The ending of Inception has been a topic of debate among its audience for years, and there are two things about it that continue to annoy me. The movies of Christopher Nolan often cover themes like time, idenтιтy, and memory, and in 2010, he took it a bit further by exploring the complexity of dreams in Inception.

Inception introduced viewers to Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a thief specializing in infiltrating dreams. Cobb was framed for his wife Mal’s (Marion Cotillard) death, forcing him to leave his children and escape. When Cobb was offered the chance to have his criminal history erased if he implants an idea in the subconscious of a target, he accepted the mission.

Cobb put together a team of experts, but the “inception” process turned out to be more complex and complicated than expected. The ending of Inception left the audience wondering if Cobb was finally back with his kids or if he was still dreaming, and there are two things about it that still bother me, 15 years later.

The ᴀssumption That Cobb Ignores The Totem Is Wrong

Among the unique concepts in Inception is that of totems. These are objects used to test if the owner is awake or in a dream, and for that, each object has a modified quality known only to the owner. This way, if the owner enters someone else’s dream, that modified quality won’t be present.

Throughout Inception, Cobb used Mal’s totem, a spinning top that, if he’s awake, will topple over, but if he’s in a dream that isn’t his, it will continue to spin. At the end of Inception, the team succeeded and Cobb’s criminal record was erased, allowing him to go back to his kids.

Inception showed Cobb arriving at the house with his father-in-law, Stephen (Michael Caine), and spinning the top right before his kids ran to him. Cobb didn’t look back to check the top, but the camera focused on it, and as it started to wobble, Nolan decided to cut to black, leaving the question of whether the spinning top fell or kept going.

The general ᴀssumption is that Cobb ignored the spinning top, an idea fueled by Nolan himself. Nolan has said in different interviews that Cobb didn’t look back because he didn’t care anymore (via Variety), and he had decided by then that that was his reality now. However, that wouldn’t be true at all for Cobb.

Cobb might have accepted at the moment his kids saw him that that was his reality, but the moment he walked back into the room, he would have inevitably seen what happened to the spinning top. After Inception, Cobb would have known for sure if he was awake (which he surely was) or still dreaming, and if the latter, a sequel would have happened off-screen.

The only ones who remain in the dark about the spinning top and Cobb’s reality are viewers, prompting discussion about it, but Cobb would have gotten an answer at some point.

The Argument That Reality Is Subjective Is Also Wrong

With the above ᴀssumption of Cobb deciding to ignore the top and its result comes an argument that also bothers me to this day. If we decide to take that ᴀssumption as truth, it would mean that the point of Inception’s ambiguous ending is that reality depends on each person.

It’s an unfair argument after everything Cobb went through before and during the events of Inception, as well as what his family had to endure and would have to go through if he were still dreaming. Had Cobb still been dreaming, and he decided that was his new reality, his kids would have had to grow up without their father.

In that case, Cobb would also repeat Mal’s story, potentially leading to a tragic ending for him. After spending what felt like years to them in Limbo, Mal believed that the dream was her reality, and when they woke up, she believed the real world was a dream. To “wake up”, Mal killed herself.

Cobb choosing a dream as his reality would have been more tragic for him and his children, and this idea could only work if Cobb had no family and therefore nothing to lose if he chose to make himself believe that a dream scenario, much better than his reality, was the real deal.

Despite My Frustrations, Inception’s Ending Is Still A Stroke Of Cinematic Brilliance

Although there are things and ideas around Inception’s ending that still frustrate me, they don’t take away how brilliant it is – and, ultimately, it couldn’t have ended any other way. Throughout the entire movie, the audience follows Cobb’s inner struggles, so there had to be a conclusion to his journey.

However, given the themes addressed throughout Inception and the play between reality and dreams, of course Nolan wasn’t going to let the audience have a clear answer. Nolan gave us the emotional resolution Cobb needed, but not without a final question on what’s real and what isn’t (although I insist that he wasn’t dreaming anymore).

The fact that the ending of Inception continues to be a topic of debate among its audience proves how brilliant it is, and even though there are many clues to Cobb’s reality at the end, I don’t think it will stop being discussed any time soon.

Source: Variety.