First thing’s first: Dom’s totem is NOT the top. As he explains to Ariadne, the top is Mal’s totem. So what is Dom’s totem? His wedding ring. In his dreams he is still together with Mal, and thusly is wearing his ring. Final scene? Not wearing his ring. REALITY.

Hope I could bring some closure for anyone who was unsure, but that brings me to another point: stories with ambiguous endings. Are they good or bad? Well, a lot of people say happy endings are lame. But how about vague endings? There are two reactions you can get out of a vague ending. First: “That sucks!” This reaction comes because the reader/viewer will never know what happens next. Second: He or she could instantly start imagining what happens next. While I think everyone does this on some level, it’s never that easy.

There is one big problem with imagining what happens next: you are not the author. Anything you make up is exactly that: made up. You know that depressive feeling you get when you finish a good/compelling/emotional story? That’s because the story is done. It’s over, and there’s nothing else to learn about that world/character. You can wish anything you want, but it will always feel inadequate because you know that you can’t change the author’s universe.

It takes a special talent to be able to cause emotion in others with words. The best type of the story is the one that makes the reader feel like he or she is in the story. You know those stories where when something bad happens to the main character you feel like it happened to you? That’s a good story. (If you never felt that, you should start reading more!) To end a story vaguely can cause much more emotion/heartache than a full ending, and a good author knows when to use one.

That said, it doesn’t apply to Inception, because we know it was real.