Science Fiction · Action · Thriller
A skilled thief who enters people's dreams can have his criminal record erased if he plants an idea in the mind of a rival CEO's son. It's a fairly maze-like heist film about grief, reality and how the unconscious is built.
At a glance
Inception is a 2010 science fiction, action and thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 psychology and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Babadook uses several of the same techniques.
Telling the story out of order by jumping between time periods. The order you see events in changes how you understand them.
How this film uses it
Nolan cuts between 4 dream levels that are all happening at once, with time running at a different speed in each. The levels sit inside each other, so a cause in 1 level has its effect in another.
Where to see it
The Act 3 intercutting. The van fall, the hotel corridor, the snow fortress and Limbo all play against each other.
Keeping it unclear what is real and what is imagined in the film's world. You end up as unsure as the main character.
How this film uses it
The spinning top totem is introduced as a reliable test of what's real, but the final frame holds the answer back on purpose. You're left asking if the question even matters.
Where to see it
The final shot of the film. The top is still spinning when the film cuts away.
Creating effects physically on set with makeup, prosthetics, built props and camera tricks, with no computer graphics added later. The results look solid and real.
How this film uses it
The rotating hotel corridor fight was filmed on a practical set that turned a full 360 degrees, suspended in large rings and driven by electric motors. That is, the camera and actors really were moving through a spinning room.
Where to see it
The hotel hallway fight in the second dream level. The characters fight in zero gravity.
Giving the characters an object, secret or goal that everyone chases. What it actually is barely matters, because its job is to set the characters against each other.
How this film uses it
The 'inception' itself (planting an idea in Fischer's mind) is the MacGuffin, the goal that drives the plot. The real subject is Cobb's unresolved grief over Mal.
Where to see it
Cobb's scenes with Mal's projection. They appear in the snow fortress and in Limbo.
Questions
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Same director
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