The contrast (beach -> cliff) reinforces Cobb's character journey while telling us that the ending is NOT a dream (something reinforced by the lack of the water imagery associated with the other dream levels). It is a bookend reference to Matthew 7.24 and the parable of the wise and foolish builders. The film closes with Cobb ignoring his totem (as a crutch of faithlessness it is no longer needed) and then his son James (who represents faith and like his sister shares an apostolic name) telling him that they are building a castle on a cliff.Ī what? That last bit circles back to the opening shot of the children on the beach. What Nolan presents is symbolic: we see Cobb's judgment and forgiveness of sins at immigration, and then his reunion with his family in the heavenly garden. And then look closely at the ending, which shows us neither a dream nor reality. Look at the curious way Michael Caine seems to be playing God when he shows up in Paris. This is presumably why she is the character who accompanies him to immigration.įor more evidence that this is intentional, look at the overwhelming creation imagery and the narrative emphasis on father-son alienation and reconciliation (with Fischer as with Cobb). When Ariadne shatters the mirrors that trap Cobb in a recursive chain, the image is symbolic: she is a gift from Cobb's father ("ask and ye shall receive") and her role in the film is to guide him out of the maze that is the mortal world. Nolan is presenting a metaphor of life itself as a Penrose staircase, and portraying faith as the way out. The only thing that makes limbo special is that it is particularly symbolic. So you're not supposed to worry too much about the logic of the dream levels, since all dreams are basically metaphors for life: mazes where people "get lost" and from which they need to "die to wake up". Cobb reaffirms his faith in his children "up there", rejects violence even when he is attacked and then sacrifices his own life to save Saito. At the end Cobb takes a "leap of faith" when he rejects Mal, whose seduction of him is framed as a temptation of faith ("you don't believe in one reality anymore. In the first Cobb is a faithless and money-oriented thief who embraces violence and selfishly abandons his team when this fails ("every man for himself"). If you look at the structure of the film you can see Nolan using the opening and closing heist sequences as allegorical bookends to demonstrate Cobb's character development. So Cobb died in Level 1, and then of course in limbo.The reason there are two passages through what seem to be limbo is that Inception is Christian allegory. And that's how he was able to rescue Saito. So my explanation is that the death of Cobb in Level 1 (even if he was already there in limbo with a stab in his chest), made him reach the limbo again. Now, you all must have seen how Cobb was left behind to drown in that van, and just after that scene, we see Cobb waking up on the beach. And that could happen if he was killed in some other level of dream. So the only way Cobb could have continued his search for Saito was by arriving in limbo again. So Cobb is still in limbo with a stab in his chest.ĭo note that he just can't continue his search for Saito with that fatal stab (because if he did so, he would die before finding Saito and return back to the reality WITHOUT Saito). So Ariadne jumps off the building and ultimately wakes up in level 1 due to all the synchronised kicks. Cobb stops her and tells her to leave him behind.
Then Ariadne pushes Fischer off the building, and tries to shoot Cobb too. Let's begin from the point where Mal stabs Cobb:Īs soon as Mal stabs Cobb, she is shot at by Ariadne. It isn't very convincing, but then no other answer really is. After wasting much time in finding the answer to this question, I think I've got one.
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