Inception Director: Christopher Nolan Year: 2010 Genre: Action, adventure, Sci-fi Cast: –Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) –Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) –Saito (Ken Watanabe) –Mal (Marion Cotillard) –Ariadne (Ellen Page)

Names in Inception Dom Cobb – “dom” is a root for home, as in domicile. Ariadne – in Greek mythology, Ariadne gave Theseus the “key” to the labyrinth Yusuf – Arabic for Joseph, a Biblical interpreter of dreams Mal – pronounced “Moll” in the film, mal is a Latin prefix that means bad or evil Robert Fischer is named for chess champion Bobby Fischer

Cobb’s Team Dom Cobb – team leader Arthur – researches the subject Ariadne – the architect: designs the physical elements of the dream environments Eames – the forger: in real life, creates false documents. In the dream, appears as other people Yusuf – the chemist: designs the compounds that will allow dream sleep Saito – employer

Diegesis – the world of the movie Diegetic sound – all sounds that could logically be heard by the characters in the film: –Dialog, sounds made by objects in the film, ambient noise Non-diegetic sound – sounds the characters do not hear –background music, voice-over narration Other non-diegetic elements: subtitles

“No Regrets” The song the team uses to cue the end of a dream Edith Piaf – “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” Diegetic sound – the dreamers hear it The lyrics are in French and mean, “I regret nothing.” –Ironic choice because Cobb is motivated by the events he regrets

M.C. Escher and paradox Maurice Fischer’s name honors M.C. Escher (Maurits Cornelius Escher) Artist who created paradoxical drawings, such as the infinite stairs:

Dream Layers Reality on the plane Yusuf Arthur Eames Fischer Ariadne Saito Cobb Yusuf’s dream Yusuf Arthur Eames Fischer Ariadne Saito Cobb Arthur Eames Fischer Ariadne Saito Cobb Arthur’s dream Eames Fischer Ariadne Saito Cobb Eames’s dream Fischer Ariadne Saito CobbLimbo

Narrative Structure: Set-up, conflict, resolution Set-up –Characters are introduced –The concept of shared dreaming is taught We see Cobb attempt extraction on Saito Cobb and Arthur teach Ariadne

Narrative Structure Conflict –Mal invades Cobb’s dreams –Cobb can’t go home –The team must perform inception Resolution –Cobb confesses his guilt -> Mal will stop haunting his dreams –The team succeeds -> Fisher is healed –Saito pulls strings so Cobb can go home

Filming the Freefall Scenes When the van rolls: –Duplicate sets were built inside rotating rings –The hotel corridor and room rotated; the actors had to time their moves to match the rotation When the van falls: –The duplicate set was vertical –Actors were suspended on wires

Don't you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone!

The Train You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure. But it doesn't matter. How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?

Team analogies to movie production Dom Cobb – Director Arthur – Producer Ariadne (the architect) – Production designer Eames (the forger) – Actor Saito –The studio Fischer – the audience