Ivan Krakhotkin

‘Inception – Critical Analysis of Meaning focussing on Mise en Scene, Camerawork and

Sound Design’

Through this critical analysis meaning will be analysed in a sequence from a science fiction heist thriller – ‘Inception’, directed by Christopher Nolan – a director, who has a signature directorial style of promoting active questions in the viewer. This film leaves the audience with many questions that haven’t been unanswered, such as the ending of the film being reality or a dream and the main protagonist’s emotions controlling his subconsciousness or him being in charge of them. It also presents the spectator with a subtext where embedded meanings and meta-narratives could include – is the notion of ‘reality’ important, or instead is ‘happiness’ key to our existence?

It exists as a psychological thriller; such genres often leave audience with many active questions about the film after it finishes, as does this one. The time marker is 2:29:30 – 2:35:05. This sequence is the ending of the film, in which the main protagonist – Cobb, returns home after completing the job he was given, to finally see his children, who he wasn’t able to see for the whole of the film. The film itself revolves around the idea of being able to enter the dreams of other people, and even plant an idea inside of somebody’s mind; but the purpose of this specific sequence is firstly to make the audience question the ‘reality’ within the film itself (as it is unknown where it was a dream or happened in real life) and secondarily, to ask the spectator directly – ‘does it matter’? The main protagonist of the film – Cobb, has great experience in entering the dream worlds, where he could even enter a dream within a dream (multiple levels of consciousness), although the only way for him to know whether he is in the dream or not, is to spin his ‘totem’ -the tractricoid top, the properties of which only he knows about (in turn with the spectator – through privileged perspective). Guided by that idea, Cobb is potentially driven insane throughout the film, not surely knowing whether he’s in a dream or not, and therefore calling into question reality itself both for him and the viewer.

In the first scene of the sequence, the action happens within a dream. The scene begins with a medium close up shot of Cobb which has the effect of focussing the spectators’ attention on the importance of this character. The camera shots then follow him, the music starts when he says something important. He is dressed in torn clothes and is beaten up, which creates a sense that he is the protagonist and has travelled a long distance with a great many experiences to tell his interlocutor. Cobb persuades him to believe that the world they are in is not real, which is proved by his totem spinning in the next shot, a key reoccurring signifier to the spectator emphasised by the slow zoom in. This combination of shots is followed by a diegetic sound of the totem spinning, switching to ambient sound. This creates a feeling of suspense and provides tension on a subconscious level, as the sound is quieter than the dialog, but gradually increases its’ volume.

The interlocutor of the main protagonist is an old man, who is familiar to the viewer, but the viewer is positioned now in a question of what is real and not, and therefore what matters is that the young protagonist is teaching the old character and not the other way around. The switching of roles between them (the wisdom of the younger party) is an unnatural situation, also representing a possibility of it being a dream. The tired performance of the character connotes that they subconsciously know that they are in a dream and therefore are nervous and confused, further clouding the sense of ‘the real’.

The old man is a valuable person, probably of high rank, as he is dressed in an expensive suit and is formal. The table is clear, except of a gun, which probably connotes the death of either of characters, or their freedom from the dream (this level of reality) - their way to escape. The scene concludes with the close up of the totem and the hand of the old man reaching for the gun. Then the scene suddenly ends - an escape being implied from this level of reality, and maybe a return to one where happiness can be found.

The scene begins with the buzz soundtrack playing on until then the viewer hears the sound of the spinning totem, which changes with the soundtrack to the more calm, ‘Time’ by Hans Zimmer, connoting the difference in time, spent in the dreams, increasing as one goes further down through the dream levels. The piece is piano for the most of the scene, but when the scene ends and the next one begins, it does not start from the very beginning and it starts with a forte, which embeds the idea that this is reality, by directing the spectators attention with focus onto the scene itself. The forte then carries on to become fortissimo and then reach forte fortissimo as it has crescendo over the period of few times. The tone of the piece is rather calm at first, becoming more contrasted and uplifting, creating a sense of return to ‘the real’ and an accompanying emotional response of happiness.

This continues into the next scene that starts with an extreme close up shot of the main protagonist, opening his eyes, as though he is waking up from a dream. This cuts to a medium close up with a zoom out, of the confused emotion of the main protagonist, as he is not sure whether the world he is in is real or not, as are the spectators. The music in this scene, follows on from the previous scene, but it is now louder and starts to build up to introduce confusion with intrigue to the audience and emphasise the confusion of the main character by showing the performance of Cobb acting confused, looking around and not realising what has happened; an analogy of beginning to wake up.

This scene continues on when the characters are already in the airport, master shot of the Leonardo DiCaprio walking through the border control. This might connote the action of him, leaving his old, outlaw life behind and stepping into the future life, which might be a new dream.

The official at the passport control checked the passport of Cobb for quite a while and the protagonist was quite nervous, as seen by his performance. This is also emphasised by having quick close ups on the protagonists face and the passport. There are quite a few shots of the passport, suggesting that there might be something wrong with it. Judging by the performance of the character, he is anxious as he does not know what to expect later on, just hoping to be lucky. This firmly roots the perceived sequence in a formal ‘reality’.

Next scene begins in some sort of domestic setting, probably the house of the main protagonist (who is returning home and to ‘happiness’). His confusion suggests that he has not been at home for a long time, therefore he looking around in a waking dreamlike state, trying to remember that he was there and wants to see his loved ones. This is alike to a lucid dream.

The protagonist spins his totem, as he is not sure whether this is a dream or reality, as he cannot believe that he is finally home. However when he sees his children, is sure that this is not a dream, even though he does not check – it does not matter anymore. The next shot shows two children – a boy and a girl, who after seeing the main protagonist, rush to him, suggesting that they are his beloved children. The shot is filmed in slow motion and this again connotes that this moment might still be a dream, but the character wants to believe that it is reality. That is suggested by his performance, he happily rushes towards his children, not even looking at the totem, preferring to believe in this reality.

The protagonist rushes and grabs his children, he is happy, as he has finally returned home. After having a focus pull from the protagonist to the totem, there is a zoom in on the totem spinning. The zoom in is slow and long, therefore the audience does not know, which leaves this hard question in the audiences heads, was it a dream, or reality? The soundtrack in this scene, which also begins to become louder to the ending of the scene builds up suspense and ends with the high note and increased volume of the soundtrack, therefore resulting in an effective cut ending. Leaving the totem at the point it would fall if it was going to, forever not answering the spectators’ active question about the reality of the situation,

The whole sequence has a different contrast in colour grading, which was excessively dark in the beginning and increased in brightness in the end. This connotes that the reunion of the family is the brightest and the happiest moment of the sequence and its’ climax, as the protagonist finally sees his children, who he couldn’t come home to.

The 3 micro features that I have chosen to analyse, which were – camerawork, sound and mise-en-scene, have worked together to confuse the audience and to illicit a pair of active questions in the head of the spectator, whether the world in the film is a dream or a reality. The micro features have worked efficiently confusing the audience and leaving an unanswerable question that the viewer would have been left with following the climax of the film. The fundamental questions being – is the action happening in the film a dream, or reality, and does it really matter?