we can rule out #1 -- the film answers this for us. one might disagree with me (in which case i would call it poor filmmaking) but the "top level" (heh, "top level") scenes must be themselves in a dream because: when he arrives at the children's home in the u.s. (somewehere in lalaland) we see the children are sitting in the yard exactly as they have been shown previously in the movie, wearing exactly the same clothes, behaving in exactly the same fashion. it's clearly a memory.
which is, in part, why i was disappointed in the ending - the spinning top* symbolizes the question (what if this is all a dream?), and makes for a nice unique little package to anchor the audience to the story, but the film does a hard fade to black on it as if to say the audience doesn't get to know -- but that's false because they do. and you'll notice that cobb doesn't wait to see if the top falls (isn't that the whole point of the totem, to ensure he isn't dreaming?) -- either he's certain it's a dream and knows it won't fall and doesn't have to look, or he thinks it may be a dream, but has given up on "real life" and doesn't want to have his dream shattered, or he's certain it's not a dream and doesn't feel he has to look, but will be in for a rude awakening later (if he does).
given that it's a dream, i think you've left out a significant possibility: when mal jumped off the building she awoke from their shared dream. it's cobb who's the poor sap who has lost touch with reality and thinks the "top level" is real life. in the "real" world, mal, cobb's dad, his children, everyone he knows & loves is waiting for him to come out of his sleep state, but he's lost. think about what cobb's dad says to him when they first meet up in the classroom: "[oh, sigh, another attempt to fix your dream world.] dom, when are you going to come back to reality? [well, anyway, i'll humor you. meet ariadne.]". clearly a projection based on what his father is (would be) saying in the "real" world. the kids are (in a sense) a gimmick, because cobb needs something to live for in the "world without mal"; if they had been a childless couple, cobb could well have said, dream or not, i don't want to live in a "world without mal", and killed himself after she did. the end. short movie.
* i have a lot of problems with the top as any kind of reliable indicator anyway. first of all, it was her totem, not his, so it falling need not indicate he's not in a dream. second of all, where was the top before she committed suicide? did she spin it? did it fall? if so, why would she think she was still in a dream? if not, why would he think it was real life? third, where's cobb's own totem? the whole idea that either one of them could ever be uncertain of their location (dream/real) if totems actually work as they're supposed to is suspect. (loss of his totem could've (should've) been written into the story but it wasn't.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-07-22 02:44 pm (UTC)which is, in part, why i was disappointed in the ending - the spinning top* symbolizes the question (what if this is all a dream?), and makes for a nice unique little package to anchor the audience to the story, but the film does a hard fade to black on it as if to say the audience doesn't get to know -- but that's false because they do. and you'll notice that cobb doesn't wait to see if the top falls (isn't that the whole point of the totem, to ensure he isn't dreaming?) -- either he's certain it's a dream and knows it won't fall and doesn't have to look, or he thinks it may be a dream, but has given up on "real life" and doesn't want to have his dream shattered, or he's certain it's not a dream and doesn't feel he has to look, but will be in for a rude awakening later (if he does).
given that it's a dream, i think you've left out a significant possibility: when mal jumped off the building she awoke from their shared dream. it's cobb who's the poor sap who has lost touch with reality and thinks the "top level" is real life. in the "real" world, mal, cobb's dad, his children, everyone he knows & loves is waiting for him to come out of his sleep state, but he's lost. think about what cobb's dad says to him when they first meet up in the classroom: "[oh, sigh, another attempt to fix your dream world.] dom, when are you going to come back to reality? [well, anyway, i'll humor you. meet ariadne.]". clearly a projection based on what his father is (would be) saying in the "real" world. the kids are (in a sense) a gimmick, because cobb needs something to live for in the "world without mal"; if they had been a childless couple, cobb could well have said, dream or not, i don't want to live in a "world without mal", and killed himself after she did. the end. short movie.
* i have a lot of problems with the top as any kind of reliable indicator anyway. first of all, it was her totem, not his, so it falling need not indicate he's not in a dream. second of all, where was the top before she committed suicide? did she spin it? did it fall? if so, why would she think she was still in a dream? if not, why would he think it was real life? third, where's cobb's own totem? the whole idea that either one of them could ever be uncertain of their location (dream/real) if totems actually work as they're supposed to is suspect. (loss of his totem could've (should've) been written into the story but it wasn't.)