Although Freud's psychoanalytic theory is only a faction developed in the early stages of psychology, due to its subjective assumptions Sexuality and overly personal imprints, not recognized by mainstream academia today, have had a huge impact on twentieth-century popular culture. People have too much interest and doubts about dreams, and their own desires are even more difficult to control, so they hope to interpret the self-consciousness of Jiguang Kataha in dreams. Director Nolan's understanding of dreams in the film goes beyond personal perceptual knowledge and establishes a set of rational norms. This set of guidelines is the basic world system of the film:
1. The nested existence of dreams in dreams has a progressive relationship in space and time between levels. The space is deepened layer by layer, and the time is expanded geometrically;
2. The deeper the dream, the deeper the subconsciousness is reached;
3. The weightless state in the deep dream state Kick makes people return to the shallow dream state/reality;
4. The changes of the senses such as music, temperature and humidity in the real environment have a hunch in the dream, which can be directly transmitted and reflected in the dream at all levels in a reasonable way.
I don’t know if everyone resonates with this set of guidelines, but at least for me, a person who dreams almost every night, whose dreams are always complicated and feel real, all of them can be verified. With this basic system with perfect logic and authenticity, the story is half guaranteed to look good. I think if Nolan is not a screenwriter and director, he must be an excellent psychologist or architect~~ (off topic~~)
In this basic system, there are two major psychology that runs through the six layers of reality/dream/lost. The main line, that is, the two knots of Cobb as the protagonist (the so-called complex in the psychoanalytic school). Heart knots are hidden deep in the subconscious and affect people's motivation and behavior. It is the interaction of these two internal psychological threads and external events (the grand plan of inception) that drives the development of the plot. From my point of view, these two main line structures are important reasons why the film eventually became a classic. The following analysis will focus on it.
To put it simply, the first knot comes from Cobb's love for the child, and represents the nostalgia for reality; the second knot, from Cobb's guilt for Mal's death, represents the nostalgia for dreams. This pair of contradictions is like the contrast between dream and reality, and also represents the choice of life and death.
Let's start from the beginning. Because of Mal's nostalgia for the dream of freedom, she hid the only top that could remind her of being in the dream in the safe, and chose to forget the difference between dream and reality forever. Cobb is also nostalgic for the dream, but his love for the two children in reality (the first knot. They can't forget them even when they get lost, Cobb, you are too persistent!) so that he can't abandon reality. He's going to convince Mal to come back to reality: because the kids are still there. Mal didn't want to believe they were in a dream, so Cobb instilled in her the idea that "in a dream, death is liberation" (the inception succeeded), convincing Mal to try it with him: die in a dream, and live in reality come over. So far, Cobb's behavior is driven by the first knot, which is the continuation of life and the desire to live.
The two people lying on the rails really returned to the living room of the home where they slept at noon. However, Mal couldn't let it go, because there are always too many layers in dreams, and the truth of things in dreams is no less than reality. She believes that she is still in a dream, and death is the only way to get rid of it. Finally, she chooses suicide to go home and return to the real world. reality. And when Mal committed suicide, Cobb tried to persuade her: the children in reality need us and can't die without them. This is his only remaining obsession. If there is no such knot, what will he miss? Going to another world with your beloved Mal, even if it's not a dream, maybe it's not a bad idea.
Mal jumped off, Cobb's grief beyond words. From then on, he began to miss and regret his beloved wife endlessly. The second knot is here. Cobb subconsciously thinks he killed Mal because it is his dream indoctrination that confuses the dream with reality by making Mal think that the result of death is waking up. At the same time, he also hoped in his subconscious: if that is true, if the dream is true, and if you die, you can stay with Mal in the dream forever, how wonderful it would be. The second knot itself is a self-questioning, self-destructive tendencies born of guilt, a desire to die.
Then there was the strengthening of the first knot. Since there were no witnesses to Mal's death, Cobb was suspected and had to flee. When the ticket arrived, he was faced with a choice, either leave immediately or never want to leave again. The children were still playing in the backyard, and the two shadows in the sunlight did not notice the long parting of their father. Cobb wanted to take a look at their faces, but too late, the two backs were burned into his mind. He repeats the dream repeatedly, trying to see the faces of the children again, but the dream is only the back (see the scene of Ariadne entering his private dream).
In the end, it is the push of external events that is intertwined with the two inner knots. The master Seito proposed a big adventure plan, which is to embed an idea into the consciousness of others through a dream, and change the concept of the embedded person. In order to get together with the children (the first knot of heart), Cobb also wants to solve the confusion of belief, test the possibility of inception, and reconcile with Shade (the projection of the dead Mal in Cobb's dream) in the deep dream (p. Two heart knot), take over this dangerous big plan - namely inception. Here, two inner threads and an outer thread meet.
In the dreams related to the big plan later, the first knot and the second knot appeared repeatedly, so in the dream, Shade was hiding in it, the train was falling from the sky, and the backs of two children flashed everywhere. In the shallower dreams on the first three floors, he still couldn't see the children's faces, just like when he left. In the fourth layer of the deeper dream, he came to the free world he once shared with Mal, and entangled with Shade. At this time, Shade tried to convince him: this dream is the reality, and the children in this dream are the real children. She asked Cobb to see the dream children, and they turned around. Cobb immediately covered his eyes and didn't look, because he was afraid: if the children's faces were seen here, he would believe Shade, that is, believe that the children here are his real children, and dreams are reality (p. Two heart knots).
Here, the contradictions of the first knot and the second knot go head-to-head. Do you choose your dream wife or your real child? Do you choose to die or choose to live? Which belief do you choose: the dream of freedom to do whatever you want, or the reality of being responsible for your child's family?
Choices are always painful, and things always move too fast to be caught off guard. Shade is shot by Ariadne while inserting the knife into Cobb's body. Cobb finally remembered that he and Mal lived together in a dream for fifty years. He finally let go of his guilt. Since he had been together until his death, he no longer has any regrets. The second knot was finally unraveled. Now Cobb chose to go back.
He came to Lost Land again. I don't know how much effort he put in, and he was washed up on the beach like a corpse. Cobb, whose eyebrows are slightly gray, and Seito, who has entered the Lost Land in advance, don't seem to remember each other's intentions, but they seem to be waiting for each other. The top spins on the table, as if to say to the two, do you remember? We're going to die now, we're going to wake up. Death and life are one. Is eternally empty life the same as death? Is the realization after endless waiting equivalent to life?
Are they awake?
Then came the proverbial open ending. Seito's hand went to get the gun, but the specific things after he took the gun are not revealed; secondly, even if the gun is fired, will the two die in the limbo definitely return to reality? The movie doesn't give a definitive clue at this point either, as Cobb and Mal only tried it once and succeeded, but weren't entirely sure of themselves until they tried it. As for where death in limbo might go in addition to returning to reality, will it be trapped forever? For example, is there a possibility of looping forever in a dream? The movie didn't explain it either (as far as I know). Some people say that the faces of the children are given at the end, which means that he has returned to reality, because the faces of the children will not appear in the dream - I don't think this is enough to judge. Because, as mentioned above, the reason why the children did not have a positive face in the first three layers of dreams was the effect of the first knot, and the lack of a positive face in the fourth layer was the function of the second knot. The second knot at the end has been untied, but whether Cobb has returned to reality or has reached a deeper happy dream, we have no way of knowing, and we can't judge from the smiling faces of the children.
And for the last shot, all I can say is that the top spin is definitely not long enough to tell if it will stop. Nolan you did it on purpose. 囧~~
In the end, the film repeatedly penetrates dreams and reality. The first paragraph of the lyrics of Edith Piaf's classic "Non, Rien de Rien" and the Chinese free translation are attached (the first few syllables that appear repeatedly, meaning That is No, nothing of nothing, i don't regret anything at all). It is said that the biographical film of Piaf's life in the rose was played by Cotillard, who played Mal, and won the heroine statue a few years ago. The director uses this song here, I don't know if it has anything to do with Cotillard. All in all, this sad melody and stubborn wording fit perfectly into the film.
Non! Rien de rien ...Non! Je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait ni le mal
Tout ça m'est bien égal!
Non! Rien de rien ...Non! Je ne regrette rien
C 'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé
no, no, I don't have any regrets,
no matter what I do, good or bad, it's all the same to me.
No, no, I have no regrets,
they have been repaid, discarded, forgotten,
I don't care about the past
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