Inception's ending: Thoughts & Questions (spoilers ahead)

[drdamo]

First of all: Wow! Its been a while since a movie managed to amaze me with the ending.

To clarify what I mean I'll sum up the "facts":

- There are 5 confirmed dream levels, 1 confirmed reality and a possible dream that has no definite answer but if true it will be nearly identical to reality.

- Level 0 is the actual reality. Level 1 is the driving van. Level 2 is the hotel. Level 3 is the snow fortress. Level 4 is Limbo (unconstructed dream world), Level 5 is Saito's resort and level 6 might be Cobb's final dream level/alternate reality.

- There are several rules for the dream:
1; If you die in a dream level, or initiate the kick (freefall), you get back a level.
The only exception is reality. If you get kicked in reality you will return from level 1
providing you are there ofcourse.
2; If sedated however, death will bring you to Limbo.
Since everyone is sedated from the start of the plan, death or suicide is not an option.
Only a kick will bring you back a level in such situation.
3; Advancing in level will slow time. At some point in the film they say the factor is 10,
however this isn't exactly measurable.
4; Dreamers house the dream, architects create the world, you can be both, yet this is not
adviced for the sake of preserving your perception of reality.
Without a dreamer the world will shatter, so a dreamer has to stay behind if others want to
advance in level.


- Once Ariadne and Cobb are in Limbo, together with Saito (not actually confirmed during the movie) and Fisscher, Ariadne and Fisscher succesfully use the "kick" to get back to level 3 and grab the other kicks to get back to level 0.

- The last shot between Saito's resort is Saito grabbing his gun while talking to Cobb. Thru some keywords during their conversation they remember that this level is not reality and they should get out, however it is unclear what happens.

Going back to the rules of the dream world, both Cobb and Saito are sedated so killing themselves would bring them to Limbo, not bring them back like an unsedated dreamstate.
However the rules are abit vague. At some point the film suggests that death while sedated simply advances the levels, but if such deaths always bring you to Limbo, then Saito's resort cannot exist. For the sake of the story lets assume sedated deaths cause a "level up" and not just bring you back to Limbo by default.

Ok so what happens in Saito's resort? Since the dreamers who dreamt the previous levels all woke up before Cobb and Saito, there is no way back from their dream. Levels 2 & 3 where gone, Limbo was destroyed aswell. Death was no option, freefall wouldn't work since there was no world to go back to. For the sake of the story lets assume again that the timeslow factor was long enough for Cobb and Saito to make it work and the worlds wheren't completely destroyed before they managed to return. (Yes I know, everyone except Cobb and Saito woke up in the Van, making it a sure fact that worlds 2 & 3 where gone for sure, but anyway, we'll ignore that)

So every question so far has been to their advantage, lets not go in on that anymore.
Lets assume they made it, 20 mins till landing, Saito wakes up together with Cobb on the plane and Saito makes a few calls. They eventually land in LA, everything works out fine untill Cobb's dad stand there. He teaches on a university in Paris at the start of the movie. Even if he's a contact of Saito, 20 mins from Paris to LA isn't exactly a stroll in the park, after all the whatifs and sci-fi'ish doubts the whole "open ending" fails on being open by not providing us with our reality's logic.

My opinion is that Cobb knew he had no time or way to get back to reality. Since he managed to destroy his wife's projection he could embrace the logic of his failure, his fear became his stength and he willingly created a new reality, identical to the true one, just so he could enjoy that fraction of time he had left with his kids for as long as he could stretch it. Because deep down he failed to be the father he wanted to be because he was affraid of the truth to be the lie his wife believed it to be. The only truth left was willing to live the lie and accept it to be the truth.


Soooooo anyone else who can add "facts" or willing to speculate what happened, or even better what the thought is that Nolan is trying to plant into our heads?

 

[necromanzer52]

I reckon he made it back to reality.
I also didn't like the film very much.

 

[Zhukov]

Didn't that final wobble of the spinning top mean he had made it back to reality?

That's what I thought anyway.

I will admit that the movie confused me somewhat. They could have done a better job of informing the audience of the "rules".

 

[Terminal Blue]

I think it's fair to say the rules of the film were pretty damn arbitrary.

It's heavily implied (the presence of the gun, the sense of resolution in the dialogue and their subsequent awakening) that Saito and Cobb kill themselves together to escape limbo, just like Cobb and his wife did earlier in the film - incidentally it annoys me intensely that they did that off camera as they missed the opportunity for one of the most moving and shocking scenes in the film, and for what? A PG-13 rating so the film can confuse little kids?

Cobb's dad knew the date of the flight. I don't think it's meant to imply he managed to cross the Atlantic in 20 minutes, more that he would want to be there to see his son finally reenter the country and be reunited with his children.

The ending is clearly meant to be ambiguous. I wouldn't call it either way, there is unlikely to be any objective and non-speculative evidence in the movie because, as mentioned, the rules are so damn arbitrary.

I didn't like the film generally.. it got way too caught up in its own rules to have any generalized meaning. It's only real 'punch' for me was as a vehicle for carrying the key emotional concepts (particularly the possibilities raised by relative time) but other films have done the questioning reality thing better.

I'm not even talking the Matrix. 12 Monkeys hit the note much better.

My friend and I actually came out if arguing though. I decided it didn't matter whether the ending was 'real' or not, the whole point is perception. My friend felt that undermined the whole point of Cobb's conversation with his projection-wife about the insufficiency of living in your own mind. I still stick to my guns.. the actual reality of the ending doesn't matter as long as Cobb can think it's real.

 

[Aiden_the-Joker1]

I feel he didn't make it back to reality because if he did his children would have aged since he last saw them but they look exactly the same.

 

[Co3x]

First of I loved this film. Rarely does a film have me actually sitting on the edge of my seat at all, let alone as often as I was in this film.

I also think the end was perfect for the film, it leaves you thinking WTF?!!??!?! and so the film stays with you long after you've stopped watching it, genius!

It allows the optimist inside you to think that he got to return to his kids, but at the same time you know he's probably pan breid. However either way you look at it he still ended up happy though right?

God I loved this film...

 

[WolfThomas]

I think the important thing is not whether he got out, but that he accepted where he was and was happy without constantly checking the thing.

I feel he didn't make it back to reality because if he did his children would have aged since he last saw them but they look exactly the same.

Except that they use two sets of children with a gap of several years between them, it's just not that noticeable in the movie.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Personally, I'm one of those who believes he made it back to reality. The top makes an ever-so-slight wobble at the last second, something it didn't do in the dream world.

At least, I'm pretty sure I don't remember ever seeing it wobble in the dream realm. I haven't seen the movie since it first came out in theaters. I'll probably get my own copy soon though, as I thought it was a damn good film.

As a quick aside, I didn't have much trouble at all following the chain of events and "dream within a dream" sequences, but lots of folks I've talked to were confused. Was it really that hard to follow, or do average moviegoers drop their brains off before they enter the theater?

 

[Merkavar]

i reckon he made it back to reality cause in the dream the thing didnt even wobble. but at the end it wobled al little

 

[psychic psycho]

Soooooo anyone else who can add "facts" or willing to speculate what happened, or even better what the thought is that Nolan is trying to plant into our heads?

I'm going with the idea that it doesn't matter if he is in reality or in some dream world. The rules of the dream world are vague enough that I think it's possible that Cobb and Saito made it back to reality. I mean Cobb and his wife were able to get out of limbo the first time by killing themselves.

The ending is supposed to be able to go either way. If he is in reality it's obviously a happy ending. If he is still in a dream state it's still a happy ending. In the movie Cobb regrets not being able to "grow old together" with Mal. However, near the end Cobb acknowledges that the memories/experiences he had with Mal in limbo were just as valid as if he spent them in reality. The time he spends with the "Mal" he's locked up in his mind is not valid because Cobb knows too much; he knows that "Mal" is fake. Therefore, if Cobb is still in limbo, the time he spends with his kids is still legit since he does not know his kids enough to tell the difference. I think the point is that anything you gain from a work of fiction is just as real as anything you get in real life.

I think that the movie is an extended metaphor for the movie going experience (or any work of fiction). Fischer is the audience. Cobb and his gang have take Fischer through a series of fabricated events without Fischer realizing it. This is like how a director/author has to make sure audiences maintain suspension of disbelief so they can enjoy the movie/book. The end goal was to plant an idea in Fischer's head, again without him noticing. I think what Nolan is trying to say that creators can't (shouldn't) outright suggest ideas but they have to convey an idea in a such a way that it can grow naturally in the audiences minds.

 

[drdamo]

Soooooo anyone else who can add "facts" or willing to speculate what happened, or even better what the thought is that Nolan is trying to plant into our heads?

I think that the movie is an extended metaphor for the movie going experience (or any work of fiction). Fischer is the audience. Cobb and his gang have take Fischer through a series of fabricated events without Fischer realizing it. This is like how a director/author has to make sure audiences maintain suspension of disbelief so they can enjoy the movie/book. The end goal was to plant an idea in Fischer's head, again without him noticing. I think what Nolan is trying to say that creators can't (shouldn't) outright suggest ideas but they have to convey an idea in a such a way that it can grow naturally in the audiences minds.

Now thats the stuff I'm talking about! Altho the biggest flaw he presents is that he fights the fire with the same fire. Nolan suggests not to suggest, albeit for a good cause, yet it still is rather hypocritical of him.

I think the important thing is not whether he got out, but that he accepted where he was and was happy without constantly checking the thing.

I feel he didn't make it back to reality because if he did his children would have aged since he last saw them but they look exactly the same.

Except that they use two sets of children with a gap of several years between them, it's just not that noticeable in the movie.

Not only that, the timespan of events in reality is never explained. The only fact about the time in reality is the 8h flight. Cobb's wife could've died the previous day, the week before, a month or even years. The different age for the kids might simply be because they needed replacements at some point for various reasons.

 

[phoenix352]

i dont see how anyone would get confused by the rules they are all very simple O.O ...

OT: although i would like to think he was in a dream at the end the little spiny top wobbled at the last 0.5 seconds suggesting it was real so a happy ending .

 

[Gxas]

I've heard rumor that once the credits run, you hear the noise of the top falling. I can't check this until I get the movie, but I still like to believe that it doesn't matter whether he's dreaming or not. It all comes down to whether he is happy.

 

[Ashcrexl]

it is completely ambiguous, so i choose the more interesting still in some sort of self-deluding limbo option. i mean, this is chris nolan. he did memento. he did the prestige. he did following. you think he really intended a completely scott free happy ending?

 

[Arsen]

I want to know why the mind decides to send literal armed guards after you as defense mechanisms to combat random agents with dream machines that go into your veins.

 

[WorldCritic]

The top began to wobble at the end and if he was still in the dream it would have been spinning perfectly, so he made it back. And for the record, I hate ambiguous endings!

 

[Dirzzit]

FUN FACT TIME:

the first level was like a racing movie

the second was the spy thriller

the third was the shoot out action

the fourth was the mistery

OT: well they got out, by the time cob found saito he already ran out the serum in limbo, meaning there in real life

 

[Gypc]

I loved the film, but I don't think there's a definite answer to the question you're asking. Cobb may have gone back to reality. He may have stayed dreaming. There's no sure way to tell, right?