[Movie] Inception - Page 14

The optimist in me says that the ending was reality. If I remember correctly, reaching limbo in multiple levels of dreaming by dying in a dream (out of your control) was a cold lonely place where you are alone and waiting to die, as Cobbs and old Saito said in their scene. Cobbs and Mal were able to create a world for themselves since they chose to do it together. Of course if it turned out that Cobbs was somehow able to create his own limbo while dying in any different level of Fischer's dream (Saito killing him for example), that would be a different thing altogether.

I also don't think that Mal was right. Let's say by killing herself by jumping off the building, she woke up to true reality. If Cobbs' reality was still a level of dreaming, wouldn't she be able to waltz in any time she likes in his reality and kill him or at the very least appear to him and continue to appeal to him to kill himself? (Or is it not possible to go back to the same deeper level of dreaming once you have exited it?) Instead, she only shows up when he's fully aware that he's dreaming and keeps on begging him to stay with her.

However, by typing this all out I realize that I definitely have to watch it again as things may get clearer and I still have many questions. Why would Ariadne leave him? She seemed to know that it is possible that he and Saito would be able to get out after everyone else so how would that be?

All reality questions aside, one of the things I enjoyed was the presentation of his not being able to let go of Mal in his subconscious. One the highest level, you had their best memories, and other memories in other levels. But in the end, consciously choosing to go back and re-live (maybe living in) memories of them in dreams turns the other person into a prisoner who you always hold on to, know that you should let go, but can't bring yourself to. Instead you always visit, gaze, and leave again, allowing this person to run wild in your subconscious and consequently all your dreams.

I also liked having being dropped in a dream or dying as a means to wake you up since it's something most people really experience and remember- that dream where you somehow ended up falling, then suddenly woke up in your bed, out of breath but alert and fully conscious with the distinct feeling of having just landed there. Or the dreams where you died and suddenly woke up, taking a few seconds to think if you're dead or not. The few times both scenarios have happened to me were super freaky, I imagine choosing doing that on a regular basis would drive anyone a little nuts. Those few seconds extend into minutes, into a feeling of losing grip on reality, and then finally into a panic attack whenever you wake up from a dream, hence the need for a totem.

Totems open a whole can of worms, so I won't go into them again. I think that Cobbs told Ariadne what would happen with his totem, but didn't let her actually hold it, so maybe he could still tell that it was real by the weight? And in the end, having being convinced that it was real by holding it, he just absentmindedly spun it? Which of course does not explain the times that he was clearly waiting for the top to stop after having held it, so never mind. I shouldn't have gone into them again.

Something to watch for on a next viewing is cobb's wedding band.
Apparently he is not wearing it on the top level and is in all the dreams (and its off for the final scene).
But rather than that being an indicator of whether its a dream or not, it could just represent his feelings for Mal.
And so even if the top level and the final scene are dreams, if he's not wearing the wedding band he has rejected the possibility Mal will be there and so she won't be.

A number of people were confused by how during the train track suicides, Cobb and Mal were both their young selves when in fact they "grew old" together in limbo. One of the imdb posts mentioned that we were seeing Ariadne's incorrect interpretation of what actually happened. Later, Cobb reveals that he lived 50 years with her there, and the old age is revealed as an 'ah ha' moment.

As I said before I think the only logical outcome is that the totem stops spinning and Cobb is in the real world.

Of course it's a movie and I don't stand behind every single point he makes but the main idea is very clear. Like I said earlier, it seems very likely that Mal is back in the real world and we are just wandering through Cobb's limbo. The fact that Saito would not be able to make a phone call and get rid of Cobb's charges is irrelevant. Of course it's not possible irl, but like you said it is a movie - the fact that he wouldn't be able to make such a phone call is a very weak argument.

I don't even know if the totem really starts losing speed - Nolan wanted to make a clear statement that his totem keeps spinning, by making it the final shot. When Cobb fixes his eyes on his children though, his children are once again at the exact same place in the exact same pose - one of his own memories.

The "take a leap of faith" quote comes back multiple times in the movie. It's not randomly put in. It refers back to Cobb's most intense memory - Mal taking the leap of faith.

Anyway, things would probably get a lot clearer when I can see the movie again. Just like the wedding band rumor that went totally unnoticed to me. In reply to Shockeyy: While not wearing the wedding band in the upper level doesn't really tell us anything and I don't see how it would disprove this theory. Does he acknowledge Mal to be no more and thus he removed the ring? Does it mean they never were married?

Saito saying leap of faith could of been interpreted as a sign by Cobb's thats he should do this, I mean its not an entirely uncommon thing to say.

Perhaps she did wake up to true reality by jumping off the building. However, she committed suicide in true reality afterwards because she still believed she was dreaming. That would explain why she couldn't go back to Cobb's dream except as a projection of Cobb's mind.