Summary

  • Total Recall's ambiguous ending raises questions about reality vs. fantasy through unreliable memories and implanted experiences.
  • The movie blurs the line between what is real and what is imagined, leaving viewers unsure of whether Quaid's adventures are authentic.
  • The ending's intentional uncertainty challenges viewers to think about the unreliability of memory and perception in shaping our reality.

The Total Recall ending is incredibly difficult to decipher, especially since the 1990 sci-fi movie blurs the line between reality and implanted memories. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in Total Recall as Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who uses a memory-implanting company called Rekal to take a simulated vacation to Mars as a secret agent. The fact that the Total Recall ending had many viewers scratching their heads is unsurprising, as the Paul Vehoeven movie is an adaptation of the 1966 short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick, a writer known for bending reality and consciousness.

Total Recall begins with Quaid having visions of Mars and a mysterious woman. He travels to Rekall to implant the memory of being a secret agent on Mars, having always wanted to travel to the red planet. However, both for Quaid and viewers, the validity of everything that happens between then and the Total Recall ending is questionable. The lack of clarity in Total Recall is deliberate, as it highlights the fragility and unreliability of memories. However, many viewers still want to know exactly what's real and what's fake in Total Recall — and there's evidence for both possibilities.

Total Recall is available to stream on AMC+

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Why Everything In Total Recall Might Be Real

Douglas Quaid's Repressed Memories Made Implanting False Ones Impossible

Everything about Quaid's life on Earth was a construct, including his relationship with his wife Lori (Sharon Stone), who is actually an agent sent to monitor him.

The Total Recall ending does a lot to suggest that everything Quaid experiences in the movie is real. It's explained that Quaid's memory implant was botched, and everything he experiences afterward is real. Rekall is unable to implant the memories into Quaid because he has real, repressed memories of being a secret agent on Mars working to destroy a rebellion there. Everything about Quaid's life on Earth was a construct, including his relationship with his wife Lori (Sharon Stone), who is actually an agent sent to monitor him.

Quaid travels to Mars and finds Melina, the woman from his dreams. He later learns that it was his prior identity, Carl Hauser, who created the Quaid persona to avoid the mind-reading rebel leader Kuato. However, with his new memories, Quaid decides to side with the rebels and kill the government leader Cohaagen. His actions also lead to the transformation of Mars's atmosphere into a breathable world.

There are also scenes in Total Recall that do not have Quaid in them, and thus cannot depict the result of his dreams alone.

The strongest evidence prior to the Totall Recall ending that everything Quaid experiences is real comes at the start of the movie. Quaid dreams of Mars and Melina before he has undergone the Rekall treatment, and given that the dreams are so vivid, it's unlikely they're purely a creation of his subconscious. In addition to these dreams, there are also scenes in Total Recall that do not have Quaid in them, and thus cannot depict the result of his dreams alone.

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Why Everything In Total Recall Might Be Fake

Schizoid Personality Disorder Meant Quaid Was Trapped In A Fantasy

Edgemar with a gun to his head in Total Recall

While the Total Recall ending gives a justification for Quaid's adventures on Mars being reality, there are also several moments in the movie which suggest the opposite. Partway through his adventure, Quaid encounters Dr. Edgemar, who performed the memory implant procedure on him, alongside his wife Lori. Edgemar explains an alternate interpretation of events: Quaid has suffered a schizoid embolism, and the fantasy vacation he has requested has merged with his real-life subconscious to create a memory from which he cannot escape.

Quaid's subconscious has constructed a scenario in which his ordinary life gives way to the more exciting one promised by Rekall.

The interpretation of Total Recall that supports everything being fake is surprisingly watertight, as Edgemar makes a compelling argument. It's plausible that Quaid's subconscious has constructed a scenario in which his ordinary life gives way to the more exciting one promised by Rekall. Edgemar points out that everything Quaid requested to happen in his vacation has come true, from the exciting spy adventure through to meeting a woman that exactly fits his preferences.

The main evidence pointing to Quaid's adventure being a fantasy is the sheer improbability of it. Everyone Quaid encounters before the ending of Total Recall is part of the conspiracy against him, but he miraculously outshoots them all, living the promised "Ego Trip." The ending of Total Recall, where Quaid turns Mars into an Earth-like paradise, also seems too good to be true. Elements that Edgemar proposed, such as a Hilton suite and alien artifacts, also appear.

Ultimately, Quaid decides that Edgemar is lying because he still fears death in the supposed dream, but uncertainty still remains — as seen at the end of the movie, where Quaid wonders if everything was all a dream.

One of his coworkers, Harry, tells Quaid in the early part of the movie not to go to Rekall, as the procedure almost lobotomized a friend of his. Edgemar's assistant tells him that Quaid is suffering from "another schizoid embolism", suggesting that he has suffered the same fate as the earlier man, and not the unique result of having an already-suppressed memory. Ultimately, Quaid decides that Edgemar is lying because he still fears death in the supposed dream, but uncertainty still remains — as seen at the end of the movie, where Quaid wonders if everything was all a dream.

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Why It Doesn't Matter If Total Recall's Ending Was Real Or Imagined

The Ambiguity Is What Makes The Movie So Memorable

Schwarzenegger and Paul Verhoeven promoting Total Recall

The only part of the movie prior to the Total Recall ending that is definitely true is the first twenty minutes of the movie before Quaid undergoes the memory implant procedure. From there, the two possible options are everything being Quaid's paranoid fantasy, or the events really occurring, with no real options for a middle ground. However, the ambiguity in Total Recall is precisely the point, and the ending sill works whether the events were real or imagined.

Total Recall highlights how memories can be unreliable, and peoples' perception of reality is molded in ways that suit their inner narratives.

Total Recall highlights how memories can be unreliable, and peoples' perception of reality is molded in ways that suit their inner narratives. Other Dick stories, such as Minority Report, often question the nature of perception and consciousness, and the author was fascinated by how minds could be altered. Similarly, director Paul Verhoeven's movies often explore the thin line between Hollywood spectacle and reality.

These influences suggest that the purpose of Total Recall is not to encourage audiences to unravel the reality of what happened, but to point out the unreliability of human memory. Even if all Quaid's experiences are real, it means the life he lived at the beginning of the movie was a lie, implanted by false memories. While Total Recall uses a science-fictional plot, real memories can be altered by everything from hypnosis to the passage of time, meaning that the movie has serious implications for how viewers think about themselves and their histories.

Total Recall
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Based on Philip K. Dick's short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", Total Recall tells the story of Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a construction worker who receives an implanted memory of an adventure in humanity's colony on Mars. Quaid finds his memories playing out in real time, hunted by agents of a mysterious organization as he works to topple the tyrannical regime of a Martian dictator (Ronny Cox).

Director
Paul Verhoeven
Release Date
June 1, 1990
Studio(s)
Carolco Pictures
Writers
Dan O'Bannon , Gary Goldman , Ronald Shusett
Cast
Marshall Bell , Ronny Cox , Sharon Stone , Rachel Ticotin , Michael Ironside , Arnold Schwarzenegger
Runtime
113 minutes