Christopher Nolan's Inception

[Maximus One]

They were experimenting with shared dreaming. Nobody had ever gone that deep before and they didn't understand the time discrepancies between the levels of conciousness yet.

BTW just got back from this and WOW!!!! This movie totally blew my mind away. It was the intellectual equivalent of what Avatar was visually. Seriously hands down the best movie since The Dark Knight. And believe me I am in no way a Nolan fanboy but this was just outstanding. Only thing that made it suck for me was I hadda keep explaining what was going on to my pops lol

 

[Anita18]

I sure hope it wasn't all a dream. That, to me, makes all the emotional impact false. I choose to believe we cut away before it stopped spinning.

Yeah, everyone at both my viewings were completely silent during the entire movie, then you could hear them hold their breath during the last pan to the top...and then..cut to black and everybody goes, "FUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

 

[redfirebird2008]

They wanted to see how far they could go into the dreamworld.

Yep.

Spoiler

It allowed them to spend 50 years together in the dream world without actually spending 50 years together in real life.

 

[DarKJediKnight]

So I've just saw the film the third time (just to understand the Level 4/Limbo part, I even went into film even though it started an hour ago just to see that part), and Level 4 is clearly Limbo. I only got confused because when Ariadne was telling Cobb to follow Fischer, she just said that they needed to go "down there". Also, it wasn't mentioned in the previous parts of the film that the dreamspace after Eames' is automatically Limbo. Cobb explained though that they got into Limbo because they're trying to get deeper, though I didn't expect that Limbo is just in the fourth level.

I am also confused on how Ariadne and Fischer got out of Limbo. When Mal and Cobb killed themselves in Limbo, they immediately returned to reality. The rules states that in order to get out of Limbo, a.) The sedative should have wear off, b.) You must realize that you're in a dream, and c.) You must kill yourself. These three conditions are true in Cobb's and Mal's case. However, in Ariadne's and Fischer's, they are still under heavy sedation. If they killed themselves, they will only go into further dream state or Limbo (as mentioned by Cobb when Fischer tried to kill himself in Arthur's dream). And when they killed themselves, they only returned to Level 3. Can anyone clarify this one for me? It's really confusing.

 

[LostSon88]

However as many articles have since stated...the question of whether or not Cobb's dreaming was and can be answered.

The key? His 'totem'...aka, his wedding ring.

That pretty much gives us the answer to the ending.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Yeah, everyone at both my viewings were completely silent during the entire movie, then you could hear them hold their breath during the last pan to the top...and then..cut to black and everybody goes, "FUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

Have you seen this?

Spoiler

http://twitpic.com/26k9ub

 

[Anita18]

Have you seen this?

Spoiler

http://twitpic.com/26k9ub

Yup, it was JUST like that.

 

[Crook]

So I've just saw the film the third time (just to understand the Level 4/Limbo part, I even went into film even though it started an hour ago just to see that part), and Level 4 is clearly Limbo. I only got confused because when Ariadne was telling Cobb to follow Fischer, she just said that they needed to go "down there". Also, it wasn't mentioned in the previous parts of the film that the dreamspace after Eames' is automatically Limbo. Cobb explained though that they got into Limbo because they're trying to get deeper, though I didn't expect that Limbo is just in the fourth level.

I am also confused on how Ariadne and Fischer got out of Limbo. When Mal and Cobb killed themselves in Limbo, they immediately returned to reality. The rules states that in order to get out of Limbo, a.) The sedative should have wear off, b.) You must realize that you're in a dream, and c.) You must kill yourself. These three conditions are true in Cobb's and Mal's case. However, in Ariadne's and Fischer's, they are still under heavy sedation. If they killed themselves, they will only go into further dream state or Limbo (as mentioned by Cobb when Fischer tried to kill himself in Arthur's dream). And when they killed themselves, they only returned to Level 3. Can anyone clarify this one for me? It's really confusing.

That last part is precisely why I don't think they were in Limbo, but instead, Level 4. But if what another poster said was right, and that Fischer was not hooked up to the machine that Cobb and Ariadne used...that makes it complicated again.

 

[DarKJediKnight]

Double post.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Yup, it was JUST like that.

You know, considering Nolan doesn't use the Internet...he's one hell of a troll.

 

[Anita18]

So I've just saw the film the third time (just to understand the Level 4/Limbo part, I even went into film even though it started an hour ago just to see that part), and Level 4 is clearly Limbo. I only got confused because when Ariadne was telling Cobb to follow Fischer, she just said that they needed to go "down there". Also, it wasn't mentioned in the previous parts of the film that the dreamspace after Eames' is automatically Limbo. Cobb explained though that they got into Limbo because they're trying to get deeper, though I didn't expect that Limbo is just in the fourth level.

I am also confused on how Ariadne and Fischer got out of Limbo. When Mal and Cobb killed themselves in Limbo, they immediately returned to reality. The rules states that in order to get out of Limbo, a.) The sedative should have wear off, b.) You must realize that you're in a dream, and c.) You must kill yourself. These three conditions are true in Cobb's and Mal's case. However, in Ariadne's and Fischer's, they are still under heavy sedation. If they killed themselves, they will only go into further dream state or Limbo (as mentioned by Cobb when Fischer tried to kill himself in Arthur's dream). And when they killed themselves, they only returned to Level 3. Can anyone clarify this one for me? It's really confusing.

I think it's because of the synchronized kicks.

Spoiler

I mean, why else would Eames attach charges to the fortress if all they needed was Arthur's kick in the elevator? I think under that heavy sedation, you need a kick in the current level as well as the level above. The fact that Ariadne timed the kicks in limbo meant that they could wake back up to the level above. Otherwise they would have gone into a reset limbo. Or...something.

That last part is precisely why I don't think they were in Limbo, but instead, Level 4. But if what another poster said was right, and that Fischer was not hooked up to the machine that Cobb and Ariadne used...that makes it complicated again.

Yeah, I was watching carefully this morning and Fischer was NOT hooked up to the machine. There are several shots of him hooked up to the defibrillator waiting for Eames's kick, but the machine is off to the side hooked up to Cobb and Ariadne.

But yeah, I think it would have been easier to explain it as Cobb's dream, but that's not what the movie shows us. Just Nolan making things more complicated...

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Poor Nolan.

For the Dark Knight he gets criticized for developing every other characters except the main charater.

For Inception he gets criticized for only developing the main character and leaving everyone else a caricature.

Heh.

 

[TNC9852002]

How could they have NOT been in Limbo? Level 4 = Limbo. It was still part of the world that Cobb and Mal created.

 

[DarKJediKnight]

That last part is precisely why I don't think they were in Limbo, but instead, Level 4. But if what another poster said was right, and that Fischer was not hooked up to the machine that Cobb and Ariadne used...that makes it complicated again.

But seeing the film for the third time, it was clearly Limbo. I am depending on the character's dialogues, and Cobb said that he needed to stay in that Level because Saito is there. So?

 

[TNC9852002]

Poor Nolan.

For the Dark Knight he gets criticized for developing every other characters except the main charater.

For Inception he gets criticized for only developing the main character and leaving everyone else a caricature.

Heh.

I don't know if I would say that EVERYONE else was a caricature...I thought that the actors really brought to life a lot of different emotions and intensities and characteristics that made them truly unique and memorable, without spending too much time with additional explanation and depth that would've ultimately been superficial. It's not about them.

 

[Anita18]

How could they have NOT been in Limbo? Level 4 = Limbo. It was still part of the world that Cobb and Mal created.

Well, some of us thought that since Cobb can't dream properly anymore, he only builds dreams from his memories. And since he has memories of building that Limbo City with Mal, that's what HIS dream would have looked like.

 

[Harry_Lime02]

Have you seen this?

Spoiler

http://twitpic.com/26k9ub

Hilarious. t:

 

[DarKJediKnight]

I have a theory though, on how Fischer and Ariadne got out of Limbo.

Spoiler

Fischer is being revived in Level 3, and when he's killed in Limbo, he returned to life, or was woken up, in Level 3. Maybe if he was killed in Limbo without being revived, he could have ended up to another state of Limbo, maybe a reset Limbo or deeper level of Limbo. Ariadne entered the same way Mal and Cobb entered Limbo. The difference is that when Mal and Cobb killed themselves in Limbo, the sedatives have expired and that's why they're in reality immediately and not in previous levels of their dream. Ariadne killed herself in Limbo but was still under heavy sedation. So instead of waking up in the real world, she's back in Level 3. From these conditions it can be assumed that when you kill yourself in Limbo but you have entered it by not dying, you could return to your previous levels of dream, unless the sedative has expired, and when it does, you will wake up in the real world.

 

[bullets]

It wouldn't make sense in the context of the story if level 4 wasn't limbo IMO

 

[DarKJediKnight]

Even the music is mind blowing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM

 

[Ziggyman]

Wow...that's one heist that went unnoticed...nice find!

 

[redfirebird2008]

Even the music is mind blowing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM

I remember Nolan mentioning something about how Zimmer was able to blend the Piaf song with his score. I had no idea Nolan was being so literal with that statement.

 

[batman11]

That is so cool! Awesome find. I thought the song was just used on the surface for the kicks throughout the movie, but now it's clear that it's involvement in the score is well beyond that. I love it.

 

[Anita18]

I remember Nolan mentioning something about how Zimmer was able to blend the Piaf song with his score. I had no idea Nolan was being so literal with that statement.

I actually got the connection during my second viewing, where they're playing the song and you hear it reverberate in the subsequent layer as the beating horns.

 

[batman11]

I actually got the connection during my second viewing, where they're playing the song and you hear it reverberate in the subsequent layer as the beating horns.

Spoiler