Inception

Since the earliest days of its inception in the late nineteenth century, those interested in analysis or interpretation of cinema—particularly Freud—saw in the medium a correlation between it and dreams.  In recent decades, of course, psychoanalytic film theory has taken up Freud’s work, exploring the ways in which the cinema functions similarly to dreams, debating that correlation as well as its implications.

Such conversations and debates continue, largely among academics and cinephiles well versed in the work of Freud and Lacan.

Director Christopher Nolan’s fantastic and intriguing new film, “Inception,” appears acutely aware of those discussions as the movie itself comes across as an intelligent mediation on the nature of cinema and the images it produces, and maybe most importantly, our relationship to those images.

Not quite the masterpiece that many critics and internet bloggers claim it to be, “Inception” is that rare summer blockbuster with as much philosophical waxing to spare as it has awesome explosions.

Those explosions come courtesy of Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his efforts in the film’s early moments to convince corporate businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe) that a conversation they are having is actually taking place within a dream.  From here, Cobb explains his business and his ability to extract key information from anyone’s mind.

As will happen, shenanigans ensue, leaving Cobb and his partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to barely escape their meeting; however, before too long, Saito approaches Cobb about the possibility of inception, a way to plant an idea in someone else inside a dream.

What others consider impossible, Cobb suggests he can do—particularly if Saito can arrange for Cobb to return to the United States without the threat of arrest (for reasons the film only reveals at a later point).

Saito enlists Cobb and Arthur to assemble a small team that will allow them to plant an idea in Robert Fischer Jr. (Cillian Murphy), the son of Saito’s ailing business rival and the man who whose company stands at the precipice of becoming the largest energy power in the world.

To accomplish their task, Cobb meets briefly with his estranged father/professor (Michael Caine) who suggests he meet his brightest architecture student, Ariadne (the always delightful Ellen Page).

For everything to work accordingly, Ariadne will create the buildings and landscapes within the dreams, Eames (Tom Hardy) will work as a sort of, uh hum, dream-impersonator, Yusuf (Dileep Rao) will act as the group’s anesthesiologist while Saito accompanies the group to monitor their success.

To say too much on “Inception” risks spoiling the fun the film has in constructing its elaborate labyrinth.

Suffice it to say, the lovely Marion Cotillard haunts Cobb’s dreams (and by extension those sharing that dream as well as the film itself) as Mal, Cobb’s ex-wife, a character the film shrouds in mystery until even its final moments.

That Nolan’s script names the character “Mal”—Latin for “evil” or “bad”— suggests what might be in store for Cobb and the rest of the film’s characters.

And make no mistake, “Inception” is playing at that level, the level of allegory and philosophy, even as it razzle dazzles its way through impressive set designs and creative special effects (cities fold onto themselves; the laws of gravity often no longer hold true as characters battle each other on ceilings, walls, and the like).

As with “The Dark Knight” two summers ago, Nolan has once more crafted the thinking person’s summer blockbuster; however, where that film challenged audiences to reconsider the superhero film and our relationship to symbols, heroes, etc., “Inception” aims higher.

Here, an architect designs the dreamscape while someone else’s subconscious and their projections play around in it (film studies and media graduate students, bon appetite!)

With a concept such as that, “Inception” asks some mighty lofty questions, the most obvious one as to just whose dream/film this is anyway.  Are those our subconscious projections always up there on screen?  Have they always been?  What then of the collision between the filmmaker, what he puts on screen, and our subconscious—and conscious—relationship to them?

These aren’t necessarily new questions.  (And, feminist-inclined film theorists, who frequently dabble in the psychoanalytic, surely must have thoughts on the two women here, one the creator and the other, well, in limbo).

Still, with “Inception,” Nolan gives us new ways to think on those questions, new images to play around in as we interpret and analyze.

Though the film never quite resonates emotionally as it mesmerizes and thought provokes, the actors are more than mere set design.  DiCaprio, Page, and Cotillard, in particular, provide “Inception” the emotional depth lacking elsewhere in the film and rarely, if ever, come across as if they’re playing a secondary role to Nolan’s green screen and puzzles.

Nevertheless, those puzzles and the questions raised by them, sustain the film long after its oddly breezy 142 minutes are up.

And with “Inception,” that’s likely the point.

Grade:  A-

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 18th, 2010 at 9:46 pm and is filed under Film Essays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.