That IS awesome.

Just to add some grist to the Inception theory mill, particularly the Mal tricking Cobb to stay in Limbo theory, here is an English translation of the lyrics to Je ne Regrette Rien:

No, nothing at all
No, I don't regret anything
Neither the good that's been done to me
Nor the bad
It's all the same to me

No, nothing at all
No, I don't regret anything
It's been payed for
Swept away
Forgotten
I don't care about the past

With my memories
I have lit the fire
My disappointments, my pleasures
I no longer need them
Swept away are the loves
With their trembling
Swept away forever
I start again at zero

No, nothing at all
No, I don't regret anything
Neither the good that's been done to me
Nor the bad
It's all the same to me

No, nothing at all
No, I don't regret anything
Because my life, because my joy
Today begins with you

Well, DH saw Inception again yesterday and has changed his mind. He's now convinced that the "reality" scenes are, in fact, reality, including the end. Which means now *I* have to see it again too because that's what I was arguing after the first time we saw it, and he convinced me to change MY mind to no-it's-all-a-dream! Argh! Movie!

I asked him to come in here and post for himself, but in case he doesn't, the most convincing case to be made for reality = reality is that before every scene change in the real world, someone will say where they're going next. "I'm taking the train to Kyoto." "I'll fly to Mombassa." And when everyone wakes up, the flight attendant says "We are landing in Los Angeles." Every time the characters change location in the real world, there is an audio cue to tell us where they are going next and how they're going to get there, which explicitly contrasts with the dream-rule of you-don't-remember-getting-here.

Oooh. Fonebone may have nailed it. I like it.

I still love the fact that the movie is ambiguous enough for it be an arguable point.

I agree with DH. My thing is, if you accept that Inception is an analogy for movies as shared dreaming, then at the end when the top is left spinning, we are the dreamers who wake up. Ha! Just had the thought that it would be supercool when the credits come up if you were in a theater where the seats were equipped to give a little jolt .

Also, here's a little nugget for you that I don't think I've shared. When Fischer is in the hospital room in the fortress, and he opens the final safe to reveal the will and the pinwheel, on the outside face of the safe, in the bottom right-hand corner, is a tiny outline of a lightbulb. I love the attention to detail.

Inception prologue comic. [link]

Inception question: What was the expanded thing Fischer's father said. Was it "I'm disappointed you never tried"? I guess that's an improvement on just "I'm disappointed", but it doesn't seem to me by much. I suppose it's all in how Fischer will interpret "tried".

I'm not sure of the precise quote, Frank, but the sentiment was that he was disappointed that he ever tried. So the upshot of the inception was that Fisher wouldn't go on in his father's footsteps, and would break up the company.

Hmm, OK. I was reading it as he was disappointed Robert had never tried anything on his own, but yours sounds right as well.

But you can't just take the quote on its own. It has to be in the context of Fischer opening the safe and finding the pinwheel there.

Fischer pere tries to speak, and Fischer fils says, "I know, you're disappointed that I failed to be like you." Fischer pere then says, "No, I'm disappointed you tried." Thus "confirming" that pere wants fils to break up the company and go his own way.

To bring that back around to chess, Cillian Murphy's character is named Robert Fischer, Jr. Making Maurice Robert Fischer, Sr., aka Bobby Fischer. From the wiki entry on "Searching for Bobby Fischer" - "The main conflict in the film arises when Josh refuses to adopt Fischer's misanthropic frame of reference. Josh then goes on to win on his own terms with the kind of gracious sportsmanship that Fischer rejects."

Maybe coincidence, maybe not.

Did it occur to anyone on the team that "Don't be like your Dad" != "Break up the company"? There are a million ways he could decide to be his own man while still keeping the company intact...