertheless he doesn’t seem bothered by this as he has his children, sometimes a dream is better than the reality. It could be the same as any other dream he had, baring in mind they have the same clothing and routine as in the usual dreams he has of them, however he proceeded to join them and enjoy the projections rather than ignore them? I’m just batting ideas around in my head, hence the messed up post haha! Just a view that could be possible? X
Guys very simple, ending is ambiguous becuase that sells. Get over it, the author had no definitive answer, he did it on purpose to sell more, its designed that way. i expected it from the minute the movie began. sheesh people you are so easily influenced. Its like an escher painting a never ending staircase you can’t make a definite case as to weather it was a dream or reality. just enjoy it and get over it.
I am abolutely sure that the top did topple in the movie and DiCaprio wasn’t in a limbo when the movie ended. Here’s my take on it . http://bit.ly/dp81SQ
my take on the ending is that he’s still in a dream/limbo, but his own dream/limbo.
1) the position of the children
2) the top spins for a very long time, before he could check if the top would fall, the old man asked him to go and see the kids, the top starts to wobble as he sees the kids, and the sound of top dropping as the screen goes black I think is showing that he is accepting this dream as a reality, and his sub-conscious knows that in reality the top would fall, and made it fall. After all this is HIS dream/limbo, not other people’s dream.
he is still dreaming at the end. do you remember when Cobb goes down to that basement where all the people are sleeping? well he tries it out and dreams and he thinks he wakes up but he doesnt.
proof: he goes to the bathroom to and splashes water on his face and is about to spin the top, but some guy comes in. the top never gets spun…he may still be dreaming
@Becca
Ummm…HOW is that proof???
I thought he was trying to spin it but he dropped it.
Ok LOL…Since Nolan is going to let me decide the ending of Inception, i’ve come to the conclusion that Cobb is like me and you…once ”we human beings” are ”happy” and have gotten what we want we stop questioning. Cobb only wanted to be back home with his kids and when he got it that was it. Nothing else mattered. It’s like me wanting an answer for the ending of this movie lol but since there isn’t one and since it doesn’t look im going to get one either lol i just have to make up my own ending so that i can be done googling the answer about the ending of this movie and move on with my life like Cobb just wanting to be back home with his kids lol. Reading everyones comments is confusing me even more too and i can’t take it any more it’s getting the best of me like what Mal did with Cobb… and i’ve had enough lol it’s not helping…it’s making me want to keep questioning and i refuse to carry on wondering whether Cobb was still dreaming or not.. and Why this and Why that lol…In order for me to move on with my life i have to shut up and give a thumbs up to Nolan for making this movie because this is the best Movie Everrr!!!!!!!!!! i love it.. loooove it….i love how Nolan has left me confused lol….I wonder what kinda movie he’ll do next!!!! Awesome movie!!!!!!
OMGGGGGG
OMG OMGGG WHAT IF WHAT IF….there was no such thing as reality in this whole movie??what if the reality ‘we’ thought they all went back too, you know? the one where they’re all awake and back on the plane? wasn’t actually ”reality” but a dream in a dream??? anybody feeling me right now??lol..i mean the way the movie started wasn’t reality to begin with it was a dream…i think ALL of them we’re ALL STUCK on levels of a DREAM….and the level of a dream that Cobb wanted to get back too was the one where his kids were…yea? anybody agree? No? ok…lol ”next interpretation”…….lol
i said i was going to shut up and applaud Nolan for the movie but i coundn’t help but come back on and give an interpretation of what i think….
By the way…i’ve never been so interested in a movie…i never come online and read other peoples thoughts on a movie…once i’ve finished watching one..thats it…i take the dvd out and put another one in but this movie omggg…it’s driving me crazy…im not the type to brag about a movie but this movie has made me question it…is there anyone else that feel the same way??….Im gonna watch it again =/ lol….=)
Dee,
One thing I haven’t read yet is this (and you hit the nail on the head I think)…
If we accept the premise that Cobb and Mal were experimenting in Limbo, for 50 years, that means they were pretty deep in various levels of dreams (exponential factor). So when Cobb gets Mal to put her head on the train tracks, they should go up 1 (ONE) level. We really don’t know (thanks Mr. Nolan!) if they went up and up to “waking up to real life”, or continued their life on maybe a shallower lever.
My point is that maybe Mal killed herself “one level up” from limbo, and kept going up. I mean for them to pass 50+ years acoording to Nolan’s rules, they had to be several dreams down.
So it’s this “above limbo” level where Cobb gets stuck, and never wakes up. Then he goes down again when other people (Cain et al.) enter to try to get him out.
This is my take on it. If Cobb never woke up to begin with, also, the original dream where we see the movie would be his (because Mal had already woken up). The other lower dreams the movie revolves around belong to others who went in to try to get him out by “inception”.
Obvoiusly there are issues regarding totems, but as somebody pointed out, generally totems are used to verify not reality itself, but the fact that you are in YOUR OWN DREAM (just like when Saito knew about his carpet, the architect designed it out of polyester. It is ONLY the top which spins forever in a dream, therefore becoming a “reality check”. That is why the movie ends there – otherwise, we would have to sit in the theatre forever to watch a spinning top.
Any comments?
The daughter is wearing a different outfit at the end of the film. So to use the beginning and end sequences as reference points to the dream is pointless.
Christopher Nolan and those responsible for the concept have committed the ultimate Inception, to supplant an idea into everyone who sees the film and yet the idea is different for everyone. It’s all about interpretation: yours
Whether Cobb was dreaming or not, this is by far one of the best films I’ve watched in a very long time. Celebrate cinematic genius as well as the ending
some of you are posting like you have never this sort of movie before: of course it’s about “our” interpretation and yes, there is not “the” conclusion to this movie/ending. so please stop beeing “smarter” than us by trying to tell us how this movie works. @fred: this has been said over and over to all Lynch movies, for ex. i think you missed the point because the movie is about speculating and interpreting it! Nolan could explain you in every detail how his movie is meant to be interpreted… what i am trying to tell: it’s great how people make up their interpretation and combine them to new theories and other people reading them to add some pieces to their own and so on…
so stop (trying) to be the “smart genious” and let us talk about the movie!! to all others: great job, i love you interpretations… i am working on my own
there is always ”someone” isn’t there? that spoils it for everyone lol…Fred is probably on another site sharing his interpretations lol…=)