*Spoiler Reflections* On the Ending of Inception

As I said in my review of Inception, the movie's ending is difficult to understand. It's rather like an abstract painting; any person's interpretation of the meaning is as valid as the next one's. (Oh, it's a bird. No, it's a plane. No, it's a big fluffy cloud with a man-eating lion on top.) In a nutshell, the main character, Dom (Leonardo DiCaprio), appears to escape from a dream state called limbo and make his way back to his children. But the viewer isn't sure whether Dom really makes it back. It's possible that he's still in a dream - that he has, in a sense, created a happy ending for himself. I've had a chance to watch the movie again, and I have some ideas about the ending.

The first things to consider in the dream/reality question are the elements that support the dream argument. These are most of the elements in the final scenes. Dom is met at an American airport by his father, who was in Paris the last time Dom saw him. Then Dom meets his children in his old home. The children are conspicuously the same age as the last time he saw them. Also, if I recall correctly, they are wearing the same clothes. These elements suggest that Dom is, indeed, in a dream built from his memories.

However, the last element in the final scenes does not suggest that Dom is in a dream. He spins the top on a table to see if he is in a dream, but he's distracted before he can see whether the top will fall over or not. The camera focuses in on the top as it spins, and it appears to wobble slightly (more in the sound than in the sight) before the picture cuts to the credits. This would indicate that Dom is in reality.

There is another piece of evidence that I think hints at his being in reality. Dom's employer, Saito (Ken Watanabe), coaxes him into taking on the last, difficult job by asking him if he wants to become "an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone." The word "regret" pops up later in the film, too, when Dom talks about the moments of his life that he regrets. Both times the word is bound up with the consequences of his choice to plant an idea in his wife's mind - an idea that caused her to commit suicide and separated him from his children. So, clearly, Dom's character is bound up in his regrets. But the song that is used by Dom and his crew to warn them of the impending end of a dream is entitled Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. Loosely translated into English, it means "No, I have no regrets." This strongly suggests that Dom is in reality.

So does Dom get back to his children or is he trapped in limbo? It seems to me that the former is the more likely answer. Why else would Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien be used so often throughout the movie? And why else would the top begin to wobble just before the credits start? These elements seem harder to explain away than the question marks raised by the other elements I mentioned. Although, I could easily be wrong; Christopher Nolan obviously intended the viewer to remain in the dark.