[Sean]

Originally Posted by Skeeter

The movie presents itself in a certain way; the first act sets up the terms, the foundation for the rest of the movie. In order to interpret the movie in such a way as to see Cobb as dreaming the entire time, we have to ignore the foundation and bring other assumptions into play. If Cobb is dreaming the entire time, than the foundation laid in the first act is illusory and any conclusions we might draw from it are faulty, making the entire premise of Cobb dreaming throughout the movie faulty.

It's similar to the argument against the statement, "There are no absolutes." It's a self-defeating statement.

In order to interpret the film, I would argue that we need to accept the film's premises, including the idea that the parts in the first (and second) act that we are told are in the "real world" are actually in the real world (of the film).

I don't think it does tell us we're in the "real world." It merely tells us Cobb thinks he's in the real world.

The foundation also very quickly and clearly explains

(1) There are dreams within dreams
(2) The person dreaming doesn't immediately know they're dreaming


And from the get go we're getting hints and clues that something is up with Cobb.

[Adam+]

Sweet graph(ic)...

[Gwenny]

Best movie I've seen this year by far. And one of the best I've ever seen. I can't believe that I would ever say that about a Leonardo DiCaprio movie, but there it is.

[Cam42]

The problem with this is that Cobb told Ariadne how the top works.

Sure. But Ariadne never felt the top, so she doesn't know how heavy it is, or what the surface feels like.

[Cam42]

Also: Lost's creator explains Inception's confusing ending [Major Spoiler!] | Blastr

[Skeeter]

Dileep Rao gave an excellent interview where he explains his own theories of the movie. Quite interesting and his thoughts line up pretty closely to my own.

Inception’s Dileep Rao Answers All Your Questions About Inception -- Vulture

Here's the part that stuck out to me (Spoilers, of course):

What if Leo is the one being "incepted" with an idea? We keep hearing the phrase "Do you want to become an old man, filled with regret?" and it's like someone — maybe Ellen Page's character because she's the catalyst of his emotional catharsis — has set this all up so he can let go of his regret over Mal's death. That's why at the end with Saito he offers to come back and be young again (not old, full of regret). Even the Edith Piaf song they use to signal ten seconds before kick translates to "No, I regret nothing." And there's so many scenes where Ellen Page is talking to Leo, getting him to reveal his issues, in the same way that Eames tricks Fischer into revealing his issues. Also, Leo's kids are the same age at the end, right?

I'm not trying to be authoritative, so this is just my understanding of how I approached it from my work on it. But you're saying it's like some sort of crazy-ass psychotherapy session where the whole thing is a constructed narrative of massive complexity only to distract Cobb so that he will achieve his change? I mean sure, you could totally say that that's what it is. In a way, that's what we're doing to Fischer, so it's not unfounded.

The problem for me is that you're using negative evidence to support a story that isn't there. I don't know what to say about a character who only exists before and after the movie. You're talking about a character who isn't onscreen. And I mean on one hand, it's awesome that this movie can sustain that kind of discussion. It shows you just how well-thought-through and comprehensive it is, but I mean I don't know where that kind of speculation ends. It's like people who are convinced 9/11 is an inside job. It's a mental heuristic failure to think that one or two minor details explain absolutely everything. I mean, kids wear the same clothes all the time.

To me, it's a far more elegant story if it's a vast job that Leo has to pull off. The threat is real, the growth is real, the adversary is real. The weakness of "It's all a dream" — why we hate that, why we feel cheated when narratively anything is revealed to be all a dream — is that you've just asked me to spend so much time and emotional capital investing in the stakes of this, and you've now swept it away with the most anti-narrative structuralism that doesn't have anything to substitute in its place. It's laughing at you for even taking it seriously. You don't want to feel like a victim of the narrative, and I don't think Christopher Nolan would do that.

and

Everyone's so concerned about whether the top falls or not, but no one seems to care that Leo walked away without caring. The moment he sees their face, he can walk away. That's testimony to the fact that he's gained that faith.

[judd.]

That is a really sweet picture!

Also, Inception is one of the best movies I've seen this year.

I think that he wasn't dreaming at the end.