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= Inception =
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Introduction
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'Inception' is a 2010 science fiction action heist film written and
directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas,
his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who
steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He
is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for
the implantation of another person's idea into a target's
subconscious. The ensemble cast includes Ken Watanabe, Joseph
Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian
Murphy, Tom Berenger, Dileep Rao, and Michael Caine.
After the 2002 completion of 'Insomnia', Nolan presented to Warner
Bros. a written 80-page treatment for a horror film envisioning "dream
stealers," based on lucid dreaming. Deciding he needed more experience
before tackling a production of this magnitude and complexity, Nolan
shelved the project and instead worked on 2005's 'Batman Begins',
2006's 'The Prestige', and 2008's 'The Dark Knight'. The treatment was
revised over six months and was purchased by Warner in February 2009.
'Inception' was filmed in six countries, beginning in Tokyo on June 19
and ending in Canada on November 22. Its official budget was $160
million, split between Warner Bros. and Legendary. Nolan's reputation
and success with 'The Dark Knight' helped secure the film's US$100
million in advertising expenditure.
'Inception's' premiere was held in London on July 8, 2010; it was
released in both conventional and IMAX theaters beginning on July 16,
2010. 'Inception' grossed over $837 million worldwide, becoming the
fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010. Considered one of the best films
of the 2010s and the 21st century, 'Inception', among its numerous
accolades, won four Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing,
Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects) and was nominated for four
more (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best
Original Score) at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Plot
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Dom Cobb and Arthur are "extractors" who perform corporate espionage
using experimental dream-sharing technology to infiltrate their
targets' subconscious and extract information. Their latest target,
Saito, is impressed with Cobb's ability to layer multiple dreams
within each other. He offers to hire Cobb for the ostensibly
impossible job of implanting an idea into a person's subconscious;
performing "inception" on Robert Fischer, the son of Saito's
competitor Maurice Fischer, with the idea to dissolve his father's
company. In return, Saito promises to clear Cobb's criminal status,
allowing him to return home to his children.
Cobb accepts the offer and assembles his team: a forger named Eames, a
chemist named Yusuf, and a college student named Ariadne. Ariadne is
tasked with designing the dream's architecture, something Cobb himself
cannot do for fear of being sabotaged by his mind's projection of his
late wife, Mal. Maurice Fischer dies, and the team sedates Robert
Fischer into a three-layer shared dream on an airplane to America
bought by Saito. Time on each layer runs slower than the layer above,
with one member staying behind on each to perform a music-synchronized
"kick" (using the French song "Non, je ne regrette rien") to awaken
dreamers on all three levels simultaneously.
The team abducts Robert in a city on the first level, but unknown to
any team member, his subconscious projections, trained to anticipate
such a scenario, attack them. After Saito is wounded, Cobb reveals
that while dying in the dream would usually awaken dreamers, Yusuf's
sedatives will instead send them into "Limbo": a world of infinite
subconscious. Eames impersonates Robert's godfather, Peter Browning,
to introduce the idea of an alternate will to dissolve the company.
Cobb explains to Ariadne that he and Mal entered Limbo while
experimenting with dream-sharing, experiencing fifty years in one
night due to the time dilation with reality. After waking up, Mal
'still' believed she was dreaming. Attempting to "wake up," she
committed suicide and framed Cobb for her murder to force him to do
the same. Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind.
Yusuf drives the team around the first level as they are sedated into
the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Cobb persuades Robert
that Browning has kidnapped him to stop the dissolution and that Cobb
is a defensive projection, leading Robert to another third level
deeper as part of a ruse to enter Robert's subconscious.
In the third level, the team infiltrates an alpine fortress with a
projection of Maurice inside, where the inception itself can be
performed. However, Yusuf performs his kick too soon by driving off a
bridge, forcing Arthur and Eames to improvise a 'new' set of kicks
synchronized with them hitting the water by rigging an elevator and
the fortress, respectively, with explosives. Mal then appears and
kills Robert before he can be subjected to the inception; he and Saito
are subsequently lost in Limbo, forcing Cobb and Ariadne to rescue
them in time for Robert's inception and Eames's kick. Cobb reveals
that during their time in Limbo, Mal refused to return to reality;
Cobb had to convince her it was only a dream, accidentally incepting
in her the belief that the real world was still a dream. Cobb makes
peace with his part in Mal's death. Ariadne kills Mal's projection and
wakes Robert up with a kick.
Revived into the third level, Robert discovers the planted idea: his
dying father telling him to create something for himself. While Cobb
searches for Saito in Limbo, the others ride the synced kicks back to
reality. Cobb finds an aged Saito and reminds him of their agreement.
The dreamers all awaken on the plane, and Saito makes a phone call.
Arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb passes the immigration checkpoint, and
his father-in-law accompanies him to his home. Cobb uses Mal's "totem"
- a top that spins indefinitely in a dream - to test if he is indeed
in the real world, but he chooses not to observe the result and
instead joins his children.
Cast
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* Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes
in conning secrets from his victims by infiltrating their dreams.
DiCaprio was the first actor to be cast in the film. Brad Pitt and
Will Smith were the top two choices and were offered the role,
according to 'The Hollywood Reporter'. Smith turned it down because he
didn't understand it. Cobb's role is compared to "the haunted widower
in a Gothic romance".
* Ken Watanabe as Saito, a Japanese businessman who employs Cobb for
the team's mission. Nolan wrote the role with Watanabe in mind, as he
wanted to work with him again after 'Batman Begins'. 'Inception' is
Watanabe's first work in a contemporary setting where his primary
language is English. Watanabe tried to emphasize a different
characteristic of Saito in every dream level: "First chapter in my
castle, I pick up some hidden feelings of the cycle. It's magical,
powerful and then the first dream. And back to the second chapter, in
the old hotel, I pick up [being] sharp and more calm and smart and
it's a little bit [of a] different process to make up the character of
any movie".
* Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Cobb's partner who manages and
researches the missions. Gordon-Levitt compared Arthur to the producer
of Cobb's art, "the one saying, 'Okay, you have your vision; now I'm
going to figure out how to make all the nuts and bolts work so you can
do your thing'". The actor did all but one of his stunt scenes and
said the preparation "was a challenge and it would have to be for it
to look real". James Franco was in talks with Christopher Nolan to
play Arthur, but was ultimately unavailable due to scheduling
conflicts.
* Marion Cotillard as Mal, Cobb's deceased wife. She is a
manifestation of Cobb's guilt about the real cause of Mal's suicide.
He is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his
abilities as an extractor. Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the
femme fatale," and DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance, saying
that "she can be strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking
all in the same moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions
of her character".
* Elliot Page as Ariadne, a graduate student of architecture who is
recruited to construct the various dreamscapes, which are described as
mazes. The name Ariadne alludes to a princess of Greek myth, daughter
of King Minos, who aided the hero Theseus by giving him a sword and a
ball of string to help him navigate the labyrinth which was the prison
of the Minotaur. Nolan said that Page was chosen for being a "perfect
combination of freshness and savvy and maturity beyond [his] years".
Page said their character acts as a proxy to the audience, as "she's
just learning about these ideas and, in essence, assists the audience
in learning about dream sharing".
* Tom Hardy as Eames, a sharp-tongued associate of Cobb. He is
referred to as a fence but his specialty is forgery, more accurately
identity theft. Eames uses his ability to impersonate others inside
the dream world in order to manipulate Fischer. Hardy described his
character as "an old, Graham Greene-type diplomat; sort of faded,
shabby, grandeur--the old Shakespeare lovey mixed with somebody from
Her Majesty's Special Forces", who wears "campy, old money" costumes.
* Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer, the heir to a business empire and
the team's target. Murphy said Fischer was portrayed as "a petulant
child who's in need of a lot of attention from his father, he has
everything he could ever want materially, but he's deeply lacking
emotionally". The actor also researched the sons of Rupert Murdoch,
"to add to that the idea of living in the shadow of someone so
immensely powerful".
* Tom Berenger as Peter Browning, Robert Fischer's godfather and
fellow executive at the Fischers' company. Berenger said Browning acts
as a "surrogate father" to Fischer, who calls the character "Uncle
Peter", and emphasized that "Browning has been with [Robert] his whole
life and has probably spent more quality time with him than his own
father".
* Michael Caine as Stephen Miles, Cobb's mentor and father-in-law, and
Ariadne's college professor who recommends her to the team.
* Dileep Rao as Yusuf. Rao describes Yusuf as "an avant-garde
pharmacologist, who is a resource for people, like Cobb, who want to
do this work unsupervised, unregistered and unapproved of by anyone".
Co-producer Jordan Goldberg said the role of the chemist was
"particularly tough because you don't want him to seem like some kind
of drug dealer", and that Rao was cast for being "funny, interesting
and obviously smart".
* Lukas Haas as Nash, an architect in Cobb's employment who betrays
the team and is later replaced by Ariadne.
* Talulah Riley as a woman, credited as "Blonde", whom Eames disguises
himself as in a dream. Riley liked the role, despite it being minimal:
"I get to wear a nice dress, pick up men in bars, and shove them in
elevators. It was good to do something adultish. Usually I play
15-year-old English schoolgirls."
* Pete Postlethwaite as Maurice Fischer, Robert Fischer's father and
the dying founder of a business empire.
Development
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Initially, Christopher Nolan wrote an 80-page treatment about
dream-stealers. Nolan had originally envisioned 'Inception' as a
horror film, but eventually wrote it as a heist film even though he
found that "traditionally [they] are very deliberately superficial in
emotional terms." Upon revisiting his script, he decided that basing
it in that genre did not work because the story "relies so heavily on
the idea of the interior state, the idea of dream and memory. I
realized I needed to raise the emotional stakes."
Nolan worked on the script for nine to ten years. When he first
started thinking about making the film, Nolan was influenced by "that
era of movies where you had 'The Matrix' (1999), you had 'Dark City'
(1998), you had 'The Thirteenth Floor' (1999) and, to a certain
extent, you had 'Memento' (2000), too. They were based in the
principles that the world around you might not be real."
Nolan first pitched the film to Warner Bros. in 2001, but decided that
he needed more experience making large-scale films, and embarked on
'Batman Begins' and 'The Dark Knight'. He soon realized that a film
like 'Inception' needed a large budget because "as soon as you're
talking about dreams, the potential of the human mind is infinite. And
so the scale of the film has to feel infinite. It has to feel like you
could go anywhere by the end of the film. And it has to work on a
massive scale." After making 'The Dark Knight', Nolan decided to make
'Inception' and spent six months completing the script. Nolan said
that the key to completing the script was wondering what would happen
if several people shared the same dream. "Once you remove the privacy,
you've created an infinite number of alternative universes in which
people can meaningfully interact, with validity, with weight, with
dramatic consequences."
Nolan had been trying to work with Leonardo DiCaprio for years and met
him several times, but was unable to recruit him for any of his films
until 'Inception'. DiCaprio finally agreed because he was "intrigued
by this concept--this dream-heist notion and how this character's
going to unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life."
He read the script and found it to be "very well written,
comprehensive but you really had to have Chris in person, to try to
articulate some of the things that have been swirling around his head
for the last eight years." DiCaprio and Nolan spent months talking
about the screenplay. Nolan took a long time re-writing the script in
order "to make sure that the emotional journey of his [DiCaprio's]
character was the driving force of the movie." On February 11, 2009,
it was announced that Warner Bros. purchased 'Inception', a spec
script written by Nolan.
Locations and sets {{anchor|Filming}}
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Principal photography began in Tokyo on June 19, 2009, with the scene
in which Saito first hires Cobb during a helicopter flight over the
city.
The production moved to the United Kingdom and shot in a converted
airship hangar in Cardington, Bedfordshire, north of London. There,
the hotel bar set which tilted 30 degrees was built. A hotel corridor
was also constructed by Guy Hendrix Dyas, the production designer,
Chris Corbould, the special effects supervisor, and Wally Pfister, the
director of photography; it rotated a full 360 degrees to create the
effect of alternate directions of gravity for scenes set during the
second level of dreaming, where dream-sector physics become chaotic.
The idea was inspired by a technique used in Stanley Kubrick's '2001:
A Space Odyssey' (1968). Nolan said, "I was interested in taking those
ideas, techniques, and philosophies and applying them to an action
scenario". The filmmakers originally planned to make the hallway only
long, but as the action sequence became more elaborate, the hallway's
length was increased to . The corridor was suspended along eight large
concentric rings that were spaced equidistantly outside its walls and
powered by two massive electric motors.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Arthur, spent several weeks learning
to fight in a corridor that spun like "a giant hamster wheel". Nolan
said of the device, "It was like some incredible torture device; we
thrashed Joseph for weeks, but in the end we looked at the footage,
and it looks unlike anything any of us has seen before. The rhythm of
it is unique, and when you watch it, even if you know how it was done,
it confuses your perceptions. It's unsettling in a wonderful way".
Gordon-Levitt remembered, "it was six-day weeks of just, like, coming
home at night battered ... The light fixtures on the ceiling are
coming around on the floor, and you have to choose the right time to
cross through them, and if you don't, you're going to fall." On July
15, 2009, filming took place at University College London for the
sequences occurring inside a Paris college of architecture in the
story, including the library, Flaxman Gallery and Gustav Tuck Theatre.
Filming moved to France, where they shot Cobb entering the college of
architecture (the place used for the entrance was the Musée Galliera)
and the pivotal scenes between Ariadne and Cobb, in a bistro (a
fictional one set up at the corner of Rue César Franck and Rue
Bouchut), and lastly on the Bir-Hakeim bridge. For the explosion that
takes place during the bistro scene, local authorities would not allow
the use of real explosives. High-pressure nitrogen was used to create
the effect of a series of explosions. Pfister used six high-speed
cameras to capture the sequence from different angles and make sure
that they got the shot. The visual effects department enhanced the
sequence, adding more destruction and flying debris. For the "Paris
folding" sequence and when Ariadne "creates" the bridges, green screen
and CGI were used on location.
Tangier, Morocco, doubled as Mombasa, where Cobb hires Eames and
Yusuf. A foot chase was shot in the streets and alleyways of the
historic medina quarter. To capture this sequence, Pfister employed a
mix of hand-held camera and steadicam work. Tangier was also used as
the setting for filming an important riot scene during the initial
foray into Saito's mind.
Filming moved to the Los Angeles area, where some sets were built on a
Warner Bros. sound stage, including the interior rooms of Saito's
Japanese castle (the exterior was done on a small set built in Malibu
Beach). The dining room was inspired by the historic Nijō Castle,
built around 1603. These sets were inspired by a mix of Japanese
architecture and Western influences.
The production staged a multi-vehicle car chase on the streets of
downtown Los Angeles, which involved a freight train crashing down the
middle of a street. To do this, the filmmakers configured a train
engine on the chassis of a tractor trailer. The replica was made from
fiberglass molds taken from authentic train parts and matched in terms
of color and design. Also, the car chase was supposed to be set in the
midst of a downpour, but the L.A. weather stayed typically sunny. The
filmmakers set up elaborate effects (e.g., rooftop water cannons) to
give the audience the impression that the weather was overcast and
soggy. L.A. was also the site of the climactic scene where a Ford
Econoline van runs off the Schuyler Heim Bridge in slow motion. This
sequence was filmed on and off for months, with the van being shot out
of a cannon, according to actor Dileep Rao. Capturing the actors
suspended within the van in slow motion took a whole day to film.
Once the van landed in the water, the challenge for the actors was to
avoid panic. "And when they ask you to act, it's a bit of an ask,"
explained Cillian Murphy. The actors had to be underwater for four to
five minutes while drawing air from scuba tanks; underwater buddy
breathing is shown in this sequence.
Cobb's house was in Pasadena. The hotel lobby was filmed at the CAA
building in Century City. "Limbo" was made on location in Los Angeles
and Morocco, with the beach scene filmed at Palos Verdes beach with
CGI buildings. N Hope St. in Los Angeles was the primary filming
location for "Limbo", with green screen and CGI being used to create
the dream landscape.
The final phase of principal photography took place in Alberta in late
November 2009. The location manager discovered a temporarily closed
ski resort, Fortress Mountain. An elaborate set was assembled near the
top station of the Canadian chairlift, taking three months to build.
The production had to wait for a huge snowstorm, which eventually
arrived. The ski-chase sequence was inspired by Nolan's favorite James
Bond film, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969): "What I liked
about it that we've tried to emulate in this film is there's a
tremendous balance in that movie of action and scale and romanticism
and tragedy and emotion."
Cinematography
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The film was shot primarily in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film,
with key sequences filmed on 65 mm, and aerial sequences in
VistaVision. Nolan did not shoot any footage with IMAX cameras as he
had with 'The Dark Knight'. "We didn't feel that we were going to be
able to shoot in IMAX because of the size of the cameras because this
film, given that it deals with a potentially surreal area, the nature
of dreams and so forth, I wanted it to be as realistic as possible.
Not be bound by the scale of those IMAX cameras, even though I love
the format dearly". In addition Nolan and Pfister tested using
Showscan and Super Dimension 70 as potential large-format,
high-frame-rate camera systems to use for the film, but ultimately
decided against either format.
Sequences in slow motion were filmed on a Photo-Sonics 35 mm camera at
speeds of up to 1,000 frames per second. Wally Pfister tested shooting
some of these sequences using a high speed digital camera, but found
the format to be too unreliable due to technical glitches. "Out of six
times that we shot on the digital format, we only had one usable piece
and it didn't end up in the film. Out of the six times we shot with
the Photo-Sonics camera and 35 mm running through it, every single
shot was in the movie."
Nolan also chose not to shoot any of the film in 3D as he prefers
shooting on film using prime lenses, which is not possible with 3D
cameras. Nolan has also criticized the dim image that 3D projection
produces, and disputes that traditional film does not allow realistic
depth perception, saying "I think it's a misnomer to call it 3D versus
2D. The whole point of cinematic imagery is it's three dimensional...
You know 95% of our depth cues come from occlusion, resolution, color
and so forth, so the idea of calling a 2D movie a '2D movie' is a
little misleading." Nolan did test converting 'Inception' into 3D in
post-production but decided that, while it was possible, he lacked the
time to complete the conversion to a standard he was happy with. In
February 2011 Jonathan Liebesman suggested that Warner Bros. were
attempting a 3D conversion for Blu-ray release.
Wally Pfister gave each location and dream level a distinctive look to
aid the audience's recognition of the narrative's location during the
heavily crosscut portion of the film: the mountain fortress appears
sterile and cool, the hotel hallways have warm hues, and the scenes in
the van are more neutral.
Nolan has said that the film "deals with levels of reality, and
perceptions of reality which is something I'm very interested in. It's
an action film set in a contemporary world, but with a slight
science-fiction bent to it", while also describing it as "very much an
ensemble film structured somewhat as a heist movie. It's an action
adventure that spans the globe".
Visual effects
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For dream sequences in 'Inception', Nolan used little
computer-generated imagery, preferring practical effects whenever
possible. Nolan said, "It's always very important to me to do as much
as possible in-camera, and then, if necessary, computer graphics are
very useful to build on or enhance what you have achieved physically."
To this end, visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin built a miniature
of the mountain fortress set and then blew it up for the film. For the
fight scene that takes place in zero gravity, he used CG-based effects
to "subtly bend elements like physics, space and time."
The most challenging effect was the "Limbo" city level at the end of
the film, because it continually developed during production. Franklin
had artists build concepts while Nolan expressed his ideal vision:
"Something glacial, with clear modernist architecture, but with chunks
of it breaking off into the sea like icebergs". Franklin and his team
ended up with "something that looked like an iceberg version of Gotham
City with water running through it." They created a basic model of a
glacier and then designers created a program that added elements like
roads, intersections and ravines until they had a complex, yet
organic-looking, cityscape. For the Paris-folding sequence, Franklin
had artists producing concept sketches and then they created rough
computer animations to give them an idea of what the sequence looked
like while in motion. Later during principal photography, Nolan was
able to direct DiCaprio and Page based on this rough computer
animation that Franklin had created. 'Inception' had nearly 500 visual
effects shots (in comparison, 'Batman Begins' had approximately 620),
which is relatively few in comparison to contemporary effects-heavy
films, which can have as many as 2,000 visual effects shots.
Music
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The score for 'Inception' was written by Hans Zimmer, who described
his work as "a very electronic, dense score", filled with "nostalgia
and sadness" to match Cobb's feelings throughout the film. The music
was written simultaneously to filming, and features a guitar sound
reminiscent of Ennio Morricone, played by Johnny Marr, former
guitarist of the Smiths.
Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" ("No, I Regret Nothing")
appears throughout the film, used to accurately time the dreams, and
Zimmer reworked pieces of the song into cues of the score.
A soundtrack album was released on July 11, 2010, by Reprise Records.
The majority of the score was also included in high resolution 5.1
surround sound on the second disc of the two-disc Blu-ray release.
Hans Zimmer's music was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best
Original Score category in 2011, losing to Trent Reznor and Atticus
Ross of 'The Social Network'.
Reality and dreams
====================
In 'Inception', Nolan wanted to explore "the idea of people sharing a
dream space... That gives you the ability to access somebody's
unconscious mind. What would that be used and abused for?" The
majority of the film's plot takes place in these interconnected dream
worlds. This structure creates a framework where actions in the real
or dream worlds ripple across others. The dream is always in a state
of production, and shifts across the levels as the characters navigate
it. By contrast, the world of 'The Matrix' (1999) is an authoritarian,
computer-controlled one, alluding to theories of social control
developed by thinkers Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard. However,
according to one interpretation Nolan's world has more in common with
the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.
David Denby in 'The New Yorker' compared Nolan's cinematic treatment
of dreams to Luis Buñuel's in 'Belle de Jour' (1967) and 'The Discreet
Charm of the Bourgeoisie' (1972). He criticized Nolan's
"literal-minded" action level sequencing compared to Buñuel, who
"silently pushed us into reveries and left us alone to enjoy our
wonderment, but Nolan is working on so many levels of representation
at once that he has to lay in pages of dialogue just to explain what's
going on." The latter captures "the peculiar malign intensity of
actual dreams."
Deirdre Barrett, a dream researcher at Harvard University, said that
Nolan did not get every detail accurate regarding dreams, but their
illogical, rambling, disjointed plots would not make for a great
thriller anyway. However, "he did get many aspects right," she said,
citing the scene in which a sleeping Cobb is shoved into a full bath,
and in the dream world water gushes into the windows of the building,
waking him up. "That's very much how real stimuli get incorporated,
and you very often wake up right after that intrusion."
Nolan himself said, "I tried to work that idea of manipulation and
management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have.
Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and
concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea
that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that
allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else."
Dreams and cinema
===================
Others have argued that the film is itself a metaphor for filmmaking,
and that the filmgoing experience itself, images flashing before one's
eyes in a darkened room, is akin to a dream. Writing in 'Wired', Jonah
Lehrer supported this interpretation and presented neurological
evidence that brain activity is strikingly similar during
film-watching and sleeping. In both, the visual cortex is highly
active and the prefrontal cortex, which deals with logic, deliberate
analysis, and self-awareness, is quiet.
Paul argued that the experience of going to a picturehouse is itself
an exercise in shared dreaming, particularly when viewing 'Inception':
the film's sharp cutting between scenes forces the viewer to create
larger narrative arcs to stitch the pieces together. This demand of
production parallel to consumption of the images, on the part of the
audience is analogous to dreaming itself. As in the film's story, in a
cinema one enters into the space of another's dream, in this case
Nolan's, as with any work of art, one's reading of it is ultimately
influenced by one's own subjective desires and subconscious. At
Bir-Hakeim bridge in Paris, Ariadne creates an illusion of infinity by
adding facing mirrors underneath its struts, Stephanie Dreyfus in 'la
Croix' asked "Is this not a strong, beautiful metaphor for the cinema
and its power of illusion?"
Genre
=======
Nolan combined elements from several different film genres into the
film, notably science fiction, heist film, and film noir.
Marion Cotillard plays "Mal" Cobb, Dom Cobb's projection of his guilt
over his deceased wife's suicide. As the film's main antagonist, she
is a frequent, malevolent presence in his dreams. Dom is unable to
control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an
extractor. Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the femme fatale",
the key 'noir' reference in the film. As a "classic femme fatale" her
relationship with Cobb is in his mind, a manifestation of Cobb's own
neurosis and fear of how little he knows about the woman he loves.
DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance saying that "she can be
strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking all in the same
moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions of her
character".
Nolan began with the structure of a heist movie, since exposition is
an essential element of that genre, though adapted it to have a
greater emotional narrative suited to the world of dreams and
subconscious. As Denby described this device: "the outer shell of the
story is an elaborate caper". Kristin Thompson argued that exposition
was a major formal device in the film. While a traditional heist movie
has a heavy dose of exposition at the beginning as the team assembles
and the leader explains the plan, in 'Inception' this becomes nearly
continuous as the group progresses through the various levels of
dreaming. Three quarters of the film, until the van begins to fall
from the bridge, are devoted to explaining its plot. In this way,
exposition takes precedence over characterization. The characters'
relationships are created by their respective skills and roles.
Ariadne, like her ancient namesake, creates the maze and guides the
others through it, but also helps Cobb navigate his own subconscious,
and as the sole student of dream sharing, helps the audience
understand the concept of the plot.
Nolan drew inspiration from the works of Jorge Luis Borges, including
"The Secret Miracle" and "The Circular Ruins", and from the films
'Blade Runner' (1982) and 'The Matrix' (1999). While Nolan has not
confirmed this, it has also been suggested by many observers that the
movie draws heavy inspiration from the 2006 animated film 'Paprika'.
Ending
========
The film cuts to the closing credits from a shot of the top apparently
starting to show an ever so faint wobble, inviting speculation about
whether the final sequence was reality or another dream. Nolan
confirmed that the ambiguity was deliberate, saying, "I've been asked
the question more times than I've ever been asked any other question
about any other film I've made... What's funny to me is that people
really do expect me to answer it." The film's script concludes with
"Behind him, on the table, the spinning top is STILL SPINNING. And
we--FADE OUT". Nolan said, "I put that cut there at the end, imposing
an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending
to me--it always felt like the appropriate 'kick' to me... The real
point of the scene--and this is what I tell people--is that Cobb isn't
looking at the top. He's looking at his kids. He's left it behind.
That's the emotional significance of the thing."
Caine interpreted the ending as meaning that Cobb is in the real
world, quoting Nolan as telling him "'Well, when you're in the scene,
it's reality.' So get that -- if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not
in it, it's a dream". While reiterating that he was uncomfortable with
definitively explaining the scene, Nolan in 2023 credited Emma Thomas
as providing "the correct answer, which is Leo's character ... doesn't
care at that point". Mark Fisher argued that "a century of cultural
theory" cautions against accepting the author's interpretation as
anything more than a supplementary text, and this all the more so
given the theme of the instability of any one master position in
Nolan's films. Therein the manipulator is often the one who ends up
manipulated, and Cobb's "not caring" about whether or not his world is
real may be the price of his happiness and release.
Marketing
===========
Warner Bros. spent US$100 million marketing the film. Although
'Inception' was not part of an existing franchise, Sue Kroll,
president of Warner's worldwide marketing, said the company believed
it could gain awareness due to the strength of "Christopher Nolan as a
brand". Kroll declared that "We don't have the brand equity that
usually drives a big summer opening, but we have a great cast and a
fresh idea from a filmmaker with a track record of making incredible
movies. If you can't make those elements work, it's a sad day." The
studio also tried to maintain a campaign of secrecy--as reported by
the Senior VP of Interactive Marketing, Michael Tritter, "You have
this movie which is going to have a pretty big built in fanbase... but
you also have a movie that you are trying to keep very secret. Chris
[Nolan] really likes people to see his movies in a theater and not see
it all beforehand so everything that you do to market that--at least
early on--is with an eye to feeding the interest to fans."
A viral marketing campaign was employed for the film. After the
revelation of the first teaser trailer, in August 2009, the film's
official website featured only an animation of Cobb's spinning top. In
December, the top toppled over and the website opened the online game
'Mind Crime', which upon completion revealed 'Inception's' poster. The
rest of the campaign unrolled after WonderCon in April 2010, where
Warner gave away promotional T-shirts featuring the PASIV briefcase
used to create the dream space, and had a QR code linking to an online
manual of the device. 'Mind Crime' also received a stage 2 with more
resources, including a hidden trailer for the movie. More pieces of
viral marketing began to surface before 'Inception's' release, such as
a manual filled with bizarre images and text sent to 'Wired' magazine,
and the online publication of posters, ads, phone applications, and
strange websites all related to the film. Warner also released an
online prequel comic, 'Inception: The Cobol Job'.
The official trailer released on May 10, 2010, through 'Mind Game' was
extremely well received. It featured an original piece of music, "Mind
Heist", by recording artist Zack Hemsey, rather than music from the
score. The trailer quickly went viral with numerous mashups copying
its style, both by amateurs on sites like YouTube and by professionals
on sites such as CollegeHumor. On June 7, 2010, a behind-the-scenes
featurette on the film was released in HD on Yahoo! Movies.
'Inception' and its film trailers are widely credited for launching
the trend throughout the 2010s in which blockbuster movie trailers
repeatedly hit audiences with so-called "braam" sounds: "bassy,
brassy, thunderous notes--like a foghorn on steroids--meant to impart
a sense of apocalyptic momentousness". However, different composers
worked on the teaser trailer, first trailer, second trailer, and film
score, meaning that identifying the composer(s) responsible for that
trend is a complicated task.
Home media
============
'Inception' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2010, in
France, and the week after in the United Kingdom and United States
(December 7, 2010). The film was released on VHS in South Korea,
making it one of the last major studio films released for the format.
Warner Bros. also made available in the United States a limited
Blu-ray edition packaged in a metal replica of the PASIV briefcase,
which included extras such as a metal replica of the spinning top
totem. With a production run of less than 2,000, it sold out in one
weekend. 'Inception' was released on 4K Blu-ray and digital copy along
with other Christopher Nolan films on December 19, 2017. , the home
video releases have sold over 9million units and grossed over .
Putative video game{{anchor|Proposed video game}}
===================================================
In a November 2010 interview, Nolan expressed his intention to develop
a video game set in the 'Inception' world, working with a team of
collaborators. He described it as "a longer-term proposition",
referring to the medium of video games as "something I've wanted to
explore".
10th anniversary re-release
=============================
'Inception' was re-released in theaters for its tenth anniversary,
starting on August 12, 2020, in international markets and on August 21
in the U.S. The re-release was originally announced by Warner Bros. in
June 2020 and scheduled for July 17, 2020, taking the original release
date for Nolan's upcoming film 'Tenet' after its delay to July 31 due
to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on movie theaters. After
'Tenet' was delayed again to August 12, the re-release was shifted to
July 31, before setting on the August release date following a third
delay.
Reception
======================================================================
=== Box office ===
rowspan="2" | Film colspan="1" | Release date colspan="3" | Box
office revenue colspan="2" text="wrap" | Box office ranking Budget
Reference
United States North America International Worldwide All-time domestic
All-time worldwide
'Inception ' July 2010 US$292,587,330 US$578,205,319 US$839,030,630
No. 109 No. 80 US$160,000,000 |
'Inception' was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on
July 16, 2010. The film had its world premiere at Leicester Square in
London on July 8, 2010. In the United States and Canada, 'Inception'
was released theatrically in 3,792 conventional theaters and 195 IMAX
theaters. The film grossed US$21.8 million during its opening day on
July 16, 2010, with midnight screenings in 1,500 locations. Overall
the film made US$62.7 million and debuted at No.1 on its opening
weekend. 'Inception's' opening weekend gross made it the
second-highest-grossing debut for a science fiction film that was not
a sequel, remake or adaptation, behind 'Avatar''s US$77 million
opening-weekend gross in 2009. The film held the top spot of the box
office rankings in its second and third weekends, with drops of just
32% (US$42.7 million) and 36% (US$27.5 million), respectively, before
dropping to second place in its fourth week, behind 'The Other Guys'.
'Inception' initially grossed US$292 million in the United States and
Canada, US$56 million in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta and
US$479 million in other countries for a total of US$828 million
worldwide. Its five highest-grossing markets after the US and Canada
(US$292 million) were China (US$68 million), the United Kingdom,
Ireland and Malta (US$56 million), France and the Maghreb region
(US$43 million), Japan (US$40 million) and South Korea (US$38
million). It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2010 in North
America, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010, behind 'Toy
Story 3', 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows - Part 1'. Its subsequent re-releases increased its gross to
US$839 million. 'Inception' is the fourth most lucrative production in
Christopher Nolan's career--behind 'The Dark Knight', 'The Dark Knight
Rises' and 'Oppenheimer'--and the second most for Leonardo
DiCaprio--behind 'Titanic'.
Critical response
===================
On Rotten Tomatoes, 'Inception' holds an approval rating of 87% based
on 368 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's
critical consensus reads: "Smart, innovative, and thrilling,
'Inception' is that rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally
as well as intellectually." Metacritic, another review aggregator,
assigned the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on
42 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled
by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F
scale.
Peter Travers of 'Rolling Stone' called 'Inception' a "wildly
ingenious chess game," and concluded "the result is a knockout."
Justin Chang of 'Variety' praised the film as "a conceptual tour de
force" and wrote, "applying a vivid sense of procedural detail to a
fiendishly intricate yarn set in the labyrinth of the unconscious
mind, the writer-director has devised a heist thriller for
surrealists, a Jungian's 'Rififi', that challenges viewers to sift
through multiple layers of (un)reality." Jim Vejvoda of IGN rated the
film as perfect, deeming it "a singular accomplishment from a
filmmaker who has only gotten better with each film." 'Relevant''s
David Roark called it Nolan's "greatest accomplishment", saying,
"Visually, intellectually and emotionally, 'Inception' is a
masterpiece."
In its August 2010 issue, 'Empire' gave the film a full five stars and
wrote, "it feels like Stanley Kubrick adapting the work of the great
sci-fi author William Gibson [...] Nolan delivers another true
original: welcome to an undiscovered country." 'Entertainment
Weekly's' Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film a B+ grade and wrote, "It's a
rolling explosion of images as hypnotizing and sharply angled as any
in a drawing by M. C. Escher or a state-of-the-biz video game; the
backwards splicing of Nolan's own 'Memento' looks rudimentary by
comparison." Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' awarded the film a
full four stars and said that 'Inception' "is all about process, about
fighting our way through enveloping sheets of reality and dream,
reality within dreams, dreams without reality. It's a breathtaking
juggling act." Richard Roeper, also of the 'Sun-Times', gave
'Inception' an "A+" score and called it "one of the best movies of the
[21st] century." BBC Radio 5 Live's Mark Kermode named 'Inception' as
the best film of 2010, stating that "'Inception' is proof that people
are not stupid, that cinema is not trash, and that it is possible for
blockbusters and art to be the same thing."
Michael Phillips of the 'Chicago Tribune' gave the film 3 out of 4
stars and wrote, "I found myself wishing 'Inception' were weirder,
further out [...] the film is Nolan's labyrinth all the way, and it's
gratifying to experience a summer movie with large visual ambitions
and with nothing more or less on its mind than (as Shakespeare said) a
dream that hath no bottom." 'Time''s Richard Corliss wrote that the
film's "noble intent is to implant one man's vision in the mind of a
vast audience [...] The idea of movie going as communal dreaming is a
century old. With 'Inception', viewers have a chance to see that
notion get a state-of-the-art update." Kenneth Turan of the 'Los
Angeles Times' felt that Nolan was able to blend "the best of
traditional and modern film making. If you're searching for smart and
nervy popular entertainment, this is what it looks like." USA Today
Claudia Puig gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and felt
that Nolan "regards his viewers as possibly smarter than they are--or
at least as capable of rising to his inventive level. That's a tall
order. But it's refreshing to find a director who makes us stretch,
even occasionally struggle, to keep up."
Not all reviewers gave the film positive reviews. 'New York'
magazine's David Edelstein said in his review that he had "no idea
what so many people are raving about. It's as if someone went into
their heads while they were sleeping and planted the idea that
'Inception' is a visionary masterpiece and--hold on ... Whoa! I think
I get it. The movie is a metaphor for the power of delusional hype--a
metaphor for itself." 'The New York Observer's' Rex Reed said the
film's development was "pretty much what we've come to expect from
summer movies in general and Christopher Nolan movies in particular
... [it] doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment to me." A. O.
Scott of 'The New York Times' commented "there is a lot to see in
'Inception', there is nothing that counts as genuine vision. Mr.
Nolan's idea of the mind is too literal, too logical, and too
rule-bound to allow the full measure of madness." 'The New Yorker's'
David Denby considered the film to be "not nearly as much fun as Nolan
imagined it to be", concluding that "'Inception' is a stunning-looking
film that gets lost in fabulous intricacies, a movie devoted to its
own workings and to little else."
While some critics have tended to view the film as perfectly
straightforward, and even criticize its overarching themes as "the
stuff of torpid platitudes", online discussion has been much more
positive. Heated debate has centered on the ambiguity of the ending,
with many critics like Devin Faraci making the case that the film is
self-referential and tongue-in-cheek, both a film about film-making
and a dream about dreams. Other critics read 'Inception' as Christian
allegory and focus on the film's use of religious and water symbolism.
Yet other critics, such as Kristin Thompson, see less value in the
ambiguous ending of the film and more in its structure and novel
method of storytelling, highlighting 'Inception' as a new form of
narrative that revels in "continuous exposition".
Several critics and scholars have noted the film has many striking
similarities to the 2006 anime film 'Paprika' by Satoshi Kon (and
Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1993 novel of the same name), including plot
similarities, similar scenes, and similar characters, arguing that
'Inception' was influenced by 'Paprika'. Several sources have also
noted plot similarities between the film and the 2002 Uncle Scrooge
comic 'The Dream of a Lifetime' by Don Rosa. The influence of Andrei
Tarkovsky's 'Solaris' on 'Inception' was noted as well.
Year-end and all-time lists
=============================
'Inception' appeared on over 273 critics' lists of the top ten films
of 2010, being picked as number-one on at least 55 of those lists. It
was the second-most-mentioned film in both the top ten lists and
number-one rankings, only behind 'The Social Network' along with 'Toy
Story 3', 'True Grit', 'The King's Speech', and 'Black Swan' as the
most critically acclaimed films of 2010. Author Stephen King placed
'Inception' at No. 3 in his list of top 10 best films of the year.
Film maker Denis Villeneuve cited it as among his favorite films of
all time. In 2025, the film ranked number 55 on 'The New York Times
list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 24 on the
"Readers' Choice" edition of the list.
Critics and publications who ranked the film first for that year
included Richard Roeper of the 'Chicago Sun-Times', Kenneth Turan of
the 'Los Angeles Times' (tied with 'The Social Network' and 'Toy Story
3'), Tasha Robinson of 'The A.V. Club', 'Empire' magazine, and Kirk
Honeycutt of 'The Hollywood Reporter'.
Top ten lists
===============
'Inception' was listed on many critics' lists of top ten movies for
2010.
* 1st - Richard Roeper, 'Chicago Sun-Times'
* 1st - Kenneth Turan, 'Los Angeles Times' (tied with 'The Social
Network' and 'Toy Story 3')
* 1st - Tasha Robinson, 'The A.V. Club'
* 1st - 'Empire'
* 1st - Kirk Honeycutt, 'The Hollywood Reporter'
* 2nd - Peter Travers, 'Rolling Stone'
* 2nd - Christy Lemire, 'Associated Press'
* 2nd - James Berardinelli, 'Reelviews'
* 2nd - Gregory Ellwood, 'HitFix'
* 2nd - Lisa Kennedy, 'Denver Post'
* 2nd - Bill Goodykoontz, 'Arizona Republic'
* 3rd - Stephen Holden, 'The New York Times'
* 3rd - Phillip French, 'The Observer'
* 3rd - FX Feeney, 'The Village Voice'
* 4th - Keith Phipps, 'The A.V. Club'
* 5th - Nathan Rabin, 'The A.V. Club'
* 5th - Lou Lumenick, 'New York Post'
* 6th - Roger Ebert, 'Chicago Sun-Times'
* 6th - Elizabeth Weitzman, 'New York Daily News'
* 6th - Ann Hornaday, 'Washington Post'
* 6th - Caryn James, 'Indiewire'
* 6th - Claudia Puig, 'USA Today'
* 6th - David Germain, Associated Press
* 6th - Rene Rodriguez, 'Miami Herald'
* 7th - Noel Murray, 'The A.V. Club'
* 8th - Mike Scott, 'The Times-Picayune'
* 9th - Drew McWeeny, 'HitFix'
* 10th - J. Hoberman, 'The Village Voice'
* 10th - Peter Hartlaub, 'San Francisco Chronicle'
In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra
listeners as their ninth-favorite film of all time. Producer Roger
Corman cited 'Inception' as an example of "great imagination and
originality". In 2012, 'Inception' was ranked the 35th-best-edited
film of all time by the Motion Picture Editors Guild. In the same
year, 'Total Film' named it the most rewatchable movie of all time. In
2014, 'Empire' ranked 'Inception' the tenth-greatest film ever made on
their list of "The 301 Greatest Movies Of All Time" as voted by the
magazine's readers, while 'Rolling Stone' magazine named it the
second-best science fiction film since the turn of the century.
'Inception' was ranked 84th on 'Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films', a
list compiled by 'The Hollywood Reporter' in 2014, surveying "Studio
chiefs, Oscar winners and TV royalty". In 2016, 'Inception' was voted
the 51st-best film of the 21st Century by BBC, as picked by 177 film
critics from around the world. The film was included in the Visual
Effects Society's list of "The Most Influential Visual Effects Films
of All Time". In 2019, 'Total Film' named 'Inception' the best film of
the 2010's. Many critics and media outlets included 'Inception' in
their rankings of the best films of the 2010's. The film was included
in 'Forbes' magazine's list of 'Top 150 Greatest Films of 21st
Century'.
In April 2014, 'The Daily Telegraph' placed the title on its top ten
list of the most overrated films. 'Telegraph's' Tim Robey stated,
"It's a criminal failing of the movie that it purports to be about
people's dreams being invaded, but demonstrates no instinct at all for
what a dream has ever felt like, and no flair for making us feel like
we're in one, at any point." The film won an informal poll by the 'Los
Angeles Times' as the most overrated movie of 2010.
Accolades
======================================================================
The film won many awards in technical categories, such as Academy
Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing,
and Best Visual Effects, and the British Academy Film Awards for Best
Production Design, Best Special Visual Effects and Best Sound. In most
of its artistic nominations, such as Film, Director, and Screenplay at
the Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes, the film was defeated by 'The
Social Network' or 'The King's Speech'. However, the film did win the
two highest honors for a science fiction or fantasy film: the 2011
Bradbury Award for best dramatic production and the 2011 Hugo Award
for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).
In popular culture
======================================================================
Numerous pop and hip hop songs reference the film, including Common's
"Blue Sky", N.E.R.D.'s "Hypnotize U", XV's "The Kick", Black Eyed
Peas' "Just Can't Get Enough", Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot", Jennifer
Lopez's "On the Floor", and B.o.B's "Strange Clouds", while T.I. had
'Inception'-based artwork on two of his mix-tapes. An instrumental
track by Joe Budden is titled "Inception". The animated series 'South
Park' parodies the film in the show's tenth episode of its fourteenth
season, titled "Insheeption." The film was also an influence for
Ariana Grande's video for "No Tears Left to Cry." "Lawnmower Dog", the
second episode of the animated comedy show 'Rick and Morty', parodied
the film. In an episode of 'The Simpsons', named "How I Wet Your
Mother", the plot spoofs 'Inception' with various scenes parodying
moments from the film. The showrunners of the television series 'The
Flash' said its season 4 finale was inspired by 'Inception'. In
February 2020, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released a
lyric video for her single "The Man", which featured visuals bearing
resemblance to the film. The song also mentions DiCaprio in its
lyrics.
The film's title has been colloquialized as the suffix '-ception',
which can be jokingly appended to a noun to indicate a layering,
nesting, or recursion of the thing in question.
See also
======================================================================
* Simulacrum
* Simulation hypothesis
* Solipsism
* False awakening
* Suggestion
* 'Dreamscape' (1984 film)
* 'Existenz' (1999 film)
* 'The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch' (1965 novel)
Notes
======================================================================
{{notelist|refs=
}}
License
=========
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception
