it might not be one in the sense that the characters use them, but it seems to be a concrete explanation of things. could be an overlying totem that only the audience is privy to

8/1/2010 9:06:29 PM

I will finally be going to see this this week

8/1/2010 9:33:39 PM

^ hope you haven't been reading the thread this whole time and haven't seen it

Honestly having it as simple as the ring almost cheapens it for me. For some reason I hoped the entire movie was a dream.

8/2/2010 7:54:35 AM

Saw it this weekend...was blown away. I heart Chris Nolan.

My contribution to this thread is founded on Ariadne's actual name (I hadn't seen that brought up at all in my skim of the thread). Ariadne is a Greek/Cretian persona who was the overseer of the Minotaur (he was actually her 1/2 broth I believe). She was oftentimes referred to as the Mistress of the Labryinth (SP?). Anyway I think that's a huge clue to the theory that she's either the architect of an inception against cobb, OR either a construct of his subconcious which is trying to lead him out of the dreamstate he's locked himself in. She's constructed this whole elaborate dream world thats become linked with the knowledge only she has of Cobb's inner turmoil.

As for the top totem, I always thought was Mols totem that he claimed as his own after she died. Mol became his totem, and as long as she was present in his all/most of his inceptions he was able to identify this as a dream. In the end him leaving the top on the table is him releasing his totem/Mol in favor of his new reality (whatever that may be).

8/2/2010 9:11:49 AM

Ok i've figured it all out.

When Ariadne enters Cobb's dreams there are major clues as to the levels of dreams that he is in.
The basement is where Mal died, and the top floor was where Mal & the children are
thats a clue that where mal died is a dream and she went back to reality

Also Cobb uses an architect to design the dream to be like a maze, with obstacles and a goal
Cobb seems to be in a maze in what he thinks is reality, where the goal is finding his kids and the obstacles he has to overcome to reach them, this keeps him occupied in that dream, cause he wants to stay there
It is also show that he uses dreams and memories to try to confine his memory of Mal

Another clue that its a dream is that when Ariadne first confronts Cobb about facing the truth about Mal, conveniently Saito comes in to say they must begin the inception right away which keeps Cobb in the maze

Ariadne - greek mythology
"Ariadne fell in love at first sight, and helped him by giving him a sword and a ball of red fleece thread that she was spinning, so that he could find his way out of the Minotaur's labyrinth."

cobb - "building a dream from memory is the easiest way to lose grasp on whats real and what is a dream"
ariadne - "is that what happened to you?"
she already knew his situation, just as if she's someone who is coming from the real world to free Cobb


there is a lot more but im turred

8/2/2010 4:39:55 PM

Quote :

"Also, I would like to have sexual relations with Tom Hardy (aka Eames)"

me too!

I just saw wuthering heights and was like WHOA THIS FUCKER LOOKS FAMILIAR.

also, this is funny:

Quote :

"But asked if he'd ever had any sexual relations with other men, the broody actor said: 'As a boy? Of course I have. I'm an actor for ****'s sake."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1298384/Inception-hunk-Tom-Hardy-admits-Ive-sexual-relations-men.html

8/2/2010 5:21:49 PM

^Holy crap...I remember reading that a couple of weeks ago but didn't realize it was HIM until just now I don't care, I do a threesome with him and some other dude...provided the other dude was hot OR didn't do anything with me

8/2/2010 5:25:09 PM

he plays a gay dude in RockNRolla

8/2/2010 5:30:20 PM

^^^^

well that's why Ariadne insisted they go to limbo

because the inception on cobb was not done.

8/2/2010 5:45:46 PM

I loved this movie, but wow... I can't believe it's at #3 on IMDB.

8/2/2010 6:05:50 PM

retarded

8/2/2010 6:14:05 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LC5GU28txs&feature=popt00us14

8/2/2010 7:20:03 PM

http://io9.com/5602799/did-inceptions-costume-designer-just-give-away-the-secret-of-the-movies-ending

8/2/2010 7:44:12 PM

give away? or just say "look more closely" at what's actually there?


^^LOL

[Edited on August 2, 2010 at 7:51 PM. Reason : ]

8/2/2010 7:50:07 PM

look more closely

8/2/2010 7:54:50 PM

8/2/2010 8:36:31 PM

Maybe someone already posted this or maybe I missed something, but why didn't Mal just spin the top to figure out if she was in a dream or not? Isn't that what the totem was for in the first place?

8/2/2010 11:58:40 PM

i'm assuming you're talking about before she killed herself - the inception he performed on her was too deep rooted. Regardless of whether the top spun or not, it was always in her sub-conscious that she was in a dream. She couldn't overcome that little idea he put in the back of her mind.

8/3/2010 12:10:02 AM

Yeah, that's what I was talking about. I guess I can buy that.

8/3/2010 12:12:31 AM

she locked her totem away and forgot it so she wouldnt/couldnt know what was real and what wasnt

8/3/2010 1:37:17 AM

^ you are talking about their time in limbo and they are talking about the time when she killed herself in reality/n-1(depending on what side you take).

8/3/2010 8:06:28 AM

I love movies like this. Designed not to have any answers, only questions. Kinda like Lost. Everyone has theories, but no one is right. No one can be right since the movie has no answers. That's one reason it will be successful for some time. People will continually discuss their theories with no way to prove anything.

Overall great movie. Glad directors don't sit us down like kindergartners and explain everything to us like we have a learning disability.

8/3/2010 1:47:05 PM

Quote :

"That's one reason it will be successful for some time. People will continually discuss their theories with no way to prove anything."

Sounds a lot like religion And yes, this is an appropriate reference to religion ITT.

8/3/2010 1:50:45 PM

The reason why I don't buy into Juno performing inception on Leo:

Mal was only able to get in the vault room with Scarecrow because Juno told Leo about the air duct, he then knew the maze, therefor Mal knew the maze.

When Leo first asked her, Juno didn't want to tell him the other way into the vault room. He had to force it out of her.

By the way, why has no one brought up this line yet?

Quote :

"Eames: They come here every day to sleep? Old Man: No. They come to be woken up. The dream has become their reality. Who are you to say otherwise?"

This line is the essential moral of the story, the reason why the top no longer matters, the reason why Leo can finally see his kids' faces.

8/3/2010 3:12:55 PM

did she not want to tell him or was she acting?



some possibly good evidence against the movie being an inception on leo is every scene that does not contain leo.

because that theory assumes that the team members (including robert fischer) are actually on the team performing inception on leo, and that they are all acting. there is no reason for them to keep acting when leo is not around, assuming that he cannot perceive things that his... dream self is not present for. But I don't know if this assumption is right.

[Edited on August 3, 2010 at 3:35 PM. Reason : .]

8/3/2010 3:24:06 PM

Quote :

"And yes, this is an appropriate reference to religion ITT. "

^^ Wait, why was Mal trying to kill Fischer again? I forget.

8/3/2010 3:39:29 PM

because she knew leo would follow them to limbo and she wanted leo to stay there with her.

8/3/2010 3:43:20 PM

Quote :

"because that theory assumes that the team members (including robert fischer) are actually on the team performing inception on leo, and that they are all acting. there is no reason for them to keep acting when leo is not around, assuming that he cannot perceive things that his... dream self is not present for. But I don't know if this assumption is right."

even if leo is not around they could be dealing with projections of his subconsious.
Fisher and others could be a projection of leo's subconscious and therefore must be treated as part of leo

8/3/2010 3:51:17 PM

Pay me, bitch tits.

8/3/2010 3:58:47 PM

Quote :

"some possibly good evidence against the movie being an inception on leo is every scene that does not contain leo."

that's a good point, there's no way Arthur could be in on it if the inception was really on Cobb.

BTW...something that has been bothering me...Leo and Mal went into limbo together to build a dream world, right? but according to the time line they must have had children already. if they loved their kids so much, why did they want to go into a 50 year limbo just the two of them? that's fucked up.

8/4/2010 12:08:14 PM

this thread needs more pics

8/4/2010 1:31:23 PM

Quote :

"if they loved their kids so much, why did they want to go into a 50 year limbo just the two of them? that's fucked up."

Couldn't get time off from work for a vacation.

8/4/2010 2:41:33 PM

a vacation long enough for them to grow old together?

without seeing their kids grow up?

[Edited on August 4, 2010 at 3:39 PM. Reason : -]

8/4/2010 3:38:57 PM

Not sure if I remember it right but didn't they accidentally end up in Limbo while they were doing experiments?

8/4/2010 3:44:48 PM

The deepest level was a completely different reality. To them, their kids no longer existed there. Until Leo remembered that none of it was really "real" and got them out of there.

8/4/2010 3:45:06 PM

50 years that many levels down is like 10 minutes in the real world, man.

8/4/2010 3:46:02 PM

I can't remember how they got there but when they woke up they weren't even attached to a machine or anything, they were just on pillows in their living room.

And yeah maybe they were away from the kids for 10 minutes, but to them they were away from the kids for a lifetime.

8/4/2010 4:04:13 PM

Quote :

"a vacation long enough for them to grow old together? without seeing their kids grow up?"

yep. pretty sweet vacation says i.

8/4/2010 4:09:08 PM

Mal kept talking about how their childern were in the "real world" so i could be assumed they dreamt up kids while in limbo

8/4/2010 4:46:34 PM

But she was so hell bent on them not being her real kids...when they first got to limbo she knew it wasn't real (before her mind turned to jello), so why would she dream up new kids? they weren't in any of the limbo flashbacks

8/4/2010 6:41:49 PM

Maybe they imagined their own kids in the dream and that's why it was such a mindfuck for her.

8/4/2010 7:20:46 PM

I watched it at Galaxy last night --- great movie, and the most entertained I've been since Let the Right One In.

8/5/2010 12:06:23 AM

^^I feel like that would have been a major point to show in the film, but it was just the two of them. And the way it was all about "we were supposed to grow old together" makes it sound like it was definitely just the two of them.

8/5/2010 12:11:31 AM

Oh, I guess I missed that part of the 30 second montage covering 50 years.

Ok, that sounded kind of mean. You have a valid point. I think the kids were just thrown in so that Leo would have someone to have a tearful reunion with at the end so that Nolan could throw in his little twist with the top.

[Edited on August 5, 2010 at 12:34 AM. Reason : .]

8/5/2010 12:33:14 AM

Bought the soundtrack to this.

Listening to the track from the end montage of the film gives me goosebumps

8/5/2010 9:21:15 AM

ok i've figured it out,

Mal has cancer and is dying
Cobb enters her dream to spend more time with her, they go to deeper levels so they can spend as much time together as possible
That is why Mal always says "you said we'd grow old together", shes mad cause she will not live to be old
That is why he's so upset when she kills herself to go to reality

Fisher's story is similar to cobb's
Fisher has someone he loves who is dying in a hospital
They delve into fisher's mind to perform an inception, just as they do on cobb

how do i know mal has cancer? thats insider information

8/5/2010 12:40:32 PM

You figured out how to pay me that fiver yet, skidmark?

8/5/2010 12:42:29 PM

Quote :

" I think the kids were just thrown in so that Leo would have someone to have a tearful reunion with at the end so that Nolan could throw in his little twist with the top. "

if he doesnt have kids then there is no reason for him to live and that would be a big story plot

8/5/2010 1:54:28 PM

It's better than him yearning to get home because he thinks he might have left the stove on.

8/5/2010 2:08:27 PM

lafta, why'd you pay for the movie if you can't afford to pay FK?

8/5/2010 3:12:15 PM