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invention that allows one person to enter ideas, because they recognize the ideas
the dream of another. In such a situation, are not theirs. Thus the idea must be
it may not be clear to you whether you well disguised. Cobb’s idea: embed it in
are the dreamer, or whether you have a dream within a dream within a dream.
invaded the dream of someone else. Yes, three layers of dreams. That’s one
Why would you want to enter some- reason the film’s release on Blu-ray is
one’s dream? Industrial espionage is one such good news: you’re unlikely to keep
possibility. Cobb (Leonardo GET DiCaprio) THE COMPLETE the details VERSION! straight from a single theatre
is an expert at just such espionage. You’ll have He noticed viewing, that even this if free you think you have.
works everywhere but his own country, version of UHF Who Magazine knew that dreams need archi-
the USA, because at home is he not is wanted quite complete. tects? These But you do, can and Cobb recruits a
for murder — of whom will eventually get the be complete recent version architecture graduate named
revealed. A powerful Japanese business- from Maggie Ariadne for (the $4. superb young actress Ellen
man named Saito (Ken Watanabe) Click here, can and Page, away who we got go!
an Oscar nomination for
make his problems vanish with a single Juno when she was still in her teens).
phone call, which surely makes him a Ariadne, by the way, was the mythical
useful person to know. What he wants is character who spun the thread that
for Cobb to do an inception, the opposite allowed Theseus to find his way out of
of his usual modus operandi.
the Labyrinth and slay the Minotaur.
Specifically, what Saito wants is for Cobb trains her, appropriately enough,
Cobb to plant an idea in the subcon- by drawing labyrinths. He then whisks
scious of a competing industrialist, the her off to a Paris café — in a dream of
idea of dismantling the energy empire course — so that he can demonstrate to
his father has left him. This is an assign- her, as well as to us, the peculiar physics
ment of bewildering complexity. In the of dreams. The scene in which a Paris
era of dream invasion, likely victims street folds back on itself is spectacular!
hire security firms to guard them. This The other major female character
involves people with guns, who are not is Cobb’s wife Mal (whose name is of
real, since they exist only in the world of course French for evil), who is played by
dreams, but are “projections” of the sub- the amazing Marion Cotillard (who got
ject’s subconscious. What’s more, says an Oscar for playing Edith Piaf). She is
Cobb, people have a resistance to outside dead, in fact, but in dreams she is still
76 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
there, and she strives to persuade Cobb
to abandon real life and to stay with her.
I shall say no more about that aspect of
the story, except to say that it leads to
more amazing surprises.
The three-layered dream architecture
leads to complications. If time is
stretched tenfold in a dream, then it is
stretched a hundredfold in the dream
within a dream, and in the third layer
you can actually grow old before it’s over.
Then, although in a normal dream you
awaken if you die, that may not be true
in a deeper dream level. Thus, forcing
yourself to awaken by killing yourself —
a risky move under any conditions — is
not really advisable.
This is an action film, with spectacular
settings, with such astonishing
special effects as a fist fight in a hotel
hallway in zero gravity, and a cornucopia
of car chases, bombings and gun battles.
What raises the film far above the usual
action films are the characters, the
actors who play them, the magnificent
production design, Christopher’s script
and sure-footed direction, and a complex
network of ideas that require more than
one viewing to fully appreciate.
Oh yes, did I say there are three levels
of dreams? In fact…there is a fourth.
The Fifth Element (Blu-ray)
Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich
Sony
Gerard Rejskind: This is not the film’s
first appearance on the Blu-ray shelves,
but it has now been re-released on Sony’s