Released in 2010, Inception is Christopher Nolan's seventh feature-length film on screen, but it is his first test of science fiction films.
At that time, Nolan had just won more than $1 billion at the global box office for Warner Pictures with "Batman: The Dark Knight" and became the highest-rated superhero film. Because of this, this "Inception" Nolan has an upfront budget of $160 million, and has put together a dazzling star lineup such as Leonardo, Marion Cordia, Alan Page, and Ken Watanabe, becoming a standard big-budget commercial film.
Unlike the brain-burning non-linear narrative structure and complex character relationships in Previous Nolan films, the main line of "Inception" is not complicated, and there are not so many line narratives.
It does not spread the breadth of the extended story, but targets the depth of the film, and as the dream deepens layer by layer, it continues to dig deep into the lowest level of human nature.
When Nolan filmed "Inception", he hoped to enhance the watchability of the film as much as possible while taking into account the artistry of the film. Therefore, this film is often complained by some senior Nolan fans for taking care of the audience's feelings.
In the end, "Inception" won $830 million at the global box office, with its endless technical terminology, stunning and realistic film special effects, and intense and creative gunfight action scenes, a high score of 9.3 on Douban, and ninth in the Douban TOP250.
So, in addition to the many doubts and controversies left for the audience to solve because of the exquisite narrative structure in the film, what else does "Inception" say?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > widely discussed question about what Nolan was trying to say</h1>
In fact, "Inception" as a movie that has been released for ten years, the doubts in the movie have been dismantled and explored by many fans. But as Nolan's best brain-burning masterpiece, combing through the foreshadowing that Nolan buried in the movie helps to further understand what the movie is about.
1. Did Cobb finally return to reality?
This is the biggest question That Nolan left for the audience, and in the final scene of the film, Nolan gives all the audience an open-ended ending: when Nolan habitually takes the totem gyro out of his pocket and rotates it on the table, the camera at this time does not wait for the spinning of the gyroscope to produce a result as usual, and the camera is marked with closing subtitles.
Of course, fans will generally give a positive answer to whether Cobb is ultimately in reality. There are 4 pieces of evidence:
The first is the gyroscope that distinguishes reality from the dream, at the end of the lens, it can be clearly seen that the gyro has a tendency to fall unstable, which is impossible to appear in the dream, the gyro in the dream rotates incredibly smoothly and steadily, and most importantly, at the end of the movie, there is a sound of the gyro falling.
The second is a detail, Cobb is in the dream, with a wedding ring on his hand, even in the shot of Cobb testing the effect of the tranquilizer for a short time into the dream, the ring can be seen on the hand that passes by. In reality, Cobb did not have any jewelry on his hand. When Cobb returns home at the end of the film, Cobb has no ring on his finger.
The significance of this detail is to imply that Cobb has been unable to get out of Mel's shadow, Mel has always existed in Cobb's consciousness, and Cobb can only stay with Mel by entering the dream again and again, and can forget the fact that Mel is no longer there.
The third piece of evidence is Cobb's two children. In the movie, when Cobb appeared in the dream, the two children have always turned their backs on Cobb and have not turned their heads to let Cobb see the face, which is the regret that has always existed in Cobb's heart. At the end of the movie, the two children not only turned their heads, but also gave Cobb a big hug.
In addition, in the final cast list of the movie, you can see a very detailed place is that there are 4 actors in Cobb's two children, which also shows that in the dream, Cobb's two children have always been the age of Cobb when he left, and in reality, when Cobb returned, the two children had grown up a lot. This can also confirm that Cobb finally returned to reality.
The last piece of evidence lies in Cobb's father-in-law. Father-in-law played by Kane, the elder, once made it clear in an interview that as long as he is in the scene, it is reality. This is what Director Nolan personally said to Mr. Kane.
So why did Nolan arrange such an open-ended ending at the end of the movie?
From the plot point of view, not seeing the child's smile when fleeing overseas has always been a lingering regret in Cobb's heart, so when Cobb once again had the opportunity to see the child's smile at the end, Cobb could not help but be excited in his heart, he could not wait for the gyroscope to turn out a result, at this moment he just wanted to hug the child well, he did not want to regret it again.
2. Is the fourth layer of dreams limbo?
The first thing that is certain is that Cobb went to limbo with Adrian in the third layer of dreams at that time, not the so-called fourth layer of dreams. The most important evidence of the hammer is the director Nolan's shooting manuscript, which clearly shows that under the three-layer dream, it is limbo.
So why did Cobb disagree whether to go to the fourth or limbo in the third layer of dreams?
One is because when Cobb and Adrian went to limbo, they were conscious, while others were unconscious, and in the setting of the movie, people in limbo would gradually lose some consciousness.
There is also a setting in the movie here, that is, if you are conscious before entering the dream, then there will be consciousness in the dream, and if you are unconscious before entering the dream, then you are also unconscious in the dream, which can be known from the state of Cobb's group taking Fisher into the dream state.
But the difference in limbo is that after staying in it for a long time, you will gradually lose your consciousness and will not be able to distinguish between reality and dreams. So, when Cobb and Adrian came in with the task, they were conscious and conscious, while Saito entered unconsciously after death.
And combined with the old face of Saito when Cobb and Saito met later, Saito should have died in the first layer of dreams and entered the limbo early, which is why Saito appeared in a different position in the limbo than Cobb.
Why did Nolan set up a limbo in the dream and let Cobb in again?
It is to untie The Knot in Cobb's heart and pave the way for Cobb to return safely to the child. In Cobb's previous memories, he had always felt so guilty about Mel that Mel was deeply rooted in Cobb's heart.
But Cobb had been in limbo for so long that he had forgotten that he had grown old with Melbeth, that he had kept his promises. Cobb needed to remember this, and he needed to let go of Mel's death. Otherwise, Cobb will forever be trapped in guilt and self-blame for Mel, and Cobb will need to enter the dream every night to reconcile with Mel.
So Cobb needs to remember that his love for Mel should not be a burden on his continued life. So there is a scene in the movie where a pair of old hands clasped together, which is evidence that they are white-headed and old.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > love is the core of the movie and the constant theme of Nolan</h1>
Although the movie "Inception" has the excitement of a gunfight action movie, the magnificent imagination of a science fiction film, and the brain-burning and blood of a suspenseful adventure film because of its perfect design of layers of dreams, under the bustling shell, it is the theme of "love" that Nolan has always wanted to explore.
The forms of love in the film include the father's love for his children, the love between husband and wife, and the reconciliation of sons to their fathers.
1. Cobb's fatherly love for his children
Why did Cobb accept this unprecedentedly difficult task? The immediate purpose is to lift the U.S. police wanted warrant so that he can return to his own children and fulfill the responsibilities of a father, rather than hiding overseas and carrying some plush toys for his children through his father-in-law.
"The target brain always traces back to the source of the idea, and it is impossible to fake the real source of the idea."
This was the idea arthur blurted out after hearing about Saito's mission. It can also be seen how difficult the task of implanting ideas into the target brain is.
In particular, Cobb, who had successfully implanted ideas, knew very well that in order to achieve his goal, he must enter a dream that was deep enough; and the deeper the dream, the more unstable and dangerous it was. Therefore, rejecting Saito was Cobb's first choice, and the wisest choice for all.
But Saito soon offered a condition that Cobb could not refuse:
"What if you were asked to go home and go back to the children in the United States?" Do you have fantasies, or do you become an old man with remorse in your heart and waiting alone for death? "
The deep love for his children, and the guilt of not being able to accompany them, became reasons for Cobb to accept the task, even though the mission was full of many unknown adventures. So in the movie, Cobb's sons and daughters also become Cobb's totem to some extent: in the dream, he can never see the smile of his long-cherished children.
2. Cobb and Mel are full of bonded love
Why can't Cobb dream again? Because Mel would interfere with him.
Why does Mel always appear in Cobb's dreams, and the deeper the consciousness, the stronger Mel's sense of existence? Because Cobb has a deep sense of guilt for Mel, in Cobb's view, it is the thoughts he implanted in Mel's heart that make Mel unable to distinguish between reality and dreams.
Why would Cobb implant the idea of "this is not reality" in Mel's consciousness? Because Mel has been immersed in the ideal dream of creating everything, Mel chooses to forget the reality she once knew.
So Cobb took Mel's hand and said:
"You're waiting for a train that's going to take you away, you know where you're going, you don't know where you're going, but it doesn't matter because we'll be together."
Cobb wants to pull Mel back to reality, to tell Mel that blandness is the essence of marriage. He loves Mel so much that he can't bear to watch Mel live in a beautiful but empty imagination.
But Mel can't realize this, and it seems to her that it is Cobb's infidelity to love, so she hopes that Cobb will keep his promise and be together forever. She tries everything to force Cobb to return to "reality" with her, but eventually forces Cobb to imprison her in her own memory.
This portrayal of love and the setting of dreams have also been interpreted as Nolan's use of dreams to metaphorically describe reality. Comparing dream-making to film, exile to overseas travel, whether it is reality or dreams, whether it is cobb the dreamer or director Nolan, the final result is that he cannot accompany his family.
3. Reconciliation of Fisher's father and son
The contradiction between Fisher's father and son in the movie is the entry point for Cobb and others to enter the dream implantation idea. But Nolan did not see this contradiction as a contradiction to create a dramatic conflict.
The contradiction between father and son in the movie lies in the generation gap caused by the difference in the concept of the two people, and the poor communication between the two is also an important factor that aggravates the contradiction, like the contradiction between the two generations of each family.
The way to resolve this contradiction is to create positive emotions, as the movie says: "Positive emotions always trump negative emotions." Cobb and his party took Fisher to the process of constantly going deep into the dream, and it was also the process of Fisher constantly opening her heart to face her heart.
The reconciliation between Fisher and his son is not fishery taking over his father's business empire and continuing to expand it, but will only increase the estrangement and even hatred between the two, because only by surpassing the father can the father be proved wrong.
So it is interesting that fisher and his father's reconciliation comes from Fisher's self-consciousness that he will be himself, rather than following in his father's footsteps, which is a different kind of understanding between father and son and a special father-son relationship.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > exquisite audiovisual language</h1>
In "Inception", Nolan is very rare to tell a story from beginning to end, without playing with those fancy narrative techniques, but Nolan does not tell a very bland story because of this.
With the help of layers of dream settings, Nolan will show different levels of dreams or crossed or parallel, and at the same time, the fresh and complex settings of dreams are not fully presented at the beginning, but are continuously displayed through the continuous advancement of the plot, which makes the audience step by step into the rhythm of the movie. At the same time, when Nolan explains this setting, he wants to talk and stop at many key nodes, and half hides half of it, which makes the audience have the fun of exploring adventures.
Just like the dream in the movie needs to create a labyrinth, Nolan through this plot narrative arrangement, but also perfectly bring the audience into the maze he has formulated, so that fans are happy to explore the clues and secrets in the movie.
But at the same time, in order to take care of the more general audience, in order to let more audiences understand the various settings and the concept of layers of dreams in the film, Nolan specially arranged several Cobb's teaching of Adrian. These small white teachings are also Nolan's detailed explanations to the audience, laying the groundwork for the follow-up plot.
In addition, in the climax of the film, Nolan uses the setting of the three-layer dream simultaneous kick to adopt the montage technique, and the tense and stimulating atmosphere when each layer of dreams is close to the kick is perfectly set off, which is amazing.
Nolan also uses the setting of 20 times the time difference of each layer of dreams, and crosses the tense picture of the car jumping off the bridge and falling into the water in the first layer of the dream, the few minutes of how to click on time in the second layer of weightlessness, and the tense picture of the third layer of the dream being forced to speed up the task process and shorten the task time to 20 minutes, cross-displaying in front of the audience, setting off the urgent atmosphere very well, so that everyone is nervous.
It is worth mentioning that as a real-time madman, even in this kind of science fiction movie with a forward-concept dream theme, Nolan can also shoot really. The most famous is Arthur's fight scene in the hallway of the hotel in a weightless state in the second-floor dream.
Nolan knows that this kind of fight that is divorced from the reality of the situation can easily cause distortion effects, let the audience play, and cause the break of the sense of the movie's plot. So Nolan's solution to this problem is to shoot live.
Of course, this kind of real shooting effect also has a benefit, that is, it greatly weakens the martial arts skills in the fight process, with the help of this novel environment setting, even if it is no matter how bland the fight scene, it will give people a bright feeling.
Just like in Nolan's new movie "Creed" in 2020, Nolan used the unprecedented setting of turning back time to make the road chase, which has been rotten in Hollywood blockbusters, make an unprecedented sense of creativity.
In addition to this classic live-action shot, the scene where Cobb is flooded in Saito's Japanese mansion at the beginning of the film is also the real shot created by Nolan by using an air cannon to inject water into the room; and when Cobb explains the dream to Adrian on the streets of Paris, the scene on the streets of Paris is shot by spraying fragments with air cannons and combined with CG technology; the scene of the explosion of the tower in the third layer of the dream at the end of the film is also filmed by the real explosion of the building built by Nolan's entity...
The construction of "Inception" on multiple levels of truth and unreality perfectly fits the plot of the film, the rapid editing and agile narrative make the surreal world vivid, rich details, exquisite audiovisual language, bringing the audience into a subconscious labyrinth.
Nolan's whimsical ideas are vividly expressed in the movie "Inception", and the film's visual effects and plot settings are complex and exquisite, which perfectly fits the theme of "dream" and also fits Nolan's theme of "love". So much so that when the end credits appear, you can't react to what happened two and a half hours before you came, like a dream that makes you wonder but linger.