He is Mal's father. Mal's mother broke up with him after Stephen Miles (Michael Caine) continued to support Cobb after Mal's death.
Cobb is psychologically unstable due to his trauma and guilt, therefore images from his subconscious are uncontrollably intruding on him. The others are able to bring items from their minds into the dream world too (their totems, guns, equipment) but deliberately and in control.
It is not really Saito's safe. They are in a dream world constructed by Arthur, and therefore Cobb does not need a combination to open it. As Cobb explains to Ariadne: "Build a bank vault or a jail, something secure, and the subject's mind will fill it with information he's trying to protect." Ariadne: "Then you break in and steal it."
No, it is an original screenplay written by Christopher Nolan.
It's called "Half Remembered Dream" by Hans Zimmer.
Everyone can build and alter their own dream. But not everyone can build a perfect maze. The role of the architect of a dream environment is to design it as a perfect maze for each mission (hence the first maze test sequence). They then explain the design to the team member who is going to be the dreamer (hence the sequence with the miniatures). The one that actually is dreaming in the hotel is Arthur, so he could alter his dream any way he wants to. Arthur was also the one who explained the concept of the never-ending staircase (known as the impossible staircase or the Penrose stairs) to Ariadne so she could incorporate it into the levels.
As it is in real life, the dreamer's dream can be affected by things happening outside the dream. When the van in the dream level above the hotel falls off the bridge, the equilibrium of those inside the van is thrown off, and that feeling of zero gravity carries over into the dream, making it as though there's no gravity in the hotel level below the van. This effect does not, however, seem to extend any further than one level down. There seems to be some effect of Yusuf driving through the barrier (and the loss of gravity in the hotel) inside Eames' dream, however, when the team is surprised by the sudden avalanche. Eames suggests that the effect of events is weakened when propagating through multiple dream levels. At level 2, when a vibration is felt in the elevator Saito asks Eames whether that was caused by turbulence on the plane, to which Eames answers that "it's much closer", and indeed the next scene shows the van which is chased.
The original plan is to have the floor of the hotel room drop out from underneath the dreamers and thus provide the "kick" that wakes them up—specifically Eames who is "hosting" the dream in the snowy mountains. This is supposed to happen before the van plows through the barrier and off the bridge. However, the timing is thrown off and now that Arthur's body is in free-fall in the van, it translates into his dream of the hotel - thus preventing the floor from dropping once the explosives discharge. He improvises a kick by moving everyone into the lift and then setting off an explosive to cause the lift to start moving up the shaft (this works much like a rocket on a space craft). To those in the lift, the force of the lift pushing them is equivalent to gravity. Gravity alone is not enough to awaken the dreamers, but when the lift hits the roof at the top of the shaft, the sudden stopping or slowing-down causes the dreamers to first be propelled upwards, and then fall back to the floor. The result is the same as the inner ear only detects the acceleration due to a force acting on the body, much like Eames' demonstration of tipping Arthur's chair over to wake him up.
Limbo is an infinite dream place of shared subconsciousness. It only contains things the dreamer built in it or what the dreamer intended there to be, which could explain why Limbo has so few projections. When a dreamer is there too long, his/her mind mind starts to think its real. That's why it's dangerous. Cobb said before: Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places... Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange. (The machine allows a person to share dream space with others, but since only Cobb and Mal have been there, the place is filled with things created by both of them. Ariadne is new, so there's none of her projections in there.) The projection of his wife is something he tells Mal at the end that he's tried to recreate over time (by storing memories of her in his mind), so they could still be together in dreams. Therefore, it could be that she's actually an intentional creation of his, out of love and guilt. Similarly, Saito could have created the guards which populate his Limbo. Saito has spent many years being a powerful businessman and would be used to having security of some form or another around him. Cobb's children are always on his mind, just like Mal, but by the time he is in Limbo at the beginning/end he has cleared his mind of Mal, but not his children. So the momentary projection of Cobb's children could be that he misses them so much and wanted to see them again since he didn't see his kids one last time before he left.
The decaying world was not Cobb's Limbo. It was simply Limbo. As stated earlier in the movie, Limbo is "unconstructed dream space". Think of it as a dream vacuum where nothing exists and a dreamer's grasp on reality can be lost. This is why it is so dangerous and feared by the team. The reason it was filled with Cobb and Mal's city was because Cobb had spent 50 years there. As with other dream levels, each state of dreaming is filled with projections and places from each of the current dreamers minds. Having spent so much time there, Cobb filled Limbo with his dream memories of his and Mal's previous Limbo city. After Mal dies in their apartment, Cobb wakes up on the beach once again. This time, near a pagoda-like palace where he finds Old Saito. The jump from one place to another can be explained by a previous scene in the movie where Cobb tells Ariadne that often in dreams you jump from one place to another, not knowing how you got there. Alternatively, the jump can also be explained by Cobb drowning to his death in the first level of the dream and thus ending up in Limbo. The reason the palace is here in this part of Limbo is because Saito and Cobb had spent time there during the audition extraction that Cobb and his previous team did for Saito. Saito now occupies this palace in Limbo where he has been stuck for many years.
One theory is that Cobb entered Limbo twice. The first time was with Ariadne. They found Fischer and kicked him back to Eames' dream. Meanwhile Saito dies and goes to Limbo. Cobb provokes Mal into attacking him. (Note: He provoked her very methodically, a conscious choice he made for some reason, and this theory is one explanation for it.) Mal dies from Ariadne's gunshot wound and Cobb dies from Mal's knife wound. At this point, Cobb is currently dying in all 3 levels (in 3, crushed by the exploding snow fortress; in 2, in the crashing elevator; in 1, left to drown in the van.) When he dies in Limbo, he wakes up in one of (or perhaps all of) these levels and dies again, sending him to Limbo and washing up on the shore near Saito's palace. Saito, having been in Limbo this whole time, has aged decades while Cobb is just arriving to Limbo for the second time.
Another perspective as to why Saito is older is that Limbo is formed around the "raw subconscious". During the helicopter scene, Saito relates to Cobb his personal fear of becoming an old man filled with regret. And this is the form that Saito takes in his Limbo. His age does not reflect the time in the various levels of dreams. With this in mind, the flashbacks of Cobb and Mal in their old age perhaps did not reflect them becoming old in Limbo, but rather were real memories of themselves.
Another perspective as to why Saito is older is that Limbo is formed around the "raw subconscious". During the helicopter scene, Saito relates to Cobb his personal fear of becoming an old man filled with regret. And this is the form that Saito takes in his Limbo. His age does not reflect the time in the various levels of dreams. With this in mind, the flashbacks of Cobb and Mal in their old age perhaps did not reflect them becoming old in Limbo, but rather were real memories of themselves.
Limbo is a very deep dream state where a few hours in the real world last for decades. When Cobb explains that dying under sedation won't make somebody wake up but instead fall into Limbo, they explain that nobody on the team had ever gone there except Cobb. Because they are all sharing their dreams, nobody else had been there and they had no plans prepared there, all that exists is Cobb's. Limbo isn't shared among everybody in the world, it's only shared by the team that's sharing their dreams.
Cobb says at one point that remembering what happened in a dream takes years of experience. It can be assumed that this also works conversely: remembering what happened in reality when entering a dream. It is made apparent throughout the film that the dreamers are fully aware of what they're doing because they've trained ahead of time. Many of the "why"s in the film can be explained simply because the dreamers are professionals and have training and experience. Imagine, if you will, that you could predict what dream you were going to have tonight and you could prepare for it. When you arrived in the dream you would be aware what it was because you had prepared yourself for it. Throughout the film, Cobb's team prepares thoroughly for the Inception job: they study Ariadne's models (with the exception of Cobb), they go through the scenarios, etc. By the time they are actually ready to enter the dreams, they have fully prepared their minds for what they're about to experience and their minds can thus recognize the reality that they are in a dream while Fischer, on the other hand, has not had any prior knowledge of this and can thus be fooled by the illusion.
These numbers ("528491") were the same ones that Fischer Jr. randomly came up with for the team when he was being held hostage. Just as a safe created by an architect can be filled with a dreamer's secrets, so too can the safe be set to unlock with the dreamer's own numbers. By taking Fischer Jr. to a second dream level, his subconscious is able to interpret a string of numbers that was "random" on the first as being significant on the second and finally the actual combination on the third. Eames (projected as a blonde woman) gives Fischer Jr. the numbers so that he can have further rehearsal with them and internalize them further. Cobb exploits this and forces additional rehearsal when he asks Fischer to "figure out the room" to search for extractors. The rest of his team is already at the hotel room when Cobb and Fischer arrive, since they knew the room to be at since they exited the first dream.
Nolan has said multiple times that one of his favorite quotes that inspired him to make this movie is just that. In many other interviews he says that although this is a completely original idea, there are causes of inspiration for everything he's done. This explains the whole premise of "inception" and is a big symbol of how our lives are all made up of tiny little inceptions (or inspirations) caused by others.
"Non, je ne regrette rien" is the signature song of the French songstress Édith Piaf (1915-1963). The song was written for Piaf in 1956 by Charles Dumont and Michel Vaucaire and recorded by Piaf in 1960. It appears in her biography film La Vie En Rose (2007) and its title translates into English as "No, I regret nothing." In Inception, "Non, je ne regrette rien" is used to signal to the various characters that it is time to wake up and/or "kick up" into a higher dream level. It's an appropriate song for Inception because of the theme of regret that weaves through the film. The melody of "Non, je ne regrette rien" is also echoed in the score of Inception by being slowed down.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Nolan, the writer and director of Inception, had incorporated the use of this song into the script from early on. Marion Cotillard, who plays Mal, also portrayed Piaf in La Vie en Rose (and won an Academy Award for it), which caused Nolan to seriously consider taking the song out before being convinced by Hans Zimmer to keep it.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Nolan, the writer and director of Inception, had incorporated the use of this song into the script from early on. Marion Cotillard, who plays Mal, also portrayed Piaf in La Vie en Rose (and won an Academy Award for it), which caused Nolan to seriously consider taking the song out before being convinced by Hans Zimmer to keep it.
In Greek Mythology, she was considered the "Mistress of the Labyrinth".
In the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, Ariadne was a princess of Crete, and her father (the king) created a labyrinth with a Minotaur inside it. Every year seven men and seven women would have to be sacrificed to it. One year, a hero named Theseus offered to kill the Minotaur, and Ariadne fell in love with him, so she gave him a ball of string before he entered the labyrinth as well as directions. Theseus was able to kill the Minotaur and took Ariadne for his bride. In some accounts of the myth, Theseus later abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos, where she was discovered and rescued by the god Dionysus. Ariadne eventually became the wife of Dionysus and joined the pantheon of gods on Mount Olympus. This song can also be read as backing the theory that "Inception" follows the metaphysics of "A Course in Miracles", a spiritual text which describes humanity as dreaming. The dream is described in the Course as having a flavour or underlying, all-pervasive guilt—just as Cobb tells Adriadne he experiences. Truth, says ACIM, is buried deep in the dreamer's unconscious mind (cf. Mal's safe), and Spirit tries to wake us up to our innocence through what is metaphorically described as "an ancient melody" that speaks of our innocence (cf. "Je ne regrette rien" as the call to wake up throughout the movie). Cobb is told by Ariadne that the key to him undoing the nightmarish situation in which he is entrapped with Mal is forgiveness. And so "Mal" ("bad" / "evil" in Latin, French, Spanish and Portuguese) is undone by Forgiveness. Cobb forgives both Mal and himself, releases his regrets, and so heals his past (another key theme of ACIM). Thus in the movie, Ariadne serves as the "mistress of the labyrinth" both in the obvious sense of devising dream labyrinthine architecture, and in the more subtle sense of leading Cobb out of his mental imprisonment.
1. The city (Yusuf's Dream)
2. The hotel (Arthur's Dream)
3. The mountain (Eames' Dream)
4. Limbo (the decaying city and the castle where Cobb finds Saito)
This is a storytelling device. As Cobb tells the story, the audience and Ariadne both imagine Cobb and Mal as they are young-the only way we know them, because it is from our and Ariadne's point of view. When Cobb reminds Mal that they did grow old together, and we see them as they really were in his memory, walking together as older people, finally we see their aged hands clasped together, shaking as they lie on the tracks. It is then we realize how that final scene really was in Cobb's memory, and we understand the full life that they have shared.
It is not explicitly explained. The device used to enter dreams connects to the wrist of the people using it, but it does not appear to be intravenous (IV). Specifically, there is never any evidence of puncture marks, blood spots, or gauze/bandages. After Saito wakes from his dream on the train, he feels his wrist, which shows no evidence of needle puncture, etc. The machine is a plot device that somehow allows the experience of shared subconscious during dreaming, and it also apparently rapidly induces REM sleep (the phase of sleep in which dreaming takes place). It also maintains this REM state for the duration of its activation, obviously necessary for the extraction missions. The science or mechanism behind these features of the machine are not explained, presumably as they have nothing to do with the actual plot. An example of a plausible explanation may involve the use of electromagnetic pulses to stimulate rapid onset of REM, but this is pure speculation.
In this case it was both. The fact that Cobb and Ariadne can voluntarily follow Fischer into Limbo means that Limbo is simply the fourth dream level, where you also end up when you die in one of the first three dream levels while still sedated, which is what happened to Saito and Fischer.
Due to the sedative, a synchronized multi-level kick was needed (the van freefalling, the original plan for the hotel floor explosion, and the snow fortress explosion). Yusuf's kick (van freefall) was too early due to Fischer's projections attacking, and thus, the kicks weren't synchronized. This was designed to ensure that the team was able to stay where they needed to and finish the job. If one kick failed because it wasn't synchronized, they could try another while using the musical countdown to warn the next level that it was coming. Earlier in the movie Arthur tells Ariadne that if Yusuf kicks too early (i.e., if he drives the van off the bridge before Arthur has a chance to kick the group out of Eames' dream), they won't wake up. While normally in order to wake up you must receive a kick in the level above, this isn't true when using the special sedative. Instead with the sedative it takes two or more synchronized kicks in all levels simultaneously. Arthur didn't have the second kick ready when the van drove off the bridge, so he wasn't awakened by the van falling off the bridge. When the elevator hit the ground floor and the group was kicked by the van hitting the water, they were pulled out of Eames' dream (the snow fortress) and simultaneously pulled out of Arthur's dream (the hotel) back into Yusuf's dream (the van). Cobb and Saito weren't kicked back up because they were still stuck in Limbo and weren't being kicked at that moment. So they were left in the van underwater still attached to the dreaming device.
For normal sedatives, you just go back to reality if you become aware that you are in Limbo. (As shown where Cobb and Mal returned to reality.) For strong sedatives, if the timer in the dream machine hasn't expired, you still end up back in Limbo, unaware of the fact that you're still in there/the awareness that it's a dream becoming vague. If the timer on the machine reaches zero and you've forgotten where you really are, you accept it as reality (become older like Saito and die). You'll never go back to reality as your mind perceives that you're dead (coma).
Yes. But these are memories—fresh in his mind due to the fact that he just woke up from dreaming about the time Mal and he spent in Limbo together. If you notice, there is no evidence that the window is part of Yusuf's bathroom. The curtains with their warm glow are even the same as those in the hotel room. This is followed by a close-up shot of Mal sitting on the ledge of the hotel room where she committed suicide. These are all fresh recent memories to Cobb since he relives them in his dream.
No. The room behind her is fine. The room she lured Cobb to is trashed because she is setting up a crime scene that will implicate Cobb in her death. She lures Cobb to the room across from her so she can try to convince him to die with her, without giving him any chance of stopping her. Here she shows a more sinister side: if he doesn't join her in jumping off the ledge willingly out of love for her, she has made it so he might be pressured to jump unwillingly to avoid being framed for her murder. And, in fact, it is because he doesn't jump that he ends up framed for her murder, which would motivate Cobb to follow after Mal and commit suicide to avoid a life sentence. It's also possible she hoped that if he didn't jump, he'd be sentenced to death and upon execution, would join her. She was hedging her bets in trying to ensure he would wind up dying in every scenario to join her in what she believed would be the real world.
Time needed in Reality: 10 hours.
In Level 1, time in the dream: 1 week. Idea to be planted: I will not follow my father's footsteps. Method: Eames disguises and impersonates Browning, Fischer's godfather and convinces him that his father loves him and doesn't want him to follow his footsteps. Cobb gets a random number from Fischer's mind to set the hotel room number in level 2. Yusuf drives with everyone in the van to the bridge where they can perform the Kick. Kick: the van hit through the barrier and off the bridge.
In Level 2, time in the dream: 6 months. Idea to be planted: I will create something for myself. Method: Eames reminds Fischer about the number. The team tricks Fischer by letting Fischer's projection of Browning tells him that his father (so it seems self-generated) has an alternate will which supersedes the other and his father wants him to split his empire. Kick: to have the floor of the hotel room with everyone (528) drop from underneath by triggering the explosives in 491 below.
In Level 3, time in the dream: 10 years. Idea to be planted: My father doesn't want me to be him. Method: By now, the random number Fischer comes up will be the security code for his safe. His projection of father should appear in the vault. Eames need to come up with something to put in the safe (paper fan from the picture Fischer cherished most) to let Fischer thinks that his father doesn't want Fischer to be him. Kick: Drop from exploding the hospital floor.
All the kicks are synchronized. Dropping hospital floor sends them from Level 3 to Level 2, dropping hotel floor sends them from Level 2 to Level 1, the falling van in Level 1 Yusuf back to the plane, where he performs final kicks to wake the rest of the team.
In Level 1, time in the dream: 1 week. Idea to be planted: I will not follow my father's footsteps. Method: Eames disguises and impersonates Browning, Fischer's godfather and convinces him that his father loves him and doesn't want him to follow his footsteps. Cobb gets a random number from Fischer's mind to set the hotel room number in level 2. Yusuf drives with everyone in the van to the bridge where they can perform the Kick. Kick: the van hit through the barrier and off the bridge.
In Level 2, time in the dream: 6 months. Idea to be planted: I will create something for myself. Method: Eames reminds Fischer about the number. The team tricks Fischer by letting Fischer's projection of Browning tells him that his father (so it seems self-generated) has an alternate will which supersedes the other and his father wants him to split his empire. Kick: to have the floor of the hotel room with everyone (528) drop from underneath by triggering the explosives in 491 below.
In Level 3, time in the dream: 10 years. Idea to be planted: My father doesn't want me to be him. Method: By now, the random number Fischer comes up will be the security code for his safe. His projection of father should appear in the vault. Eames need to come up with something to put in the safe (paper fan from the picture Fischer cherished most) to let Fischer thinks that his father doesn't want Fischer to be him. Kick: Drop from exploding the hospital floor.
All the kicks are synchronized. Dropping hospital floor sends them from Level 3 to Level 2, dropping hotel floor sends them from Level 2 to Level 1, the falling van in Level 1 Yusuf back to the plane, where he performs final kicks to wake the rest of the team.
"Mr. Charles" is a gambit designed to alert the Target (Fischer) to turn against his own subconscious by telling him that he's dreaming and pointing out the strangeness of it all, gaining his trust in order to move forward with the mission at hand as quickly as possible. Cobb impersonates as Mr. Charles, a projection of Fischer's subconscious trained by an Extractor who comes to help him to get rid of the intruders. This is extremely dangerous as this alerts Fischer's trained subconscious to be well-prepared to find the intruders and kill them (Fischer's projections in the third level down are militarized and well-armed).
Eames is the "dreamer" for the third level. Fischer, as he is for dream levels 1 and 2, is the "subject" of the dream. The task of being the dreamer on each level requires being someone within the team so the designs for the dream space can be correctly constructed according to plan.
Mal told Cobb her plan to incriminate him if he won't jump with her. Mal went to 3 different psychologists to prove that she's mentally sane, then sent a letter to their attorney that Cobb is trying to kill her and papers indicating her mental state. Considering that Mal had deliberately staged a struggle in the hotel room before she jumped off the ledge of the opposite room, this is why the police refuse to listen to Cobb's explanation that she's mentally unstable and conclude that he killed her.
It's left unclear as to how forensic pathologists wouldn't have been able to verify that Mal fell from the building on the opposite side of space between the buildings, but it might suffice to say that the street or alleyway was narrower than it seems (to us the audience) or that Cobb was convinced enough of Mal's plan to simply run from the law without giving his statement, making him a fugitive. In either case or both cases, it's possible that what we see or gather from exposition is Cobb's imperfect and guilt-filled recollection of the events, which aligns perfectly with the "metaphysics" of the movie's narrative—that the world is what one makes of it.
It's left unclear as to how forensic pathologists wouldn't have been able to verify that Mal fell from the building on the opposite side of space between the buildings, but it might suffice to say that the street or alleyway was narrower than it seems (to us the audience) or that Cobb was convinced enough of Mal's plan to simply run from the law without giving his statement, making him a fugitive. In either case or both cases, it's possible that what we see or gather from exposition is Cobb's imperfect and guilt-filled recollection of the events, which aligns perfectly with the "metaphysics" of the movie's narrative—that the world is what one makes of it.
It is mentioned in the film that 10 hours under heavy sedation = 1 week in level 1 dream, 6 months in level 2 dream, 10 years in level 3 dream. That's the original Inception plan. However, it seems that not even a day has passed in level 1 dream throughout the whole mission. This is due to the unforeseen circumstances such as Fischer's subconscious being trained (heavily armed and capable of finding the intruders quickly) and Saito is hurt and dying, so their mission needs to be completed as quickly as possible.
The team knew the number beforehand, when Fischer told them. Since Arthur is the Dreamer, all he needs to do is to change the room number(s).
Most importantly, the person needs to be fully aware that he's in Limbo. Under heavy sedation and with the time machine still in countdown, one needs to produce two synchronized kicks to return to the level above or one needs to synchronize the kick that person performs in Limbo with all kicks on the level above to the level 1 dream, then return to reality. Under normal sedation, just killing oneself or performing a kick on each level separately would do (doesn't need to be synchronized since a slight disturbance can cause dreams to collapse).
The evidence is generally very weak in demonstrating that the "reality" present in the film is any different than the reality that we experience every day, and that is in the context of cinema and television in general, in that tales conveyed through motion pictures are comprised of distinct scenes that are usually edited together and contain gaps between them in a similar way as how the collection of dream segments in a single period of REM sleep play out to a dreamer. That is to say, the events in Inception form no more of a dream than the events of any other "typical" flick. The arguments (and counterarguments) are as follows.
1. Repeated lines of dialog shared amongst the characters: Mal and Saito both tell Cobb to take a "leap of faith", and Cobb predicts what Saito will say in limbo. (However, coincidental and repeated lines are common in countless films without any reason to believe they are "all a dream." Additionally, the term "take a leap of faith" would be basically ubiquitous in a world where one must actually kill themselves just to wake up from a dream. In fact, "take a leap of faith" is a common and widespread expression, which Cobb tells Mal to convince her to suicide in Limbo. The other phrases were said during conversation between Saito and Cobb after he was shot and before they went to 2nd dream.)
4. The clumsiness of the homicide police investigation regarding Mal's case and put the blame on Cobb entirely. (We don't know all the circumstances surrounding the investigation, and bad investigations happen all the time, so this is hardly evidence for the whole film being a dream.)
5. The spinning top at the end of the film. The top is a totem used to help verify whether Cobb's in reality or in someone else's dream, but it offers no verification against being in his own dream. He knows the exact weight, composition and how it should spin. So whether the top stops or continue spinning, it's not important as even when it stops, it could be that Cobb believes that he finally reunite with his family, hence his dream fully becomes his reality. (It's true that if the whole film is a dream, the top wouldn't matter, but this is not evidence for the film being a dream. You could say that about any behavior of any object in the whole movie. Also, Cobb tells Ariadne how it worked. Another possibility is that Ariadne was hired to seduce Cobb into telling her how it worked, and then trick him into looking at his children and forget to watch it until it stopped.)
6. In Mombasa, in the bathroom after he tests Yusuf's sedative, you see the figure of Mal behind the curtains, if he was in "reality" then his subconscious could not be projecting her. (Not projections. These were just memories. The curtains were not in Yusuf's bathroom-they are the same curtains as in the hotel room, Cobb was just remembering of her.)
7. Cobb's totem was not Mal's top, rather one could suggest that Mal was his reality check, his "real" totem. Yet throughout the movie he was directly or indirectly responsible for either killing her or imprisoning her, in essence losing his sense of reality and refusing to face up to the facts-which may be that he was indeed dreaming the whole time. (Cobb's totem was Mal's top. In no way was Mal his reality check-it is quite the opposite.)
8. The musical score that is heard, is the slowed down playhead of "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien", which is the Edith Piaf song used for the musical countdown. The significance here is that the deeper you go into the dream, time slows, thus the music will slow too, mimicking the score. This musical design perhaps indicates that Cobb's reality was still very much a dream state too. (The music only slows down when listened to from a lower level, due to the time dilation at that level. Yes, the song was integrated into the score, but only as a theme.)
9. Numerous improbable or coincidental events that happened during parts of "reality". Cobb is saved by Saito coincidentally during the chase between Cobol Engineering agents and him. (Saito has been tailing Cobb to protect his investment-not coincidental at all.)
10. Nearly the entire team is highly proficient with all types of weaponry, though certainly Cobb at least, does not appear to have had any particularized weapons training. How does Ariadne know how to even fire a gun, much less hit anything? All appear to be highly capable in all sorts of militaristic tasks, from skiing, to explosives, to hand to hand combat, to sniping etc. (They are in a dream world during all scenes involving weapon use. Their real world weapon abilities would have no effect here. Like Eames was saying on level 1, "You need to learn to dream bigger", and then produces a grenade launcher. During the dream state, they have limited control over the experience, similar to The Matrix.)
11. This may be a continuity error, but when Arthur goes to get Cobb in Tokyo after the failed extraction of Saito, they leave the hotel room and go to the roof for the helicopter at night. When they're on the roof, it's day.
More counter-evidence:
1. The children are two years older in the last scene (see cast list).
2. The spinning top starts to wobble just as the movie ends, and also is heard to topple and scoot across the table after it cuts to black.
3. In the setting (reality/dream) where Mal kills herself, if that were a dream, she could have rejoined the dream, where Cobb was still stuck, to show him that it is a dream. Or she could have given him the kick if she got awake from the dream.
Alternatively, "the whole film is a dream" in the sense that Nolan is suggesting that what we think of as a waking state, or "reality", is in fact just more dreaming (which is not supported by any interviews with Nolan or statements by the cast/crew anywhere).
Hinduism and Buddhism both share the idea that the world is "maya", or an illusion and that we are on a journey of "awakening from the dream". This has been taught by such Indian saints as Sri Ramana Maharishi and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who call it "Advaida", which means non-duality; the idea that all the universe is just one consciousness, connecting everything in it. We act out our lives like a play shown onto a movie screen. But only those who achieve Nirvana (a.k.a enlightenment, or becoming one with Nature) can perceive the illusion for what it is (a dream) and become aware of the "screen" on which the great drama is unfolding.
According to the Advaida philosophy, it is only when we are in a state of deep sleep that we come close to the timeless, "true" state of being that is the universal consciousness, which all Nature is part of. When we wake up, in effect we are waking into a world that is illusory.
A separate movement believes in the specific idea that humanity is collectively dreaming a dream of guilt and separation, from which we need to wake up by practicing forgiveness. This is a metaphysic ideology given in "A Course in Miracles" and "The Way of Mastery", which are spiritual texts purportedly channelled from Jesus in the 1970s and '90s respectively. ACIM in particular has influenced most spiritual "new age" authors and commentators today.
1. Repeated lines of dialog shared amongst the characters: Mal and Saito both tell Cobb to take a "leap of faith", and Cobb predicts what Saito will say in limbo. (However, coincidental and repeated lines are common in countless films without any reason to believe they are "all a dream." Additionally, the term "take a leap of faith" would be basically ubiquitous in a world where one must actually kill themselves just to wake up from a dream. In fact, "take a leap of faith" is a common and widespread expression, which Cobb tells Mal to convince her to suicide in Limbo. The other phrases were said during conversation between Saito and Cobb after he was shot and before they went to 2nd dream.)
4. The clumsiness of the homicide police investigation regarding Mal's case and put the blame on Cobb entirely. (We don't know all the circumstances surrounding the investigation, and bad investigations happen all the time, so this is hardly evidence for the whole film being a dream.)
5. The spinning top at the end of the film. The top is a totem used to help verify whether Cobb's in reality or in someone else's dream, but it offers no verification against being in his own dream. He knows the exact weight, composition and how it should spin. So whether the top stops or continue spinning, it's not important as even when it stops, it could be that Cobb believes that he finally reunite with his family, hence his dream fully becomes his reality. (It's true that if the whole film is a dream, the top wouldn't matter, but this is not evidence for the film being a dream. You could say that about any behavior of any object in the whole movie. Also, Cobb tells Ariadne how it worked. Another possibility is that Ariadne was hired to seduce Cobb into telling her how it worked, and then trick him into looking at his children and forget to watch it until it stopped.)
6. In Mombasa, in the bathroom after he tests Yusuf's sedative, you see the figure of Mal behind the curtains, if he was in "reality" then his subconscious could not be projecting her. (Not projections. These were just memories. The curtains were not in Yusuf's bathroom-they are the same curtains as in the hotel room, Cobb was just remembering of her.)
7. Cobb's totem was not Mal's top, rather one could suggest that Mal was his reality check, his "real" totem. Yet throughout the movie he was directly or indirectly responsible for either killing her or imprisoning her, in essence losing his sense of reality and refusing to face up to the facts-which may be that he was indeed dreaming the whole time. (Cobb's totem was Mal's top. In no way was Mal his reality check-it is quite the opposite.)
8. The musical score that is heard, is the slowed down playhead of "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien", which is the Edith Piaf song used for the musical countdown. The significance here is that the deeper you go into the dream, time slows, thus the music will slow too, mimicking the score. This musical design perhaps indicates that Cobb's reality was still very much a dream state too. (The music only slows down when listened to from a lower level, due to the time dilation at that level. Yes, the song was integrated into the score, but only as a theme.)
9. Numerous improbable or coincidental events that happened during parts of "reality". Cobb is saved by Saito coincidentally during the chase between Cobol Engineering agents and him. (Saito has been tailing Cobb to protect his investment-not coincidental at all.)
10. Nearly the entire team is highly proficient with all types of weaponry, though certainly Cobb at least, does not appear to have had any particularized weapons training. How does Ariadne know how to even fire a gun, much less hit anything? All appear to be highly capable in all sorts of militaristic tasks, from skiing, to explosives, to hand to hand combat, to sniping etc. (They are in a dream world during all scenes involving weapon use. Their real world weapon abilities would have no effect here. Like Eames was saying on level 1, "You need to learn to dream bigger", and then produces a grenade launcher. During the dream state, they have limited control over the experience, similar to The Matrix.)
11. This may be a continuity error, but when Arthur goes to get Cobb in Tokyo after the failed extraction of Saito, they leave the hotel room and go to the roof for the helicopter at night. When they're on the roof, it's day.
More counter-evidence:
1. The children are two years older in the last scene (see cast list).
2. The spinning top starts to wobble just as the movie ends, and also is heard to topple and scoot across the table after it cuts to black.
3. In the setting (reality/dream) where Mal kills herself, if that were a dream, she could have rejoined the dream, where Cobb was still stuck, to show him that it is a dream. Or she could have given him the kick if she got awake from the dream.
Alternatively, "the whole film is a dream" in the sense that Nolan is suggesting that what we think of as a waking state, or "reality", is in fact just more dreaming (which is not supported by any interviews with Nolan or statements by the cast/crew anywhere).
Hinduism and Buddhism both share the idea that the world is "maya", or an illusion and that we are on a journey of "awakening from the dream". This has been taught by such Indian saints as Sri Ramana Maharishi and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who call it "Advaida", which means non-duality; the idea that all the universe is just one consciousness, connecting everything in it. We act out our lives like a play shown onto a movie screen. But only those who achieve Nirvana (a.k.a enlightenment, or becoming one with Nature) can perceive the illusion for what it is (a dream) and become aware of the "screen" on which the great drama is unfolding.
According to the Advaida philosophy, it is only when we are in a state of deep sleep that we come close to the timeless, "true" state of being that is the universal consciousness, which all Nature is part of. When we wake up, in effect we are waking into a world that is illusory.
A separate movement believes in the specific idea that humanity is collectively dreaming a dream of guilt and separation, from which we need to wake up by practicing forgiveness. This is a metaphysic ideology given in "A Course in Miracles" and "The Way of Mastery", which are spiritual texts purportedly channelled from Jesus in the 1970s and '90s respectively. ACIM in particular has influenced most spiritual "new age" authors and commentators today.
1. The wedding ring on Cobb's hand that's present in dreams but absent in the real world.
(To refute: This could be because in what Cobb sees as a dream, he wants Mal to still be alive and married to him (keeps her alive in his memories), but in so-called reality, Cobb knows he's not married anymore and took it off. It may, in fact, be his totem, so if Cobb took it off long ago he would not know that he wasn't in reality. While mourning his wife I doubt he would consciously check the weight. If "reality" is his dream, which Mal says in an argument while alive, his subconscious would recreate the weight anyway; totems only tell you when you're in someone else's head unless you know you're dreaming.)
2. Cobb's kids: Phillipa & James. The kids at the end of the film are different and are older compared to the younger ones we've seen throughout the film. Their clothes are slightly different. The girl has a white shirt underneath her red dress and his son was wearing shoes instead of sandals at the end. This is the most solid evidence. Observe carefully. Also if he was dreaming, he would not be able to know what his children's faces would have looked like turning around and seeing him seeing as how he cannot change a memory. He even said himself earlier in the film that no matter how hard he tried, he, "can't change this moment." He will never see his children's faces unless he gets back to them.
3. The top. There's a significant difference between the top that keeps spinning flawlessly when he's in a dream and the top that's spinning at the end of the film (which clearly wobbles, loses momentum and does sound like it is stopping). (It does wobble and lose momentum, strong signs, but it sounded not like it toppled but that the sound for the top cut out.) (See the FAQ entry concerning totems. Mal's top adds another layer of unreliability to determining whether the end is reality or dream, since everyone knows the nature of Mal's spinning top; not to mention it does not take any special knowledge to cause a spinning top to fall over in your dream-that's what tops do.)
4. It is showed at the end that Cobb and Mal did grow old together for 50 years in Limbo with them walking the streets as old man and woman, two old hands hold together on the train tracks.
5. The rules, technical aspects of performing the Extraction and Inception in the film.
6. Cobb remembers exactly how he got to where he is, which he wouldn't know if he was dreaming. (But where was the car ride from the airport to home? Did he even think to try to remember? These aren't explicitly revealed.)
7. The emotional depth of the film. If the ending is real, it shows that Cobb does go on an emotional journey, to take a "leap of faith" to believe that Saito will honor their agreement so he could go home and see his kids and finally get over with his wife's death and guilt. The scene where Cobb talks with old Saito is significant as it shows they've grown and become friends, as Cobb had said to him: "Come back and let's be young men together." He's "transformed" because of his leap of faith and he's rewarded by finally reuniting with his kids. (This is hardly evidence to support it was reality. The important part to the ending is that it doesn't actually matter if the top fell or not-if it's reality or not. The character arc in question could have happened with or without reality and in the end Cobb gets what he wants/needs. That is the resolution.)
8. Cobb and Mal do not end up together. This could only be a factor of reality. If it were a dream, Cobb would have found a way of keeping Mal alive in the dream so that he could be with her. (Cobb wouldn't want to do this because he states that his recreation of her in his dreams "isn't good enough" because it doesn't truly capture what she was in real life, with all her perfection and flaws. In fact, Cobb never wanted to stay with her, he just created that projection to keep remembering her, as somebody who keeps all the time remembering of a dead loved one, but in this case he was doing that in a much "real-looking" way. If we consider that some untold group wanted to lock him in a dream, and that Ariadne was an agent of them who seduced him into discovering his totem - remember he told her how it worked - and what would be strong enough to make him believe/want to believe a dream was reality, then by analysing him she had found out that Mal's projection wasn't enough and that his real weak point was his children. So, making them together would never work, as he kept rejecting her the whole movie.)
9. Throughout the shooting script Nolan uses the simple transitional element for changing scenes, "and we-CUT TO:". Every time this occurs, it's not cutting to another scene with in the "present" reality, but it "cuts to" either a higher or lower dream within the dream, or it "cuts to" reality. So at the end of the shooting script Nolan writes "And we-FADE OUT." By Nolan saying that it doesn't "cut to" another level of the dream, or back to reality, but instead it simply "fades out," Nolan is letting us, the viewer, know that after reality there is nothing to "cut to", so Cobb is presently in reality. Nolan allows the viewer to make his/her own assumptions based upon their optimistic/pessimistic worldview, but Nolan's in one of optimism, as can be seen in all his other films. He's not a "happy ending" director, but he's optimistic about the future... (All scripts start with Fade In and end with Fade Out...)
Alternatively, Nolan is showing that what we commonly believe to be reality exists during the film, and that Cobb is indeed in what we'd call "reality" at the end of the film. But the spinning top is a clue from him-an inception to us, the audience-that our idea of "reality" may in itself be the projection of a dreaming mind, that collectively, we are all dreaming an outpictured "reality" full of projected figures.
2. Cobb's kids: Phillipa & James. The kids at the end of the film are different and are older compared to the younger ones we've seen throughout the film. Their clothes are slightly different. The girl has a white shirt underneath her red dress and his son was wearing shoes instead of sandals at the end. This is the most solid evidence. Observe carefully. Also if he was dreaming, he would not be able to know what his children's faces would have looked like turning around and seeing him seeing as how he cannot change a memory. He even said himself earlier in the film that no matter how hard he tried, he, "can't change this moment." He will never see his children's faces unless he gets back to them.
3. The top. There's a significant difference between the top that keeps spinning flawlessly when he's in a dream and the top that's spinning at the end of the film (which clearly wobbles, loses momentum and does sound like it is stopping). (It does wobble and lose momentum, strong signs, but it sounded not like it toppled but that the sound for the top cut out.) (See the FAQ entry concerning totems. Mal's top adds another layer of unreliability to determining whether the end is reality or dream, since everyone knows the nature of Mal's spinning top; not to mention it does not take any special knowledge to cause a spinning top to fall over in your dream-that's what tops do.)
4. It is showed at the end that Cobb and Mal did grow old together for 50 years in Limbo with them walking the streets as old man and woman, two old hands hold together on the train tracks.
5. The rules, technical aspects of performing the Extraction and Inception in the film.
6. Cobb remembers exactly how he got to where he is, which he wouldn't know if he was dreaming. (But where was the car ride from the airport to home? Did he even think to try to remember? These aren't explicitly revealed.)
7. The emotional depth of the film. If the ending is real, it shows that Cobb does go on an emotional journey, to take a "leap of faith" to believe that Saito will honor their agreement so he could go home and see his kids and finally get over with his wife's death and guilt. The scene where Cobb talks with old Saito is significant as it shows they've grown and become friends, as Cobb had said to him: "Come back and let's be young men together." He's "transformed" because of his leap of faith and he's rewarded by finally reuniting with his kids. (This is hardly evidence to support it was reality. The important part to the ending is that it doesn't actually matter if the top fell or not-if it's reality or not. The character arc in question could have happened with or without reality and in the end Cobb gets what he wants/needs. That is the resolution.)
8. Cobb and Mal do not end up together. This could only be a factor of reality. If it were a dream, Cobb would have found a way of keeping Mal alive in the dream so that he could be with her. (Cobb wouldn't want to do this because he states that his recreation of her in his dreams "isn't good enough" because it doesn't truly capture what she was in real life, with all her perfection and flaws. In fact, Cobb never wanted to stay with her, he just created that projection to keep remembering her, as somebody who keeps all the time remembering of a dead loved one, but in this case he was doing that in a much "real-looking" way. If we consider that some untold group wanted to lock him in a dream, and that Ariadne was an agent of them who seduced him into discovering his totem - remember he told her how it worked - and what would be strong enough to make him believe/want to believe a dream was reality, then by analysing him she had found out that Mal's projection wasn't enough and that his real weak point was his children. So, making them together would never work, as he kept rejecting her the whole movie.)
9. Throughout the shooting script Nolan uses the simple transitional element for changing scenes, "and we-CUT TO:". Every time this occurs, it's not cutting to another scene with in the "present" reality, but it "cuts to" either a higher or lower dream within the dream, or it "cuts to" reality. So at the end of the shooting script Nolan writes "And we-FADE OUT." By Nolan saying that it doesn't "cut to" another level of the dream, or back to reality, but instead it simply "fades out," Nolan is letting us, the viewer, know that after reality there is nothing to "cut to", so Cobb is presently in reality. Nolan allows the viewer to make his/her own assumptions based upon their optimistic/pessimistic worldview, but Nolan's in one of optimism, as can be seen in all his other films. He's not a "happy ending" director, but he's optimistic about the future... (All scripts start with Fade In and end with Fade Out...)
Alternatively, Nolan is showing that what we commonly believe to be reality exists during the film, and that Cobb is indeed in what we'd call "reality" at the end of the film. But the spinning top is a clue from him-an inception to us, the audience-that our idea of "reality" may in itself be the projection of a dreaming mind, that collectively, we are all dreaming an outpictured "reality" full of projected figures.
In the teaser trailer, the music used is a custom score from Sencit Music, composed by Mike Zarin (website here). The second trailer uses a variation of the same song. The longer theatrical trailer uses a track titled "Mind Heist", composed by Zack Hemsey (website here). Contrary to popular belief, the music was not composed by Hans Zimmer, who composed the actual score for the film.
Near Calgary, Canada. The crew constructed the buildings in the third layer on the site of a former ski resort. The real-life inspiration for the fort, however, can be seen in San Diego, California: it's the UCSD Geisel Library.
The film doesn't say, but from earlier statements, Chris Nolan declared that the film is supposed to be contemporary.
To many, the children appear to not have aged in the end scene. IMDb cast credits show that two pairs of children were cast for the two different ages (about two years apart). There are multiple memories, some of which show the younger children playing at the beach, others show the younger children playing in the yard throughout the film. The younger children also appear to run around a corner leading Cobb to Mal in the final Limbo. Certainly the children appear to be a similar age, and to be wearing similar clothing. Repeat analysis shows that the clothing is similar at the end, though not the same. The children do look older. However, considering the power of the dreamer to alter the world of the dream, this is no guarantee that the children, if indeed they are projections, haven't just been changed by Cobb so that he will accept them as real. Certainly the story is very clever in creating this ambiguity. Cobb is unable to see their faces in his memory of the yard to confirm they look younger (the body shows they are smaller). Other theories have suggested that the reason for casting two sets of child actors were to have one set visible, while the other set only heard. The voices of the children on the phone seem older than what would belong to the children playing.
Since Fischer has been told that he is in a dream and is being protected by his subconscious projections, he could simply assume that Saito is one of these projections, or as he is shown to not be fully aware of the current affairs of his father's business, Fischer Jr. may not have known or seen Saito before. Also, it takes special dream training to be able to remember what happened on a previous level of the dream, separate from the training Fischer received to guard his subconscious.
Cobb smuggled the drug on-board and possibly didn't have time to brief the hostess on its use. Also, even if the hostess gave Fischer spiked water, it was no guarantee that he would drink it immediately, which is why Cobb offers the drink to him and proposes a toast.
Nolan acknowledges that it's not easy to follow: Right before the dreamers head down to Level 3, an exasperated Ariadne asks, "Wait -- whose subconscious are we going into?" But once you know what to look, or more importantly, to listen for, the clues are all there. The opening sequence is Arthur's dream (the villa) inside Nash's dream (the apartment). The training exercises follow a similar pattern: first the teacher (Cobb in the cafe; Arthur on the Penrose staircase), then Ariadne in her own version of the same environment. The main mission is Eames' dream (the snow fort) inside Arthur's dream (the hotel) inside Yusuf's dream (the city). Limbo is apparently limbo; it doesn't belong to anyone, although Cobb can claim squatters' rights. One relatively easy way of keeping it straight is that the person whose dream it is stays behind in order to keep an eye on the place. Yusuf drives the van; Arthur fights the guard in the hotel; Eames sets the explosive charges.
Limbo is unconstructed (i.e. not pre-constructed by an architect) dream space. It, like all levels of subconsciousness when hooked up to the machine, is a shared environment between the dreamers. The only thing there is anything created by a dreamer that has been down there before and is sharing the dream with you. Cobb and Saito share the dreams all the way until level 3 when Cobb goes down to Limbo but Saito doesn't. Then Saito dies and heads to Limbo. Cobb, who entered Limbo through the machine (not via death) now dies (either in the hospital, elevator, van, or all three, it doesn't really matter). Since Saito died before Cobb in level 3 many years have gone by for him, accounting for his age; the passage of time there is unpredictable, not at a nice 20:1 proportion like the other levels.
The concept of the infinite staircase (Penrose stairs) is used as a blueprint for the structure and form of the film and ultimately for its meaning. The fact that no definite conclusion can be given as to whether it's reality or a dream points that the entire movie is designed as one infinite staircase where the levels of the dream and reality are an analogy for the stairs in the infinite staircase. The Penrose stairs being an impossible structure, this movie presents us with an impossible concept/dilemma that the movie can be either reality or dream depending on how you look at the arguments. It's similar to circling the Penrose stairs in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction that determines whether you are ascending or descending.
The sedative lasts for ten hours, which gives the team a week on the first level. The van was supposed to deliver the kick at the end of this week, but when they discovered that they needed to move a lot faster because Fischer's mind was militarized this kick came 6 days too soon. After getting kicked back to Yusuf's dream, they therefore needed to wait out those remaining 6 days before the sedative wore off and they woke up naturally.
They no longer experience trouble from Fischer's subconscious because it doesn't attack until Fischer gets kidnapped. One could assume that once the van hits the water, the others wait underneath in order to avoid being seen by Fischer, so Fischer assumes he is now safe, and in the real world. His subconscious would then back off and not cause them trouble.
They no longer experience trouble from Fischer's subconscious because it doesn't attack until Fischer gets kidnapped. One could assume that once the van hits the water, the others wait underneath in order to avoid being seen by Fischer, so Fischer assumes he is now safe, and in the real world. His subconscious would then back off and not cause them trouble.
Firstly, we know that the effects of one level have stronger effects on its next level than any after, which is why Saito feels less pain from his gunshot wounds as he gets deeper. Level 3 is therefore less likely to feel the effects of level 1. Secondly, the dreamers in level 1 (specifically Arthur, as level 2 is Arthur's dream) are feeling a drop which causes level 2 to lose gravity. However, the dreamers in level 2 (specifically Eames, as level 3 is Eames' dream) aren't feeling zero gravity, since they're experiencing a lack of gravity. It's the movement that affects the dreamer not the experience, and thus because the dreamers probably can't feel this weightlessness when they're asleep, it won't affect their dream.
The dream machine could be planted by the dreamers in each level. The device itself does not need to be duplicated, since it could exist as an idea or projection in the dream. For example, the dreamers probably do not understand the exact physics of their weapons but they have an innate understanding and conviction of their effects (bullet piercing, injury, pain, etc). With training and experience, a dreamer could develop a likewise understanding of the dream machine's properties in order for their subconscious to manage it while inside the dream.
She knows she's in Limbo and she throws herself off the tall balcony (after Fischer). She either dies on impact or dies in mid air bringing her back up to level 3 (albeit only momentarily while the snow fortress is crumbling).
They are personalized items that help dreamers distinguish between the real world and the dream world.
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