![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
inception
Well, so, to begin with, I was pretty upset by the last shot of the movie. I should have expected as much, from Christopher Nolan - in fact I did expect as much, certainly when the camera didn't cut away as Cobb was going outside with the kids, and actually before that when people kept Looking at him in the baggage claim. But it wasn't everyone in the baggage claim, was it; it was his own people. And the last shot of the spinning top wasn't as perfectly balanced perpetually-spinning as the dream-top had been; it really looked like it started to wobble just before the blackout. In summary, he may have got home safely and been reunited with his children, or he may be caught in the dream-limbo, presumably forever. We just don't know; there's evidence both ways.
If the spinning top topples, then the whole thing worked: they planted the idea in Fischer fils's mind (though he really seems to have planted it himself, and more importantly, come to peace with his father), he sold off the empire, Saito got what he wanted and called off the dogs so Cobb could go home, and one assumes Arthur and Eames and Yusuf find new gigs and Ariadne goes back to school. And everybody is, really, happy. Everyone who was unhappy at the beginning of the film is happy at the end of it.
If the spinning top does not topple, then how much of what we saw was Cobb's dream and how much, if any, was real? The top did topple at one point, in the scene where he was on the phone with the kids. I think it's safe to say they all really did get on the plane. So the first level of the dream was where they were all in the van, and everyone but Yusuf was asleep; the second level was where everyone but Yusuf was in the hotel, and everyone but Arthur was asleep; the third level was where everyone but Yusuf and Arthur was on skis, and everyone but Eames was either asleep or dead. The fourth level was limbo, where Cobb and Ariadne went to find Fischer (and then Saito) and ran into Mal on the way. (Side note: naming the maze-maker Ariadne was clever; naming the wife-spectre "evil" was a bit much, Chris, thanks.) And apparently there was a fifth level, a sort of sub-limbo, because Cobb doesn't know how he got from the limbo-apartment to the beach from which they dragged him up to Saito's place. Maybe not; maybe that was all still in Limbo Level Four. In any event, Ariadne and Fischer got up out of 4-Limbo, so Fischer's Level 3 (snowbase) dream-encounter with his father didn't happen in Cobb's dream - so it's reasonable to conclude it "really" happened, i.e., happened to Fischer in his own dream. Right? And then Ariadne and Fischer and Eames (but not Saito, who was dead) got kicked back up to Level 2 (posh hotel) when the snowbase blew up; and Ariadne and Fischer and Eames and Arthur got kicked back up to Level 1 (panel van) when the elevator crashed; and Ariadne and Fischer and Eames and Arthur and Yusuf got kicked back up to reality (the plane) when the van hit the water. Cobb wasn't there for any of that, so we have to assume it "really" happened.
BUT if the top never falls down in the very end, i.e. if the whole thing is still a dream, then when Cobb (and Saito) wake up in the plane (and everyone else is there), Cobb is still dreaming. We're of course meant to think - that is, we know he thinks - that he and Saito (who was really there, also dreaming) killed each other in Level 4/5 and got kicked all the way back up along with everyone else. But we never see any of that kick - we see real!dream!Saito reach for the gun, and then Cobb maybe doesn't know how he got to the first-class cabin; maybe it's the next part of the dream, Level 5/6, and he's all alone, and everyone (including Saito) is a projection, and Cobb dreams the rest of the movie and never wakes up. That's fine: but in that case, in which Ariadne and Fischer and Eames and Arthur and Yusuf wake up on the plane and Cobb never wakes up, what happens to Saito? He was shot in Level 1 and finally died in Level 3 and met Cobb in Level 4/5 ... and did he ever get out? I think I'd like to believe that he did, and if Cobb got buried even deeper then the event causing that was Saito's violent death in 4/5 so Saito kicked all the way back up and woke up on the plane too.
So I was at first really unhappy with the ambiguity of the ending - and you know I like me some ambiguity, dystopia, etc., I'm the one who seldom wants all her loose ends tied up, and in fact I like bleak endings in many cases (I'm fine with the fact that Sam Beckett never returned home, for instance), but this one made me genuinely unhappy. I was okay with not knowing what happened to Cobb, but really dissatisfied with not knowing what happened to anyone else. But then having had the above series of thoughts, I finally realized: it doesn't matter.
I feel better about it now. :-)
If the spinning top topples, then the whole thing worked: they planted the idea in Fischer fils's mind (though he really seems to have planted it himself, and more importantly, come to peace with his father), he sold off the empire, Saito got what he wanted and called off the dogs so Cobb could go home, and one assumes Arthur and Eames and Yusuf find new gigs and Ariadne goes back to school. And everybody is, really, happy. Everyone who was unhappy at the beginning of the film is happy at the end of it.
If the spinning top does not topple, then how much of what we saw was Cobb's dream and how much, if any, was real? The top did topple at one point, in the scene where he was on the phone with the kids. I think it's safe to say they all really did get on the plane. So the first level of the dream was where they were all in the van, and everyone but Yusuf was asleep; the second level was where everyone but Yusuf was in the hotel, and everyone but Arthur was asleep; the third level was where everyone but Yusuf and Arthur was on skis, and everyone but Eames was either asleep or dead. The fourth level was limbo, where Cobb and Ariadne went to find Fischer (and then Saito) and ran into Mal on the way. (Side note: naming the maze-maker Ariadne was clever; naming the wife-spectre "evil" was a bit much, Chris, thanks.) And apparently there was a fifth level, a sort of sub-limbo, because Cobb doesn't know how he got from the limbo-apartment to the beach from which they dragged him up to Saito's place. Maybe not; maybe that was all still in Limbo Level Four. In any event, Ariadne and Fischer got up out of 4-Limbo, so Fischer's Level 3 (snowbase) dream-encounter with his father didn't happen in Cobb's dream - so it's reasonable to conclude it "really" happened, i.e., happened to Fischer in his own dream. Right? And then Ariadne and Fischer and Eames (but not Saito, who was dead) got kicked back up to Level 2 (posh hotel) when the snowbase blew up; and Ariadne and Fischer and Eames and Arthur got kicked back up to Level 1 (panel van) when the elevator crashed; and Ariadne and Fischer and Eames and Arthur and Yusuf got kicked back up to reality (the plane) when the van hit the water. Cobb wasn't there for any of that, so we have to assume it "really" happened.
BUT if the top never falls down in the very end, i.e. if the whole thing is still a dream, then when Cobb (and Saito) wake up in the plane (and everyone else is there), Cobb is still dreaming. We're of course meant to think - that is, we know he thinks - that he and Saito (who was really there, also dreaming) killed each other in Level 4/5 and got kicked all the way back up along with everyone else. But we never see any of that kick - we see real!dream!Saito reach for the gun, and then Cobb maybe doesn't know how he got to the first-class cabin; maybe it's the next part of the dream, Level 5/6, and he's all alone, and everyone (including Saito) is a projection, and Cobb dreams the rest of the movie and never wakes up. That's fine: but in that case, in which Ariadne and Fischer and Eames and Arthur and Yusuf wake up on the plane and Cobb never wakes up, what happens to Saito? He was shot in Level 1 and finally died in Level 3 and met Cobb in Level 4/5 ... and did he ever get out? I think I'd like to believe that he did, and if Cobb got buried even deeper then the event causing that was Saito's violent death in 4/5 so Saito kicked all the way back up and woke up on the plane too.
So I was at first really unhappy with the ambiguity of the ending - and you know I like me some ambiguity, dystopia, etc., I'm the one who seldom wants all her loose ends tied up, and in fact I like bleak endings in many cases (I'm fine with the fact that Sam Beckett never returned home, for instance), but this one made me genuinely unhappy. I was okay with not knowing what happened to Cobb, but really dissatisfied with not knowing what happened to anyone else. But then having had the above series of thoughts, I finally realized: it doesn't matter.
I feel better about it now. :-)
no subject
So, thanks.