Investigation: Did everyone just dream they watched Inception?

Christopher Nolan’s Inception is now considered a classic of thoughtful action cinema from the last decade, with critical plaudits, Oscar nominations, and huge box office success cementing its success.

There is, however, a growing suspicion that the film doesn’t actually exist at all and that everyone actually just dreamt going to see it.

“For a couple of years now, I looked back at Inception and thought – ‘yes, great film,’” explained Stewart James, a leading proponent of Inception-denial.

“Then, one day it occurred to me that I couldn’t remember what I’d been doing before going to see Inception. Or immediately afterwards. My only memory is of being in the cinema, watching Inception.

“That is a key facet of dreams, you just dream that you are in a situation, not getting into that situation. It’s even a theory that is discussed in Inception which makes sense because, as seeing Inception was something that I dreamt, my subconscious would put my theory about dreams into that dream about a film about dreams.”

Inception-denialists like Stewart posit that Inception is actually a kind of ‘dream hysteria’ that spread around the globe.

“You talk to anyone about Inception and they’ll say a couple of similar things – it’s about dreams, it’s confusing – but beyond that, it gets muddled, who was in it? Leonardo DiCaprio? Tom Hardy? Cillian Murphy? No one can agree. What was the dream about? Revolution? A kidnap? A James Bond scene in the alps? Again, it’s different for everyone. Like dreams are.

“It seems irrefutable to me. Inception doesn’t exist and we all just dreamt we watched it.”

He even has an explanation for the film’s popularity on DVD.

“I did an experiment, the last time I watched it on DVD. When it was finished, I spun a little spinning top and it just kept on spinning. Which is proof I just dreamt watching the DVD.

“Unless I just dreamt about spinning the top…”