Interpreting Inception
DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU’VE SEEN INCEPTION. SPOILERS FOLLOW.
Like a good book, Inception is one of those movies with an ending that can be interpreted in multiple ways. However, never have I seen a film like that where when the screen cut to black, the entire audience moaned in disbelief (not in a bad way) due to the fact that a solid resolution was not given to them. I too was confused as what to believe at the end of the movie. Did the top fall and was Cobb given his redemption that we believe he deserves or did the top stay spinning and was the entire movie, or at least a majority of it, all just a dream? I figured that I’d see the film a second time to determine what I believe. The following are my explanations of how it’d be possible for the top to fall, the top to stay spinning, and my personal interpretation.
THE TOP FALLS: In this ending, the hero receives his happy ending and the audience leaves content knowing that all the pain that has been suffered throughout the entire movie was actually worth it. This can be explained by the fact that as the top was spinning and the audience felt the movie coming to a close, the top started to topple slightly and fall off track. In the dream state, the top rotated perfectly and had no sign of toppling. However, the slight wobble of the top which gave the suggestion that the top was going to fall is enough of an indicator to prove that this is indeed reality and Cobb is actually home with his real children. The fact as well that the top fell at the beginning of the film after Cobb left the dreams in the opening scene should be evidence enough that the top falls at the end of it all. The only possible flaw in this is that when Cobb was put under by Yusuf as a test of whether his sedative was strong enough, he woke up and while trying to spin the top he dropped it and was scared by Saito, so he put off spinning the top in front of the audience and we therefore don’t know if it would have stopped spinning or not. This is a stretch if you ask me, but you never know.
THE TOP DOESN’T FALL: After watching the movie twice, I can only seem to find one solid and logical explanation as to why the ENITRE movie might be a dream and why the top would continue to spin after the screen cut to black. Cobb’s totem is not actually his own but his wife’s totem. The fact that he took her totem and has been using it himself is strictly against the rules of the game. Cobb and Arthur have explained that only you are supposed to know how your totem works. While his wife is dead, in the dreams she is a projection and the fact that she exists in the dream would could cause Cobb’s subconscious to control the top and make it fall even though it should realistically keep spinning. THAT is also a stretch but it’s the only logical explanation as to how the WHOLE movie was a dream. The only explanation I can think of that would make the ending a part of limbo or just a dream in general is the implication that Saito and Cobb killed themselves in limbo in order to wake up as part of a kick. In this sense, it fails and Cobb only believes that everything has been resolved. This is reinforced by the fact that his children are the exact same age when he visits them at the end of the movie as they were at the beginning. It is implied that he has been away from home for a long time but then again, most of his time away from home has been spent in dream worlds where time is slower, so maybe he only feels that he has been away from home for so long. It’s hard to tell and we’ll really never know unless Nolan comes out directly and says something about it.
WHAT I BELIEVE: I personally believe that the top falls. If I had to pick one of the two I’d pick that. I could be wrong.
WHY IT DOESN’T MATTER: Just like Cobb, Christopher Nolan wants the audience to be confused as to whether the ending is a dream or reality. Cobb mentions constantly throughout the movie that he is losing his grip on reality and that he can no longer dream unless he is under sedation. This blurs the line between illusion and reality for him. In the same sense, the fact that Nolan wants the audience to be confused and make the tough decision for themselves makes perfect sense. You can tell this was his intention because of the fact that he made the top wobble at the end. He could have either had the top fall completely or stay spinning perfectly. The fact that it wobbles plants the idea in one’s mind that the top might just fall but at the same time it might just stay spinning…
