Is it a sign of reality, or a cruel illusion? Working out the answer is almost as entertaining as the film itself
Inception
It's over two hours long, but the speed and fascination of the story makes it feel brisk and involving as it takes us into a sci-fi head space that has never been so boldly or effectively evoked on screen.
To offer a synopsis would be to betray the twists and surprises of the intricate story. The film's founding concept, however, is a different matter. It focuses on Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is some kind of corporate fixer.
Instead of wire taps, hacked computers and stolen information, he and his colleagues have developed a new technology: "extractors", which are able to enter the dreams of an individual who is in an induced sleep state.
Once there they can retrieve hidden memories and deeply buried secrets. They are also able to explore the emotional and psychological state of the sleeper.
Like physical burglars, they must look for valuable and precious things, in this case, memories, ideas and anxieties. They take that information back into the "real" world where they are able to present the dreaming subject with the issues that are holding them back or clouding their judgment.
One central plot strand follows Fischer (Cillian Murphy), the heir to a vast business empire. Fischer is estranged from his father, played by Pete Postlethwaite, but the old man is dying. Waiting in the wings is Saito (Ken Watanabe), a Japanese tycoon who has plans for the young Fischer after his father dies. Saito hires Cobb and his team to put Fischer into a dream state and to explore his memories, his plans and his anxieties about his father.
That's the narrative core of the story, but there are other stories weaving through the drama. Cobb yearns to be re-united with his two children, but there are obstacles. Cobb is separated from his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), who was also an extractor, but she grew wary of what the process does to the person who steals into other people's dreams.
One must also mention Ellen Page as Ariadne, who takes to the dream world like a fish to water. She's one of the most impressive young actresses in US cinema and in this film she is like the group conscience, the voice of reason in a world that grows increasingly irrational.
When people move so rapidly - and so often - from reality into dream and back again, there's a danger they might become unable to tell the difference between truth and illusion. If you lose track of reality, you could lose track of your sense of self and that would certainly send your moral compass into a confusing whirl.
The personal narrative is dense, requires the audience to pay close attention, and is full of actual ideas. Nolan, the writer-director of Inception, challenges his audience to think and to reason, instead of just sitting passively watching .
The intricacy of the plot and the shifting time phases are backed by some of the most extraordinary CGI images we have yet seen on screen. The most dazzling is when, in a dream, Ariadne walks down a bustling city street and, using her mind, bends it upwards and folds it down over her head, like a ceiling, so the street on which she walks also becomes the roof, an exact replica of the street below.
It's a breathtaking moment, matched only when a group of unconscious people are floating in a place where gravity has failed and a guy must drag his colleagues to some form of safety. In terms of design and visual stunts, Inception sets a new bar for special effects designers to beat.
The boldest move that Nolan makes in his screenplay is that, for all the dazzling effects and concepts, the whole film hinges on the emotions of two men. Fischer is wrestling with his ambivalent feelings for his father and Cobb is scarred by the loss of his wife and his separation from his two children. Both are looking for forgiveness.
That forms a poignant, intimate centre to this dazzling edifice, and it is wreathed with metaphors and clues. Look at the names, for example. Ariadne derives from Greek mythology. She was the woman who strung a thread through the labyrinth that allowed the hero Theseus to escape the maze. The same thing happens at the end of this film.
Then there's the luminous, fragile presence of Cobb's wife Mal, who parted from him because he could not follow her path. She's played by French actress Marion Cotillard. In French, one of the meanings of the word "mal" is evil, which adds another metaphorical touch.
You may leave the cinema after your first viewing thinking that you know what it was all about, but I suggest you take a second look at the film. Can you identify the genuine layer of "reality" on which these characters actually live? As the film ends, is Cobb in a real place, or has he succumbed and taken refuge in a dream state?
And what is the meaning of that spinning-top visual motif that runs through the film?
It's the last thing we see, in the film, but is its steady, spinning equilibrium a concrete sign of reality, or is it a cruel illusion? Working out the answer to those questions is almost as entertaining as the film itself.
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