The Six Layers Of Inception

An interpretation from my brother, which actually makes sense if the straightforward concept is not mind blowing enough for you.

DO NOT read on if you haven't watched it. But now with some new awareness, I'm going to watch it again. It really was a fun movie.

Here are some simple answers from Dileep Rao (Yusuf in the movie) to get the ball rolling. Source: NYMag.com

When dreaming you can share the dream with others using the drug. But to go deeper, a more powerful sedative is needed - which is where Yusuf came in. If you die in the dream in the first layer, you wake up no problem. But in a deeper layer, the sedative will sink you down all the way to limbo.

First layer was Yusuf's dream (when it was raining because he had to pee). Second layer, in the hotel, was Arthur's dream (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). And this is why they were responsible for the "kick" back to reality - using the headphones to warn those in deeper levels - or risk falling into limbo.

Now the third layer, and here's where it got confusing, should be Eames' dream (Tom Hardy) while pretending to be Browning (Tom Berenger) to fool Fischer (Cillian Murphy); because Eames was the one responsible for the bomb in order to"kick" the rest back up.

But like Rao said in the interview, Ariadne (Ellen Page) asked whose dream they were going into next in the second layer, and Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) replied Fischer's, instead of Eames'. So was Cobb trying to fool Ariadne and the audience? Or was he afraid Fischer would hear him? Or did director / writer Christopher Nolan messed this part up? (Highly doubtful.)

As for the theory of the limbo, it existed right at the bottom of all the layers and where every dreamer will go to if he or she dies when in too deep a dream state. The architecture there is created by the subconscious of anyone who has been there before.

In this case, only Cobb has experienced it. And later, Saito (Ken Watanabe) created his "home" there as well.

Now, for the "six layers" interpretation - not just the obvious four layers.

As the old man in Mombassa puts it in Yusuf’s basement: “They come here to be woken up. Their dream has become their reality. Who are you to say otherwise?”In the movie we see Cobb performing the inception on Mal (Marion Cotillard) because he wanted to keep his wedding promise that they would grow old together. They did. In the dream. But when Cobb brought Mal back, she became flummoxed, lost her mind and her touch with reality. And then killed herself thinking that she was still in a dream.

But how can we be sure whether it was Mal losing her mind or was it actually Cobb? That's the magic question. If we were to side with Mal, then we have a whole different view of the entire movie.

Each time Mal came into the dream state, she was trying to bring Cobb back into reality. Because when Cobb and Mal lied on the train tracks to commit suicide, they were already in limbo (which Cobb did explain to Ariadne). So, from limbo you only get to wake up to the previous layer of the dream. That's where Mal committed suicide again from the hotel window. She woke up fully. Cobb did not. Ta dah.

Hence, what we saw entirely was Cobb in his dream. All the other characters existed because Cobb's subconscious was trying to protect him from Mal, like Fischer's bodyguards all over the place.

The totem is a clear sign of this. Cobb's totem belonged to Mal. But we've never seen him take it from her in "reality" (or at least not that I can recall, which is one of the reasons I'll have to watch it again). Cobb found it in limbo, inside Mal's chest in the house where they lived. So how can that totem be a sign whether or not he's in a dream or in reality? Furthermore, he never made the totem. One has to make the totem in order to know how it worked. Cobb wouldn't have.

So the first limbo was the "first layer". Cobb and Mal woke up from that limbo into the "second layer". From there, Cobb and his team created the "third", "fourth" and "fifth layers". And at the end, the last limbo, "sixth layer" - or back to that "first layer".

Yes, yes, that was a long essay but I enjoyed the thought process. Time to watch it again.