How do you determine that the opening scene is not a dream?

1. PART ONE How do you determine that the opening scene is not a dream? Why is it easier to access somebody’s thoughts when they are asleep? Why does the room in the dream within the dream start to shake? Who is the woman Cobb is talking to in the dream within the dream? What does the director want to show the audience with the wakening scene within the dream? What device does the team use to get people out of their dream?

2. PART ONE What happened to Cobb’s wife? Why does Mr Saito want to hire Cobb’s team? What incentive does Mr Saito offer Cobb to take the job?

3. PART TWO Why did Cobb travel to Paris? Who is Prof. Stephen Miles? In what way did Prof. Stephen Miles help Cobb? What happens to the concept of time in a dream? Who are the people walking in the streets of Paris in Ariadne’s dream? What is the problem with the subconscious? Who is the woman who tried to kill Ariadne in her dream? Why does each dreamer need to carry a personal totem? Why does Cobb need Eames’s help?

4. PART TWO Who are the men who tried to kill Cobb in Mombasa? Who is Yusuf and why does Cobb need his help?

5. PART THREE Who is the old man in the bed at the beginning of this part? And the younger man? What totem did Ariadne chose for herself? Why doesn’t Cobb design the dreams himself but has to rely on Ariadne instead? Why can’t Cobb return to the US? Why is this project an unusual challenge for the designers? How is the team going to ensure that Robert Fisher will dream for 10 hours without interruption? Why does Cobb use the dreaming method nearly daily? What event determined the launching of the operation?

6. PART FOUR Dream level 1: what did the team have to secure and why was it far from easy? Dream level 1: what unforeseen element intruded into the dream? Dream level 1: what happens if somebody dies in a dream? Dream level 1: what does the team want Robert to believe? Dream level 1: what document does Maurice Fisher’s safe contain? Dream level 1: what was Mal’s problem and what solution did she envisage to her problem? Dream level 1: at what point does level 2 start? Dream level 2: how do events from level 1 intrude into level 2? Dream level 2: how did Cobb convince Robert Fisher that he is in a dream?

7. PART FIVE Dream level 2: why is it essential that Robert Fisher does not kill himself? Dream level 2: what does Robert Fisher learn about his uncle? Dream level 3: what is the team’s aim at this level? Dream level 1: why did Yusuf decide to start activating the awakening process and how did the team react to his decision in level 2 and level 3? Dream level 1: why did Yusuf hurl the van down the bridge and how is this affecting events in level 2 and level 3? Dream level 3: what is the deadline to complete the action at this level? Dream level 2: what does Arthur do to prepare the team members for the incoming impact of the van hitting the water in level 1? Why do two team members need to go into dream level 4?

8. PART SIX Dream level 4: how is it possible that Mal, James and Phillipa appear in this level? What has to be avoided at all cost in level 1, level 2 & level 3? Dream level 4: what truth did Cobb reveal to Mal? Dream level 4: what form did Cobb’s inception to Mal take? Dream level 3: what was Robert Fisher supposed to find in his father’s safe? Dream level 1: what decision did Robert Fisher take concerning his future? Dream level 4: who is the old man talking to Cobb and what does Cobb want him to do? Did Cobb’s inception work? Where did Prof. Miles take Cobb after the landing?

9. PART SIX In the last scene the camera focuses on the spinning top and there are two possible outcomes:- The spinning top topples.- The spinning top goes on spinning.What are the consequences of these two possible outcomes? From Cobb’s point of view, what is this movie about? Why does Nolan’s idea to use Edith Piaff’s song Non, je ne regrette rien make sense in Inception?

10. About the movie Inception is a 2010 science fiction action film, which was written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb, a specialized spy or espionage thief. His work consists of extracting commercial information from the unconscious mind of his targets while they are asleep and dreaming. The inception concept Inception was first developed by Christopher Nolan, based on the notion of "exploring the idea of people sharing a dream space — entering a dream space and sharing a dream. That gives you the ability to access somebody’s unconscious mind. What would that be used and abused for?“ Furthermore, he thought "being able to extract information from somebody’s brain would be the obvious use of that because obviously any other system where it’s computers or physical media, whatever — things that exist outside the mind — they can all be stolen ... up until this point, or up until this movie I should say, the idea that you could actually steal something from somebody’s head was impossible. So that, to me, seemed a fascinating abuse or misuse of that kind of technology." Nolan drew inspiration from the works of Jorge Luis Borges when writing Inception, and also cited the 2006 anime film Paprika by the late Satoshi Kon as an influence on the character Ariadne. Nolan had thought about these ideas on and off since he was sixteen years old, intrigued by how he would wake up and then, while falling back into a lighter sleep, hold on to the awareness that he was dreaming, a lucid dream. He also became aware of the feeling that he could study the place and alter the events of the dream. He said, "I tried to work that idea of manipulation and management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have. Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else." Harvard University dream researcher Deirdre Barrett points out that Nolan did not get every detail accurate regarding dreams, but that films which really do that tend to have illogical, rambling, disjointed plots which wouldn’t make for a great thriller. "But he did get many aspects right," she said, citing the scene in which a sleeping DiCaprio is shoved into a full bath and water starts gushing into the windows of the building he is dreaming, waking him up. "That's very much how real stimuli get incorporated, and you very often wake up right after that intrusion.“ An ambiguous ending The film cuts to the end credits from a shot of the top wobbling ambiguously, inviting speculation about whether the final sequence was reality or another dream. Nolan confirmed that the ambiguity was deliberate, saying "I've been asked the question more times than I've ever been asked any other question about any other film I've made... What's funny to me is that people really do expect me to answer it." The film's script concludes with "Behind him, on the table, the spinning top is STILL SPINNING. And we — FADE OUT“However, Christopher Nolan also said, "I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me — it always felt like the appropriate 'kick' to me… The real point of the scene — and this is what I tell people — is that Cobb isn't looking at the top. He's looking at his kids. He's left it behind. That's the emotional significance of the thing.“

11. The spinning top Dom Cobb and his partner Arthur perform an illegal corporate espionage by entering the subconscious minds of their targets, using two-level "dream within a dream" strategies to "extract" valuable information. Each of the "extractors" carries a "totem", a personalized small object whose behavior is unpredictable to anyone except its owner, to determine whether they are in another person's dream. Cobb's totem is a spinning top which perpetually spins in the dream state. Cobb struggles with memories of his dead wife, Mal, who manifests within his dreams and tries to sabotage his efforts. Dom Cobb Arthur Ariadne Eames Yusuf Robert Michael Fischer Mallorie "Mal" Maurice Fischer Professor Stephen Miles

12. Mallorie "Mal" Maurice Fischer Robert Fischer Professor Stephen Miles Mr Saito

13. However, Christopher Nolan also said, "I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me — it always felt like the appropriate 'kick' to me… The real point of the scene — and this is what I tell people — is that Cobb isn't looking at the top. He's looking at his kids. He's left it behind. That's the emotional significance of the thing.“ * Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes in conning secrets from his victims by infiltrating their dreams. Cobb leads a team consisting of Arthur, Ariadne, Eames, Saito, and Yusuf, with the goal of influencing Robert Fischer's actions via his dreams. DiCaprio was the first actor to be cast in the film.[13] Nolan had been trying to work with the actor for years and met him several times, but was unable to convince him to appear in any of his films until Inception.[14] * Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Cobb's partner who takes "point" during jobs and is responsible for researching the team's targets. * Ellen Page as Ariadne, a graduate student of architecture who is recruited to construct the various dreamscapes, which are described as mazes. The name Ariadne alludes to a princess of Greek myth, daughter of King Minos, who aided the hero Theseus by giving him a sword and a ball of string to help him navigate the labyrinth which was the prison of the Minotaur.[15] * Tom Hardy as Eames, a sharp-tongued associate of Cobb's. Eames uses his ability to take the form of others inside the dream world in order to manipulate Robert Fischer in his own dreams. * Ken Watanabe as Mr. Saito, a businessman who employs Cobb for the team's mission, and insists on joining them inside.[16] * Dileep Rao as Yusuf, a chemist who formulates the drugs needed to sustain the dream states. * Cillian Murphy as Robert Michael Fischer, the heir to a business empire and the team's target.[17] * Tom Berenger as Peter Browning, Robert Fischer's godfather and fellow executive at the Fischers' company.[1] * Marion Cotillard as Mallorie "Mal" Cobb, Dom Cobb's projection of his deceased wife and a frequent, malevolent presence in his dreams. As the film's main antagonist, she is a manifestation of his guilt about the real Mal's suicide. Dom is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an extractor.[14] * Pete Postlethwaite as Maurice Fischer, Robert's dying father.[18] * Michael Caine as Prof. Stephen Miles, Cobb's mentor and father-in-law,[18] and Ariadne's college professor who recommends her to the team.[19] * Lukas Haas as Nash, an architect in Cobb's employment who is replaced by Ariadne.[20] * Miranda Nolan plays a minor role as an air hostess. Miranda is a first cousin to the film's director Christopher Nolan.[21]